Jai Lucas Reflects On Whirlwind Start As Miami Head Coach

The Miami Hurricanes men's basketball team hired Jai Lucas to be their head coach this offseason, coming off a very disappointing season for the program. He quickly got to work filling out both his staff and his roster. Now he is finally taking the time to stop and reflect on what a crazy experience this has all been. 

He spoke about how busy he was immediately after taking over the job at The U, “A lot of talking, I guess, is the best way to describe it,” Lucas said. “It’s interviews, it’s phone calls, it’s visits. And then it’s more phone calls, and more visits. There’s a lot going on, but it’s what you asked for. It’s been exciting. But that would be the biggest thing – it’s been a lot of talking.” 

Lucas believes one of the key factors that attracted him to Miami is the fact that it's a strong program despite coming off a bad year. “That was the most attractive thing, that it wasn’t a program in disarray,” Lucas said. “They had a bad season, but there’s a lot of things that go into that. What Coach L was able to do over his time here, he built a strong foundation. And that was a big key for me, [going] somewhere that had a strong foundation, but also had an upward momentum and upward trajectory that you could go and make it kind of your own. … It wasn’t something that has already been kind of stamped as this blue-blood or something that has this great tradition and you’re just another name that’s part of it. It has something you can kind of create and make your own.”

When asked about his goals for his team, Lucas made it clear that he wants his team grow, compete, and hopefully make it to the NCAA Tournament. “I want to see us improve throughout the whole year, that we aren’t the same team in March that you saw in November; that we got better as you watched us play and you knew we were competing and fighting to win every possession that we could,” Lucas said. “And to that end, [I hope] we have the opportunity and the chance to make the NCAA Tournament and play for a national championship... That’s all you ask for every year, to have that opportunity to compete for a championship and be one of those 68 teams at the beginning of March. But the biggest thing for me is that as you watched us, you saw us grow and it made you want to watch us more by the way we played, the way we competed and the passion and the care that we showed.”

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