mostly basketball, for nine years and was a high school principal for six years before coming to the University of Kentucky in 1942 as an instructor in physical education.
Soon thereafter, the war intervened and Lancaster saw 26 months' Navy duty, rising from apprentice seaman to Lieutenant (Senior Grade). Returning to UK, he became a part-time assistant to the Wildcats' famous cage mentor, Adolph Rupp, in addition to carrying on his teaching duties and gaining his master's degree. He also served as Kentucky's baseball coach in 1946-47 and picked up the assignment again starting with the 1951 campaign.
He was promoted to full-time Assistant Varsity Basketball Coach in 1948 upon Coach Rupp's recommendation. In addition to his coaching duties, Lancaster manages to sandwich in a large slice of traveling. Besides checking on the nation's best high school cagers as potential material for future Wildcat national champion crews, his travel stems from a plan to extensively scout upcoming opponents. Coach Rupp was one of the first in the country to inaugurate this widespread scouting system in basketball and believes it has contributed materially to Kentucky's past success in carrying off championships with almost reckless abandon.
Lancaster also traveled to Greece in the summer of 1951 on a special athletic assignment for the U. S. State Department. The mission called for the Kentucky aide to act as an advisor to Greek Basketball Federation officials on Olympic procedure and other matters. He also conducted numerous clinics, coaching schools and gave public lectures on the cage sport as played in the U.S.A.
Lancaster's coaching success with his freshman teams has been commendable. The yearlings have lost only five contests under his tutelage the past six seasons against formidable competition that included the more elite junior college clubs and top-notch service quintets.