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Kentucky Basketball Creates New Assistant Coach/Recruiting Position

Rumors started swirling earlier this week that John Calipari was targeting Texas assistant coach Jai Lucas to join the Kentucky men’s basketball staff as an assistant coach.

On Thursday, Kentucky posted a new job titled Special Assistant to Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator.

With the expectation that Bruiser Flint will fill the open assistant coaching position left by Kenny Payne’s move to the NBA, Kentucky doesn’t have a full-time assistant coaching position open for the 2020-21 season.

 

Related: John Calipari Targeting Lucas to Join Coaching Staff

That’s where the new job created comes into play and the lead candidate to fill it is Lucas if Calipari can pry him away from Texas.

Payne’s departure left not only giant shoes to fill on the UK bench, but $900,000 to find possible replacements.

Adding Flint and Lucas to the staff would cost Kentucky somewhere north of $600,000 with Lucas getting a raise. Flint’s base salary at Indiana last season was $307,530 while Lucas’ reported salary at Texas was $217,500.

The job summary is:

The Special Assistant to Men’s Basketball Coach/Recruiting Coordinator duties include but not limited to: recruiting evaluation and administration, scouting future opponents and provides feedback directly to head coach and staff outside of practice and competition, and providing additional counsel on all aspects of men’s basketball program outside of practice and competition. Responsibilities include basketball program observation; advance scouting; advising and guidance provision; and special projects coordination.

If the deal with Lucas gets done, look for it to become official sometime next week.

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