Texas Basketball: 2 ex-Longhorns that could be head coach candidates

Jai Lucas, Duke assistant coach

Among the prominent former Longhorns that is currently coaching at the college hoops level, the first-year Duke Blue Devils assistant Jai Lucas is definitely a candidate worth noting. The former Texas and Kentucky Wildcats assistant coach is one of the most well-respected recruiters and rising names around the college hoops coaching landscape.

A piece from 247Sports on Jan. 5 also mentioned Lucas as a possible coaching candidate for the Longhorns.

The career for Lucas as a college hoops coach/staffer came back in the early 2010s when he served as the director of player personnel for the Longhorns.

Lucas made a name for himself in terms of his recruiting prowess during his two years serving under head coach John Calipari at Kentucky and in his four or five years under former head coach Shaka Smart at Texas.

During his time at Kentucky, Lucas was the leading recruiter with top high school prospects that the Wildcats nabbed such as five-star Richardson combo guard Cason Wallace, five-star Chandler Compass Prep (AZ) point guard TyTy Washington, and five-star Atlanta (TX) big man Daimion Collins.

Lucas also had some successes on the recruiting trail during his time at Texas, including with key prospects such as five-star Vandegrift power forward Greg Brown and top-50-ranked four-star Wolfeboro Brewster Academy big man Kai Jones.

We’re probably going to see a lot of success on the recruiting trail for Lucas under new head coach Jon Scheyer at Duke given his track record in recent years.

Moreover, Lucas’ rising prominence as an assistant coach combined with his recruiting prowess should definitely be reason enough for the Longhorns to consider him as a candidate to replace Beard.