Joel Justus is leaving Kentucky. What does that mean for top UK recruit Skyy Clark?

Joel Justus, a face of Kentucky’s basketball recruiting efforts over the past few years, is reportedly leaving his job as an assistant coach at UK for the top assistant spot at Arizona State.

What does that mean for five-star point guard Skyy Clark and his future with the Wildcats?

Justus had been tasked by UK Coach John Calipari as the program’s frontman for young recruits. He built relationships with high school players and their families early in the recruiting process, and he helped the Cats land several top prospects in his five years as an assistant coach.

In Clark’s case, Justus was there before he’d even played a game during his sophomore year of high school. He fostered a close relationship with Clark and his family, and that culminated in the 6-foot-3 playmaker’s commitment to Kentucky last fall.

Kenny Clark, the recruit’s father, spoke to the Herald-Leader on Thursday afternoon, shortly after the news of Justus’ departure became public. There were no hard feelings on the Clark family’s end of things, and it appears there is no reason for UK fans to worry that Justus’ exit will lead to Clark reopening his recruitment.

“It sounds like he’s going to be the lead assistant to the head coach, so it sounds like it’s a tick up the career ladder for him. So that’s good for him. More power to him,” Clark’s father said. “We’re going to miss him. We had developed a great relationship with him, and that relationship will still be solid. But our plans don’t change.”

Clark added that there should be no speculation on whether Clark will stay committed to the Cats.

“We aren’t making any changes,” he said, adding that Clark will stay in the 2022 class, turning down an opportunity to reclassify to 2021 and play college ball next season.

Clark’s father also didn’t try to diminish the bond the family had built with Justus, who came to UK as a director of analytics in 2014 and was promoted to assistant coach two years later. He first started recruiting Clark in 2019, when the backcourt standout was a promising talent on the West Coast but still had three years of high school ball in front of him.

Clark had a sensational sophomore campaign and moved to the Nashville area to play his junior season. He got off to a stellar start there, too — breaking the school’s scoring record in his very first game — before shutting down his junior season due to COVID-19 concerns.

In between his sophomore and junior years, Clark became the first recruit to earn a UK scholarship offer during the NCAA’s COVID-related dead period and the first player from the 2022 class to commit to the Wildcats. ESPN ranks him as the No. 13 overall player in the 2022 class.

All along the way, Justus kept close tabs on Clark and his family.

“That’s our guy,” Clark’s father said. “We’ve spent the last 18 months developing a great relationship with him. So, it hurts.

“Skyy has a great relationship with Coach Cal, too. He and Skyy talk quite a bit. But, in the case of Joel, he talked to us dang near every day. And that’ll be different. You build a relationship with somebody that long, you can’t just be like, ‘Oh, this doesn’t bother us.’ It’s somebody we’ve gotten to know. He checked in on the rest of the family, the rest of the kids. I would ask him about his son. It was obviously a great relationship. So, yeah, it bothers us that he’s gone. You can’t just let that relationship go overnight. But Skyy does have a really good relationship with Coach Cal. And BBN.”

Calipari was able to host the family for an official visit a few weeks before the dead period began last March.

The elder Clark said the family was caught off guard by Justus’ departure, seeing reports of the possibility just the day before it became public. But he added that they look forward to meeting with the new coaching staff, which is expected to include former UK assistant Orlando Antigua, who is known as one of the top recruiters and relationship-builders in college basketball.

Clark’s father, a former pro football player, indicated the family would roll with the punches as the UK coaching carousel turns.

“Hey, look, man. I’ve played in the NFL,” he said. “I’ve literally been sitting next to teammates talking to them before lunch. And after lunch, their locker’s cleaned out. It’s business. There’s no hard feelings about business. Nobody owes us any explanation. We just want to play ball. That’s all.”