Jai Lucas Gives Miami Basketball Coaching Staff High Praise.
With head coach Jai Lucas leading a new regime for Miami Hurricanes men’s basketball, he has had to quickly fill out his roster and his staff to fit his vision for the program. One of the assistant coaches he has quickly formed a close bond with who he believes will be key for player development, is his new assistant coach, Andrew Moran. The two spoke highly of each other and talked about what each coach brings to the table from their own perspective.
“It’s hard, when you think of yourself as a successful assistant coach, which I did. You always want to find somebody who’s like you,” Lucas said. “But I ended up just finding everybody who had a little bit of me in them. So, a guy like [assistant coach] Andrew Moran, I’ve always been big on player development and skill development and he’s one of the best in the country.
Moran also raved about the kind of coach and person that his new boss is:
“Even before we had conversations, I knew what type of person he was, so that was exciting. But when he said the foundation of the team would be player development and then [the fact] he’s a defensive guy, that was just it for me,” . “Sometimes people don’t think you can have player development [in the transfer portal era], but I’m a firm believer that even if you have a couple of weeks, you have a month, you have two months, you have three months, you can really help players improve their game and really have them be ready for the season. … Hopefully, we’re going to get most of our guys [here] in June and we’ll have time to really focus in on the player development aspect and have them ready. But really, player development and him being a defensive guy got me very excited in terms of philosophy.
The assistant coach also spoke about how Lucas builds relationships with the people around him:
“He just gets the job done. He goes in there and I think what he does best is create relationships with the guys,” Moran said. “Even the guys that maybe he hasn’t gotten in the past, he still has a relationship with them because he’s done such a great job. So, I mean, if you’re going up against him, good luck because he goes in, he’s relentless and he really makes sure that he is connected with those players. I think that’s why they feel comfortable when they decide to go where he is. So, I’m excited to see what he does here because obviously, he’s been one of the top recruiters in the country for the last three, last five, last 10 years, you know? And I’m excited because I think I can do a pretty good job myself as well and we’ve got other guys [on staff] that have recruited at a high level, so putting us all together helps us to, hopefully, bring in some high-level guys and have a lot of succesThe assistant coach also spoke about how Lucas builds relationships with the people around him:
“He just gets the job done. He goes in there and I think what he does best is create relationships with the guys,” Moran said. “Even the guys that maybe he hasn’t gotten in the past, he still has a relationship with them because he’s done such a great job. So, I mean, if you’re going up against him, good luck because he goes in, he’s relentless and he really makes sure that he is connected with those players. I think that’s why they feel comfortable when they decide to go where he is. So, I’m excited to see what he does here because obviously, he’s been one of the top recruiters in the country for the last three, last five, last 10 years, you know? And I’m excited because I think I can do a pretty good job myself as well and we’ve got other guys [on staff] that have recruited at a high level, so putting us all together helps us to, hopefully, bring in some high-level guys and have a lot of success.
