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It looks like Kentucky basketball could be adding some young blood to its veteran coaching staff.
According to The Athletic reporter Kyle Tucker, Kentucky is trying to add Texas assistant Jai Lucas to its staff, but not in a traditional assistant coaching role.
CatsPause reporter Chris Fisher says the role will be the assistant to the head coach and seems to think the deal is done.
Hearing that with money freed up by the departure of Kenny Payne ($900K/year), John Calipari will not only replace him with Indiana assistant Bruiser Flint, but also trying to poach Texas assistant Jai Lucas, son of John Lucas, for a new off-court position Kentucky is creating.
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) August 18, 2020
Multiple sources indicate to https://t.co/zDtvmwuNcz that Kentucky basketball will add Texas assistant Jai Lucas as special assistant to the head coach.
— Chris Fisher (@ChrisFisher247) August 18, 2020
I’m not sure what kind of role the 31-year-old Lucas will have in this position, but getting him would be a nice addition to Calipari’s staff.
Lucas, who’s worked at Texas since 2013, was the lead recruiter for 2020 forward Greg Brown, a consensus top-10 recruit that picked the Longhorns over Kentucky and others.
As a college player, Lucas signed with Florida over Kentucky in the Class of 2007 recruit, but he eventually transferred to Texas.
There’s a connection with Calipari in Rick Barnes, who was the head coach at Texas when Lucas played there. Barnes also added Lucas to his staff in 2013. Calipari and Barnes are close friends, even though the former is now a rival of Kentucky at Tennessee. I’m sure Barnes recommended Lucas to Calipari.
So, what do you think? Let us know your thoughts about (finally) getting Lucas in the comments section!