Former UVA Assistant Jim Larranaga Stepping Down as Head Coach at Miami

Matt Newton | 16 Hours Ago

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Another longtime head coach is leaving the Atlantic Coast Conference. Former Virginia assistant coach Jim Larranaga announced on Thursday that he is stepping down as head coach of the Miami men's basketball program, effective immediately. Associate head coach Bill Courtney will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the 2024-2025 season.

Larranaga was in his 14th season as head coach of the Hurricanes and leaves as the program's winningest head coach with a 274-174 record. He coached Miami to six NCAA Tournament appearances, four Sweet 16 appearances, the program's first trips to the Elite Eight (2022) and the Final Four (2023) as well as two ACC regular season titles and the 2013 ACC Tournament Championship.

After reaching the Final Four in 2023, Miami entered the 2023-2024 season as the No. 13 team in the country in the preseason AP Top 25, but the Hurricanes wound up going 15-17 and lost 10 games in a row to end the season, a streak that started with a 60-38 loss at Virginia on February 5th in what ended up being the final matchup between Jim Larranaga and Tony Bennett. After experiencing significant roster turnover this offseason, Miami went 4-8 to start the season and has lost eight of its last nine, most recently falling to Mount St. Mary's in overtime last Saturday.

In his press conference on Thursday, Larranaga indicated that the challenges of navigating NIL and the transfer portal in the modern era of intercollegiate athletics were major factors in his decision, similar to the reasoning given by other longtime head coaches who have stepped down or retired in recent years, including Tony Bennett.

Jim Larrañaga on why he’s stepping down:

"I'm exhausted... What shocked me beyond belief, was after we made the Final Four, 8 of my players said they were gonna leave. You have to ask yourself, as a coach, what is this all about?"pic.twitter.com/KQ7mU5ykfN

— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) December 26, 2024

"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."

The Atlantic Coast Conference has been particularly impacted by the departures of long-tenured head coaches. Since April of 2021, the ACC has lost Roy Williams (North Carolina), Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Mike Brey (Notre Dame), Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), and Tony Bennett (Virginia).

Larranaga served as an assistant to Terry Holland at Davidson for five years, then reunited with Holland on his staff at Virginia a few years later, remaining in Charlottesville for seven seasons. Larranaga coached Ralph Sampson and was on the staff at UVA when the team won the 1980 NIT and went to the Final Four in 1981 and 1984.

Larranaga then served as the head coach at Bowling Green from 1986 to 1997, then George Mason from 1997 to 2011, coaching the Patriots to 13-straight winning seasons and the crowning achievement of his career, leading George Mason to the Final Four in 2006 as a No. 11 seed, beating Michigan State, North Carolina, Wichita State and No. 1 UConn to get there.

Jim Larranaga has a 744-508 overall record as a head coach.