Miami men’s basketball coach Jim Larranaga announced his retirement on Thursday, saying he could not “successfully navigate” the new world of college basketball with the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness.
“I just didn’t feel like 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 if you’re willing to go to $1.1M’ and that be the norm,’” Larranaga, 75, told reporters, per Manny Navarro of The Athletic.
“You’re talking to people that expect a million dollars for playing college basketball.”
Larranaga, a Bronx, N.Y. native who also led upstart George Mason to the Final Four in 2006 and Miami there in 2023, becomes the latest high-profile and latest ACC coach to retire in the wake of dramatic changes to the college basketball landscape.
Virginia coach Tony Bennett stepped down before the season and legends Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, Roy Williams of North Carolina and Jim Boeheim of Syracuse retired in recent years. So did Villanova coach Jay Wright, and Alabama football coach Nick Saban.
Larranaga said the lack of transparency over NIL payments was a major factor in his decision.
“Now, you have to have a pro mentality, and you have to have a pro system in place to deal with all of it, if we’re going to have agents, if we’re going to be paying substantial amounts of money, then there needs to be some accountability for that,” he said.
“Let’s pay them a reasonable salary. Make it professional and make it transparent. Right now, there’s no transparency. One of the difficult things I feel like I’m an honest guy. So if, if I’m talking to someone, I hope they’re telling me the truth.
“And in many situations, the person would tell you something, and you’d find out later, no, that’s that’s not really accurate. And you don’t know, who’s telling the truth. There’s no transparency.
“And then you find out, he was offered $100,000 you know, When there’s no transparency, there’s no professionalism in the sport. It’s a pro sport.”
Of course, it was Miami that turned the college basketball world upside down a couple of years ago when a prominent booster, John Ruiz, announced an $800,000 NIL payment for transfer Nijel Pack.
Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald first reported the news.
Associate head coach Bill Courtney, a former point guard at Bucknell, will take over in an interim basis for Larranaga, an Archbishop Molloy High School graduate who led the Hurricanes to the Final Four just two years ago. Courtney was the head coach at Cornell from 2010-16, compiling a 60–113 record, before rejoining Larranaga as an assistant at Miami. He had previously worked under Larranaga at George Mason.
Per the Herald, Larranaga was under contract through the 2026-27 season.
“I literally just found out about this walking over here; I’m shocked still about it,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Thursday morning, per the Herald. “Coach Larranaga is a friend of mine. I think so highly of him. The way that he’s able to build a program that has a sense of community and we all rallied around the basketball program. I live in Coral Gables, so I’ve been part of this movement. You could just feel it the last several years. It’s been a lot of fun. He wins wherever he goes, but he does it in a way that it’s a fun brand of basketball. Fans get behind it, the players love playing in his system. I’m just stunned by the news.”
Miami is 4-8 on the season and lost at home to Mount St. Mary’s last Saturday.
Larranaga is 274-174 in his 14 years at Miami after previously coaching at George Mason, Bowling Green and American. He is the winningest coach in program history and led the Hurricanes to six NCAA Tournaments, and four Sweet 16s.
As the Herald pointed out, Miami lost guards Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller to graduation and the program was ravaged by the transfer portal after last season: Norchad Omier left for Baylor, Wooga Poplar for Villanova and Bensley Joseph for Providence. Jakai Robinson and Favour Aire went to Bryant, Christian Watson to Southern Miss, AJ Casey to Saint Lous and Michael Nwoko to Mississippi State. Freshman Kyshawn George was picked No. 24 in the NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards.
Larranaga told reporters he was stunned when eight players asked to transfer.
“I said, ‘Don’t you like it yet?’” he said. “‘No, I love it. I love Miami. It’s great.’ But 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? And the answer is, it’s become professional.”
The Hurricanes next play at Boston College on New Year’s Day.
“The University of Miami is committed to investing in men’s basketball. It is a priority and will continue to be a priority within our department and our university,” Miami AD Dan Radakovich said, per Navarro.
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter and Basketball Insider for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.
