Jai Lucas Honored with Nations Top Coaching Award
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The Miami Hurricanes ended the 2024-25 season as the worst team in the ACC and one of the worst teams in college basketball. 7-24, the worst season in program history, and a change was needed.
Enter Jai Lucas, and now the Miami Hurricanes have a projection of being one of the top basketball schools in the country. The Canes finished their first season with Lucas as a round of 32 team, nearly topping Purdue to reach the Sweet 16.
Now Lucas has been honored and named the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year, presented annually to the nation’s top first-time head coach in Division I, College Insider announced Thursday.
Lucas guided Miami to a 26-9 record and a No. 3 seed in the ACC Tournament following a 13-5 year in league play. Miami’s 19-win improvement from the previous season tied the NCAA record for largest turnaround.
The Hurricanes finished the regular season with 24 wins, flipping last season's record, matching a program record, and posted 15 victories at the Watsco Center, the second-most in school history.
Lucas also became the fastest first-time head coach in the ACC to reach 20 wins since Bill Guthridge (North Carolina, 1997-98) and led Miami to its 13th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.
Lucas will now have a new expectation entering year two. He will attack the transfer portal and bring in a five-star recruit, and maybe another one, as he prepares for his sophomore season.
This time, these expectations are set in stone, and a better team looks to be in order. The Canes will have Dante Allen and, as a projection, Shelton Henderson back as two key pieces to the puzzle that Lucas is putting together.
They will be without their two leading scorers this season. No Tre Donaldson and Malik Reneau to battle with, as others will have to step up and take on a new role.
It will also be the perfect time for Henderson to step into that role and improve in areas that allow him to be a better player. This starts with him shooting the ball and having Lucas push him to a new level that will allow him to be viewed as a lottery pick for the 2027 NBA Draft.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.
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