Jim Larrañaga has stepped down as Miami’s men’s basketball coach.
Jim Larrañaga Steps Down At Miami
Jim Larrañaga explaining why he’s stepping away from UM basketball program. Makes it clear he loves Miami and the school, but the new landscape of college basketball with the portal has become too much:
“I’m exhausted.”
(🎥 @MiamiHurricanes) pic.twitter.com/QAAXho5F1r
— Will Manso (@WillManso) December 26, 2024
On Thursday, Larrañaga announced his decision to step down in the middle of his 14th season.
Larrañaga, 75, stressed that he still loves basketball and the University of Miami. However, Larranaga cited exhaustion and the transfer portal as the reasons for stepping down.
“I’m exhausted,” Larrañaga said at Miami’s press conference (via Will Manso). “I’ve tried every which way to keep this going. And I know I’m going to be asked a lot of questions, and I want to answer them before I’m even asked. What shocked me, beyond belief, was after we made it to the Final Four just 18 months ago, the first time I met with the players, eight of them decided they were going to put their name in the [transfer] portal and leave.”
Per Larrañaga, these players still loved Miami but decided to pursue opportunities elsewhere with better financial compensation.
“The opportunity to make money someplace else created a situation that you have to begin to ask yourself as a coach what is this all about,” Larrañaga said. “And the answer is, it’s become professional.”
The NIL era has seen the departure of several marquee coaches, including Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina’s Roy Williams, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, and Virginia’s Tony Bennett.
“At this point, after 53 years, I just didn’t feel that I could successfully navigate this whole new world that I was dealing with because my conversations were ridiculous with an agent saying to me, ‘Well, you can get involved [with a prospective player] if you’re willing to go to $1.1 million,’ and that would be the norm,” said Larrañaga.
Jim Larrañaga Career
Jim Larrañaga announced he’s stepping away from the @CanesHoops program, effective immediately.
Miami legend 👏 pic.twitter.com/ZCB68ERHjr
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) December 26, 2024
Larrañaga accepted the Miami head coaching position in April 2011.
Larrañaga led to the NCAA tournament in six of 13 seasons. Miami’s best season came in 2022-2023 when the Hurricanes went to the program’s first Final Four. Miami lost to eventual champion UConn.
Larrañaga 274–174 (.612) at Miami. He leaves Miami with the team at 4-8.
Before Miami, Larrañaga coached at George Mason from 1997-2011. Larrañaga famously led George Mason to the Final Four in 2011 as the No. 11 seed.
Larrañaga’s career coaching record is 745-507 (.595).
