By Aidan Joly
We had a morning-after-Christmas surprise on Thursday morning, as it was announced that longtime Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga has stepped down and retired amid his 14th season with the team.
The time had clearly come for the 75-year-old Larrañaga. He made the Final Four with the Hurricanes in 2023 but struggled last season and has limped to a 4-8 record to start this season. It was clearly time for him to be done.
That slow last few years shouldn’t take away from his brilliant career. He went to the NCAA tournament 11 times, the second weekend of the tournament five times, two Final Four appearances – including one of the most improbable runs when he took George Mason to the national semifinal game in 2006 – and finished his career with 744 wins between Miami, George Mason, Bowling Green and American International. It’s a borderline Hall of Fame resume.
Taking a look at the Miami job. It’s a very good gig. The school has deep NIL pockets, a great brand recognition, it’s a very desirable place to live for both players and coaches, and the next coach will have an opportunity to win immediately.
That all being said, who are some early names? Let’s take a look.
Will Wade, McNeese head coach
Will Wade keeps pumping great teams out in McNeese, and for as long as he does so, his name will keep popping up with these types of jobs.
Since being fired at LSU for NCAA violations, Wade has been winning at the lower levels. He got McNeese to the NCAA tournament last season. The Cowboys are just 6-5 so far this season but have played a very difficult schedule and should run the table in league play.
Miami has very deep NIL pockets, something Wade would be able to thrive with. There’s baggage there – and he’s still under a show-cause penalty until June 2025 – but he may be an ideal candidate for the Hurricanes.
Richard Pitino, New Mexico head coach
Pitino, still only 42, has done a lot of great things as a head coach. He has South Florida connections; he got his first head coaching job at nearby FIU and spent time as an assistant under Billy Donovan at Florida.
After a lackluster tenure at Minnesota, he brought New Mexico to the NCAA tournament for the first time in a decade last March.
In 2023, Yahoo Sports reported that Pitino interviewed for the vacant job at South Florida and turned down an offer. Might he be interested in heading back to the Sunshine State? His dad loves it there too.
Anthony Grant, Dayton head coach
This is a name that was immediately thrown around as a potential replacement.
Grant, a Miami native, has done an amazing job at Dayton. He has won 159 games since he took over there in 2017 and had the Flyers as a national title contender in 2020 until you-know-what happened. He got Dayton to the second round of the tournament last year and has them on track to get back to the tournament this year.
Grant began his coaching career coaching high school ball in Miami and was a longtime assistant at Florida. Grant is a Dayton alumni, which might make things tough. Will this job entice him enough for him to come home?
Chris Caputo, George Washington head coach
Caputo doesn’t have a shiny win-loss record at George Washington (42-35), but he a direct member of the Larrañaga coaching tree and if Larrañaga has any sort of say in the search process, you would think Caputo’s name would come up.
He was an assistant with Larrañaga at George Mason from 2005-2011 and then followed him to Miami, where he remained until 2022 when he got the job at GW.
GW is off to an 11-2 start this season, but has a very, very low strength of schedule. He is admittedly in a lower tier than the three other guys mentioned, but if he can get to 10 or 12 wins in the Atlantic 10, he could play himself into contention.
Jim Crutchfield, Nova Southeastern head coach
Outside the box? Crutchfield is the head coach at Division II Nova Southeastern, just down the road from Miami.
Arriving in 2017, he has made Nova Southeastern into a Division II powerhouse with a 179-24 record since then, including winning the national title in 2023 with a spotless 36-0 record. The Sharks returned to the title game last spring but lost. As a head coach, he has a winning percentage of .864. Not bad.
It is certainly outside the box. But look at Ben McCollum and Drake. McCollum was a powerhouse Division II coach and has the Bulldogs at 11-0 in his first season in Division I (McCollum could be a candidate for this job as well but we will see).
Someone who has won at an extremely high level, and he’s right in your backyard. It’s at least worth a feeler.
Bill Courtney, interim head coach
It’s unlikely, but just about every time you have to throw the interim coach on the list.
Courtney will be the interim coach for the remainder of the season, it was announced Thursday. Courtney is a longtime Larrañaga assistant and came to Miami to work for him again in 2019.
Courtney has been a head coach before at Cornell from 2010 to 2016, but finished that tenure with a mark of 60-113, including an ugly 27-57 in the Ivy League.
Athletic director Dan Radakovic is expected to conduct a national search for a new coach. Courtney will be the first to audition for the job. Miami is 4-8 with losses to Charleston Southern and Mount St. Mary’s. If he can turn the season around then he should get a look for the full-time job, but that feels like a tall task.
Prediction: The allure of coming home is enough for Anthony Grant, and he lands the gig.
AJ Hoops 