SAN DIEGO - JayDee Luster, a native of San Diego and 2007 graduate of Hoover High School, has been named an assistant coach for the San Diego State men's basketball program. Head coach Brian Dutcher made the official announcement on Friday morning.
"We all know JayDee and he comes highly recommended," said Coach Dutcher. "He has built a reputation as a great recruiter, and hopefully, being a member of our program allows him to enhance that reputation even more. JayDee is also known to be excellent in skill development and checks all the boxes for what we were looking for in this position. He is not that far removed from where the current players are, and I think that he has the ability to relate to today's players on a different level."
"I'd like to thank Coach Dutcher, the staff, and everyone who was involved in this process," said Luster. "I couldn't be more excited for this opportunity, especially since it affords me the chance to return to the city I grew up in and a place I have always considered my home. San Diego State is one of the premier programs on the West Coast and in the nation, and I can't wait to get started and continue to help bring in and develop the next generation of Aztecs."
Luster comes to The Mesa after spending the previous five seasons as an assistant coach at the University of the Pacific (UOP). While at UOP, he helped a program that won just nine games the year prior to his arrival, into a team which posted double digit wins in three of the next four seasons, including a single-season best 23 victories in 2019-20. Through his guidance, Jahlil Trip scored 1,223 points, while shooting 48.9 percent from the floor, and grabbed 727 rebounds from 2017-18 to 2019-20, and 10 Tigers were All-WCC honorees in his time in Stockton.
For the 2015-16 season, Luster was a member of the staff of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks serving as a player development coach designing individual drills and workouts to develop players skills on a roster which included Dirk Nowitzki and Andrew Bogut.
Luster was at Bradley University for the 2014-15 school year and served as the program's director of basketball operations. While with the Braves, he worked on advanced preparation of scouting reports, assisted with video coordination and operations, game day operations, and preparation of recruiting visits, both unofficial and official.
For the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, Luster was a graduate assistant at Arizona. In his two years on the Arizona bench, the Wildcats were 60-13 (.822), and reached the nation's No. 1 ranking for eight weeks during the 2013-14 campaign. In his first season at Arizona, the team went 27-8 and reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. In his second season in Tucson, he helped the Wildcats to a 33-5 record, the 2014 Pac-12 Conference regular-season championship and a run to the Elite 8. Luster was responsible for advance preparation of scouting reports, assisting with video coordination and operations, assistance with game day operations and preparation of unofficial and official recruiting visits.
Luster's collegiate playing career began at New Mexico State in the 2007-08 season. In his lone season in Las Cruces, he was on a team that posted a 21-14 record, 12-4 in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), and shared the WAC regular-season title. He then transferred to the University of Wyoming, where he sat out the 2008-09 season due to NCAA transfer rules. For the next three seasons, all serving as a team captain, he competed for the Cowboys. His time in Laramie, Wyo., culminated in being named the 2012 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year. Luster finished his career ranked No. 8 in Wyoming history with 344 career assists and helped lead the Cowboys to a 21-12 record as a senior, and a quarterfinal appearance in the 2012 College Basketball Invitational. In each of these three seasons at Wyoming, he led the team in assists and his 11 assists versus Peru State College on Nov. 18, 2009, still rank as the fourth most in a game in Wyoming's Arena-Auditorium history.
In six games against the Aztecs, while a member of the Wyoming program, Luster averaged 6.2 points, 3.5 assists and 2.3 rebounds. His most memorable moment playing against San Diego State came in Laramie on Jan. 9, 2010. Luster hit the go ahead 3-pointer with six seconds remaining in an 85-83 Cowboys victory. He played in 117 collegiate games, made 81 starts, and averaged 4.6 points, 3.2 assists, and 2.1 rebounds. His averages per 40 minutes played were 7.7 points, 5.4 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals.
Luster was a San Diego prep star at Hoover High School, where upon his graduation in 2007, was the all-time leader in career assists and career steals with 857 and 559, respectively. Luster completed his high school career with 1,890 points and was a three-time Student Sports Magazine All-American, a three-time all-state selection, a two-time Central League Player of the Year, a four-time All-Central League honoree and the 2004 California Freshman of the Year. He led Hoover to two league titles, two California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) finals appearances and one CIF championship. In his four years, he averaged 19.5 points, 8.8 assists, 5.8 steals and 4.3 rebounds. When his senior season ended due to injury, he was averaging 23.3 points, 7.7 assists and 7.1 steals per game. As a junior, he led Hoover to a school record 28 wins (28-6) and its first CIF San Diego Championship in 44 years.
Luster earned bachelor's degrees in social science (2011) and criminal justice (2012) at Wyoming and was awarded a master's degree in educational leadership from the University of Arizona in 2014.
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