Jim Larrañaga will step down as the head coach at the University of Miami, the school announced on Thursday.
“It’s really hard to put into words why I’ve decided to do this,” Larrañaga said in a press conference. “But it’s because of my love of basketball. I love the game. I’ve loved coaching it. I love practice every day. I love working with the players. But because I love the game and I love the university that much, I felt like, okay, there’s one thing you have to constantly ask yourself: Are you going to give everything that you have? One hundred percent of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. And quite frankly, I’ve tried to do that throughout my life and throughout my time here, but I’m exhausted.”
Larrañaga cited the current state of college basketball — with the impact of NIL and the transfer portal — as the primary reason for his departure, saying, “At this point, I just didn’t feel like I could successfully navigate this whole new world that I was dealing with.”
After the Hurricanes made it to the Final Four in 2023, eight of their players decided to enter the portal, which came as a huge shock to Larrañaga. “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?” he said. “And the answer is, it’s become professional.”
Larrañaga, who turned 75 in October, has been a college head coach for nearly 40 years, spending the last 14 seasons with the Hurricanes. He led Miami to six NCAA Tournaments and the school’s first-ever Final Four appearance. The winningest coach in program history, Larrañaga posted five 25-win seasons and compiled a 274-174 overall record. In 2012-13, when the Hurricanes finished 29-7 and won both the ACC regular-season and tournament title, Larrañaga was named national coach of the year.
Miami is off to a rough start this season, dropping to 4-8 with a loss to Mount St. Mary’s on December 21. Last year’s team was ranked No. 13 in the preseason AP poll but went 15-17 and failed to make the NCAA Tournament. It ended the season on a 10-game losing streak.
In discussing the program’s recent struggles, Larrañaga again referenced the sport’s new landscape. “Going into this year, I just felt like, okay, we need to get back to where we were,” he said. “And I’ve got a great group of kids, it’s not their problem. It’s the system now or the lack of a system. I didn’t know how to navigate through this. I am all for transferring, but what the portal created is transferring every year.
“I loved having Angel Rodriguez and Sheldon McClellan and Kamari Murphy transfer in and spending a year here learning to live and love Miami and help us because they knew the system and they bought into the philosophy that we shared with them. They were all in,” he continued. “Now it’s just so different. Guys come in and it’s a quick turnaround and you can’t really lay the foundation for what I’m about in that short a period of time. So I felt like if I can’t do this as well as I’d like or I feel the university deserves because of the tremendous support that we get, then maybe there’s someone out there that can.”
Prior to joining Miami, Larrañaga was the head coach at George Mason (1997-2011) and Bowling Green (1986-97). He guided George Mason to its first and only Final Four in 2006. He is one of four coaches (three active) in NCAA history with 150-plus wins at three Division I schools.
Veteran assistant coach Bill Courtney will take over as Miami’s interim head coach. The Hurricanes play at Boston College on New Year’s Day.
“It’s been an honor to be the head basketball coach at the University of Miami,” Larrañaga said. “I’ve loved every minute of it.”
