Duke Hiring Coach From John Calipari’s Staff, per Report

New Duke coach Jon Scheyer is reportedly hiring Kentucky assistant Jai Lucas to join his staff, per 247Sports.

If the hiring becomes official, Lucas will fill the last assistant coaching spot in Scheyer’s staff.

Going from one Blue Blood to another, Lucas is known for being one of the top recruiters in college basketball. He has worked under John Calipari since the 2020 season. Before that, he was an assistant at his alma mater, Texas, from 2016–20. He played at Texas from 2009–11 after transferring from Florida.

In his two seasons at Kentucky, Lucas helped recruit a number of five-star prospects, along with top-tier transfer guard Sahvir Wheeler.

Scheyer has already made a few assistant coaching moves since the college basketball season ended. He recently promoted former Blue Devil Amile Jefferson from the director of player development to an assistant coach. Jefferson played on the 2015 national championship team. Additionally, Scheyer hired former Elon head coach Mike Schrage as the special assistant to the head coach. 

Chris Carrawell will continue to act as associate head coach, the position he was promoted to under Mike Krzyzewski in 2021.

Lucas joins a very young Duke staff. Scheyer, 34, is the second oldest Blue Devils coach.

These moves all come after former Duke assistant Nolan Smith left Scheyer’s staff to take a position as assistant under Kenny Payne at Louisville.

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