First-year head coach Jai Lucas spoke at the 2025-26 ACC Tipoff event about his path to his first head coaching job and pointed out the versatility of his background. The son of long-time basketball coach John Lucas II started his career as a grad assistant, and held the role of director of operations, assistant coach, associate head coach, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator along the way. He said that his versatile background and his vision of the future built upon a solid base left by Jim Larranaga's staff aligned nicely with what the University was looking for.
