As Final Four nears, Jim Larranaga says his age is 'just a number'

As Miami gets set for a Final Four showdown with UConn, coach Jim Larranaga is back in a familiar spot, though it’s been quite some time. This is not his first Final Four appearance.

Larranaga guided George Mason to the Final Four back in 2006.

But though Larranaga has aged since then, he doesn’t feel a lick older when it comes to coaching college basketball. And by the sound of it he plans to do that for a long, long time.

“I might be 73 years old, but I think age is just a number,” Larranaga said. “I just love doing what I’m doing. I love coaching basketball. I’ve done it for 51 years. And I hope to do it a lot longer. And what makes it so enjoyable are the players.”

Few coaches embody the coach as teacher mentality as well as Larranaga, who is a relatively soft-spoken, mild-mannered coach. He teaches with respect and understanding moreso than fire and brimstone.

However, he is highly effective at it. His results bear that out over the years, as he has won four different conference coach of the year awards and been named the Naismith and AP College Coach of the Year in the past.

That makes his style well worth paying attention to.

“I tell the players all the time, the court is my classroom,” Larranaga said. “And you are my student. And I’m going to teach you as much as I can. And learn as much as you can, improve as much as you can because all these guys want to play beyond college.

“They all want to be professional basketball players. And the best way to do that, no matter how good you are when you come into a college setting, is get better. Improve. Increase your stock, they say.”

As his track record at Miami lengthens, players are beginning to see that as they watch their peers develop. The ‘Canes have several excellent examples on this year’s team alone.

Larranaga pointed them out ahead of the Final Four.

“I enjoy the growth. If you look at an Isaiah Wong, see where he was as a freshman, where he is now, you can’t imagine it,” he said. “The guy has gotten so much better in everything.

“And Wooga Poplar is on that same track. He didn’t do as much as a freshman as he probably hoped for, but we could see his potential, and now he’s demonstrating that, and by next year he’s going to be a monster.”

Miami will get the chance to put Larranaga’s show on display in the Final Four when it takes on UConn on Saturday night at 8:49 ET. The game will be nationally televised on CBS.