Jim Larranaga steps down as Miami head coach

Jim Larranaga steps down as Miami head coach

Miami head coach Jim Larranaga is stepping down from his position, effective immediately, Michelle Kaufman of The Miami Herald was among the first to report Thursday.

“I’m exhausted,” he said Thursday. “What shocked me beyond belief, was after we made the Final Four, eight of my players said they were gonna leave. You have to ask yourself, as a coach, what is this all about?”

Miami is off to a 4-8 start this season, with all eight of their losses coming over their last nine games. It most recently lost by four points in overtime at home to Mount St. Mary’s, who is ranked as the 235th-best team, per KenPom’s metrics. Its four wins have all come against teams who currently rank outside KenPom’s top-250: Fairleigh Dickinson (330), Binghamton (303), Coppin State (362) and Presbyterian (254).

The program is two years removed from their first-ever Final Four run, losing to the eventual-national champion UConn as the No. 5 seed in their region. They picked up wins over Drake (No. 12 seed), Indiana (4), top-seeded Houston and Texas (2). That came one year after the program’s second-ever Elite Eight run under Larranaga, who became the program’s head coach ahead of the 2011-12 season.

In 14 seasons as Miami’s head coach, he went 274-174, 54 more than Bruce Hale (1954-1957), who held the program record in wins for over five decades. He totaled eight 20-win seasons with two regular season conference championships and one ACC Tournament title in 2012-13, his second year with the program.

The longtime head coach also amassed 273 wins at George Mason (14 seasons) and 169 at Bowling Green State (10 seasons). He went 716-483 at the Division-I level, going to the NCAA Tournament 11 times with two Final Four appearances.

He’ll forever be known as a coaching legend down in South Florida, taking George Mason and Miami–both good basketball programs–to new heights during his tenure. Best of luck with your future endeavors, Jim.

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