With the college basketball season coming to a close, head-coaching positions throughout the country are starting to open up.
Among those with an opening is the University of North Carolina Wilmington, who is reportedly courting school alumni and current Kentucky Wildcats assistant coach Joel Justus.
Hoopdirt.com reports Justus is a name “gaining steam” at UNCW at the moment. The UNCW Seahawks play in the Colonial Athletic Association and are coming off a 10-22 season that led to the firing of head coach C.B. McGrath midseason.
The Kentucky assistant is a North Carolina native and played four seasons at UNCW from 2001-04. In that time, he helped the Seahawks appear in the NCAA Tournament twice and the NIT once.
After his playing career. Justus stayed in the Tar Heel state as an assistant at Elon University, then as a head coach at Davidson Day High School in Davidson, North Carolina.
Justus has been on John Calipari’s Kentucky staff since 2014 and has helped guide the Cats to a Final Four and two Elite Eight berths.
Losing Justus would be a loss for a Kentucky staff that has been as stable as any the past handful of years.