ACC Basketball: Ranking all 15 head coaches in 2023 after recent changes
By Joey Loose
2. Jim Larranaga – Miami
Born in the Bronx, Larranaga has done impressive work in his career-long since leaving his home state. He starred at Providence in the early 70’s and was a key part of the Virginia staff back when Ralph Sampson was their star. After a long run as head coach at Bowling Green, he had even greater success at George Mason. He would take the Patriots to a Cinderella run to the Final Four as an 11-seed back in 2006 and accepted the Miami job five seasons later.
In just his second year with the Hurricanes, he led Miami to ACC regular season and tournament titles and a Sweet Sixteen bid, but he’s outdone himself these last few seasons. Last year’s squad advanced to the Elite Eight as an upstart 10-seed, but this year’s team got Larranaga back to the Final Four seventeen years after getting there with George Mason. His work at Miami has been legendary and he’s responsible for a significant portion of the Hurricanes’ postseason success.
When Larranaga steps away from the game, he’ll be doing so with quite the coaching legacy. His run with George Mason is one of the best Cinderella stories in modern times, and leading this year’s Miami team to their first Final Four is another impressive feat. Larranaga hasn’t always had a winning team or a dynamic roster at Miami, but everything came together this season and he’s gone down in history yet again.