Fresh Combinations Power NCAA Basketball; Coaches Embracing NIL: New Era in Recruitment!
Coaches like Jai Lucas at Miami are getting head-coaching jobs because they are more relatable to players. They also understand NIL in the modern era and are able to adapt.
CHARLOTTE, N. C. — The idea to make Jai Lucas the youngest coach at the power conference level began with recruits Miami didn’t even land.
As athletic director Dan Radakovich and his small search committee surveyed the landscape a little more than a year ago, knowing the next Miami coach would inherit a program that had sunk to the bottom of the ACC in Jim Larrañaga’s final years and would need a complete roster overhaul, there were two paths. [ Enter Yahoo Fantasy Bracket Mayhem now for your shot at $50K ] Miami could wave millions of dollars at an experienced coach or make a strategic bet on a 37-year-old who had been responsible for Duke’s recruitment of the Boozer twins from nearby Columbus High School, had been ingrained in the complex landscape of NIL and would not command a huge salary right away. “The Boozer twins [were already headed to Duke], but could somebody continue to have that kind of relationship with young people given the world we live in right now?
” Radakovich told Yahoo Sports. “When you have coaches my age or Coach Larrañaga’s age, you have to reprogram yourself. These folks are just getting programmed, and that’s where I thought Jai was going to really shine.
” He has. Among all the teams who qualified for the NCAA tournament as an at-large, few have been more surprising than Miami, which earned a No. 7 seed in the West regional after going 25-8 in Lucas’ first season.
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