Larranaga steps down in 14th season at Miami

Jim Larranaga has stepped down as Miami‘s men’s basketball coach, the school announced Thursday.

Larranaga, who turned 75 in October, took over at Miami in 2011. In his 14 seasons at the helm, he led the Hurricanes to six NCAA tournaments and four Sweet 16 appearances — including a Final Four run in 2023. Miami went 11-6 in NCAA tournament games during Larranaga’s tenure and won two ACC regular-season championships.

Veteran assistant Bill Courtney has been appointed interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

“After more than fifty years in college coaching, it is simply time,” Larranaga said in a statement. “There is never a great moment to step away, but I owe it to our student-athletes, our staff and the University of Miami to make this move now when my heart is simply no longer in the game and I owe it to Liz, Jay, Jon, and my grandchildren to be a greater part of their lives. The University needs a new leader of the program, one who is both adept at and embracing of the new world of intercollegiate athletics. It has been the honor of a lifetime to be a part of the Hurricane Family and to represent this world-class institution. Most importantly, I have been so blessed to have coached the hundreds of young men who chose to wear the UM jersey and who have gone on to flourish in their respective journeys. I will always be a Cane.”

The 2022-23 season was the best in program history, as the Hurricanes won the ACC regular-season title and reached the program’s first Final Four — one year after going to the program’s first Elite Eight. Miami earned a 5-seed in the NCAA tournament, but then knocked off No. 4 seed Indiana, No. 1 seed Houston and No. 2 seed Texas en route to the Final Four, where it lost to eventual national champion UConn.

Since that Final Four appearance, though, it has struggled. The Hurricanes entered last season ranked No. 13 in the preseason AP poll but missed the postseason entirely after going 15-17. They lost their final 10 games of the campaign. Larranaga had eight players — all of whom said they were happy at Miami — enter the transfer portal after the Hurricanes went to the Final Four in 2023.

“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,” Larranaga said. “And the answer is it’s become professional.”

Miami is just 4-8 this season, with losses in eight of its past nine games, including home defeats to Charleston Southern and Mount St. Mary’s. Jalil Bethea, who became the program’s highest-ranked recruit in nearly 40 years when he committed in September 2023, has started just one game.

“I’m exhausted,” Larranaga said. “I’ve tried every which way to keep this going.”

Before taking over at Miami in 2011, Larranaga was the head coach at George Mason for 14 seasons. He guided the Patriots to a Final Four appearance in 2006 as a No. 11 seed — beating the likes of Michigan State, North Carolina and UConn along the way. He won four CAA regular-season championships and three conference tournament titles at George Mason, making five trips to the NCAA tournament.

The New York native also spent time as the head coach at Bowling Green and served as an assistant coach at Davidson and Virginia, where he coached three-time national player of the year Ralph Sampson.

Larranaga becomes the sixth longtime ACC coach to step down since April 2021, following North Carolina’s Roy Williams, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Notre Dame’s Mike Brey, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim and Virginia’s Tony Bennett.

Larranaga will be offered a role within the university in the coming weeks, Miami athletic director Dan Radakovich said.

“It’s still all about The U,” Larranaga said.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.