close
close
According to AP source, Jim Larrañaga is stepping down in Miami and Bill Courtney is taking over

According to AP source, Jim Larrañaga is stepping down in Miami and Bill Courtney is taking over

CORAL GABLES, Fla — Jim Larrañaga is resigning as Miami men’s basketball coach effective immediately, a person with knowledge of the decision said Thursday.

Larrañaga will be replaced for the remainder of the season by assistant head coach Bill Courtney — one of Larrañaga’s best friends for about three decades — the person said.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the school had not made a public announcement.

A news conference was scheduled for later Thursday.

Larrañaga’s decision ends a 14-year tenure as Hurricanes coach – and likely a 41-year college career in which he won 744 games at Miami, American International, George Mason and Bowling Green. He took Miami and George Mason to the Final Four.

The Hurricanes have a 4-8 record this season and just 5-19 in their last 24 games, a stunning free fall for a program that made the Final Four just two seasons ago. Injuries and roster turnover have clearly taken their toll, and Larrañaga is one of many coaches who have expressed some level of frustration with the lack of regulation and transparency that comes with the name, image and likeness era in college sports .

Larrañaga is the second prominent coach to unexpectedly resign in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season. Tony Bennett did the same thing in Virginia in October, less than three weeks before the Cavaliers played their season opener.

When Bennett resigned, he said NIL simply changed the game for coaches, and not in a good way.

“College athletics is not doing well. That’s not it,” Bennett said in October. “And there has to be change. It won’t go back. I think I was able to do the job here the old way – that’s who I am and that’s how it was.”

Larranaga’s decision to step down makes him the latest notable veteran coach to leave the ACC in recent seasons, following the departures of several of the sport’s other giants – North Carolina’s Roy Williams in the spring of 2021, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski a year later and Jim of Syracuse Boeheim will end his 47-year tenure in 2023, and Bennett earlier this year.

It’s also the second sudden resignation from Miami’s basketball programs in 2024: Women’s coach Katie Meier surprised many at the Hurricanes when she resigned last spring after 19 seasons in Coral Gables. Meier has remained with the school as a special advisor to athletic director Dan Radakovich and as a professor.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on AP Top 25 Basketball throughout the season. Register here

___

AP College Basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *