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

The coach is set to fill Jon Scheyer’s last assistant coaching spot on his staff.
Duke Hiring Coach From John Calipari’s Staff, per Report
Duke Hiring Coach From John Calipari’s Staff, per Report /
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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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For more Duke coverage, go to Blue Devil Country. 


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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.