Report: Jim Larranaga hires Charlotte assistant Kotie Kimble to Miami staff

Jim Larranaga has made a big addition to his Miami staff. According to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, the Hurricanes coach has added Charlotte assistant Kotie Kimble to his Miami staff as an assistant coach.

“Sources: Miami’s Jim Larranaga has hired Charlotte’s Kotie Kimble as an assistant coach,” revealed Rothstein on Saturday.

Over the last five seasons, Kimble has helped the 49ers steadily improve. According to the program’s website, the assistant coach was a huge factors in Charlotte signing the top-ranked recruiting class in Conference USA in each of the last four years. 

Additionally, Kimble has wide-spread respect among the conference. In a poll of at least 20 Conference USA coaches from Stadium and Jeff Goodman, Kimble was named one of the Top Assistant Coaches in the conference.

Last season, Kimble helped the program have their best season since he joined the staff. The 49ers amassed a 17-14 record, going over .500 in their conference for the first time since the 2009-10 season.

After multiple seasons of giving his all to Charlotte, Kotie Kimble will be taking his talents to Miami. Jim Larranaga sees something in the young coach, and he’s giving him his biggest chance yet.

More on Kotie Kimble, Miami Hurricanes

Moreover, the news of Kotie Kimble to the University of Miami comes after former Hurricanes associate head coach Chris Caputo finalized a deal to become George Washington’s new head coach, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. He had spent two decades with Hurricanes’ head coach Jim Larranaga at two different schools.

Miami is fresh off their first Elite Eight run in school history and Caputo capitalized on that. In July of 2020, a group of ACC coaches named him a top five assistant in the league, according to a poll conducted by Stadium.

Continuing, the 41-year old assistant coach played a critical role in building both Miami and George Mason into perennial NCAA tournament programs. In guiding both George Mason and Miami to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, he became the first associate head coach to lead two different programs to the Elite Eight as double digit seeds. Caputo also has strong recruiting ties to the talent rich DC area.

George Washington recently fired head coach Jamion Christian after three seasons with the Colonials. Caputo will be the team’s third head basketball coach in the past six seasons.