The Atlantic Coast Conference has always been known for basketball.
Lately, it’s been defined by its men’s coaches abruptly retiring.
On Thursday, Miami coach Jim Larranaga announced he was stepping down effective immediately, just two years after leading the Hurricanes to the Final Four. He joined Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Mike Brey and Tony Bennett as ACC coaches who have quit since 2020. Assistant coach Bill Courtney was named the team’s interim coach for the rest of the season.
“I’m exhausted,” Larranaga said at his press conference.
The 75-year-old gained national recognition in 2006 when he led 11th-seeded George Mason to the 2006 Final Four, which remains one of the greatest Cinderella stories in the history of March Madness. But like his departed peers, Larranaga has struggled to adapt to the modern landscape of name, image and likeness and the transfer portal, which he cited as his primary reasons for retiring. The Hurricanes started the season 4–8 after a 15–17 mark the previous season.
“What shocked me beyond belief, was after we made the Final Four, eight of my players said they were gonna leave,” he said.
Larranaga added that none of the players who decided to transfer were upset with him or were unhappy at Miami.
“The opportunity to make money somewhere else created a situation that you had to ask yourself as a coach: What is this about?” he added. “The answer is that it’s become professional.”
Larranaga cited a phone call with an agent who represented a player he wanted telling him he needed to get to $1.1 million in NIL (name, image, and likeness) payments. Conversations like that led the coach to believe he wouldn’t be able to succeed in the modern landscape.
“I just didn’t feel like I could successfully navigate this whole new world that I was dealing with because my conversations were ridiculous,” Larranaga said.
Larranaga said he doesn’t mind the transfer portal as a concept, but players transferring to a new school every year contributed to his fatigue. He said his fulfillment as a coach came from taking a so-so player as a freshman and developing them into a great one by the time they graduate, citing former player and current Charlotte Hornets guard Isaiah Wong as an example.
Many of his peers made similar comments on the way out the door. Bennett abruptly retired before the start of this season, citing the “current environment” in a tearful press conference.
Larranaga signed a four-year contract extension in 2023 shortly after leading the Hurricanes to their only Final Four in program history, but the specifics of it weren’t public. (Miami is a private university and does not have to disclose coach pay.) His 744 wins ranked in the top 30 in NCAA history among coaches who spent at least five years in Division I, and he racked up triple-digit wins at Miami, George Mason, and Bowling Green.
Unless Courtney gets the interim coaching tag removed for the full time job, Miami should have plenty of interested suitors for the job given its location, local talent, and ACC affiliation for basketball. In a statement, Miami said it was in discussions with Larranaga about keeping him involved with the university in a different capacity and plans to honor him in the coming months.
