Report: Miami basketball coach Jim Larranaga stepping down

Miami head basketball coach Jim Larranaga, who led the Hurricanes and George Mason to the Final Four, is stepping down, according to a report from the Miami Herald. The Hurricanes are 4-8 this season, and the 75-year-old Larranaga reportedly believes that it is time for a change.

College basketball insider Jon Rothstein reports that Jim Larranaga will announce his retirement at a press conference at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. According to Tim Reynolds, Bill Courtney is set to be promoted to interim head coach for the Hurricanes.

Larranaga is retiring after piling up 744 wins during his college basketball career. In addition to being a Division I head coach at George Mason and Miami, he also was the head coach at Bowling Green from 1986-1997.

Larranaga is the winningest coach in Miami basketball history. He has been with the program since the 2011-12 season. He reached the NCAA Tournament six times during his time at Miami, including making the Elite 8 in 2022 and Final 4 in 2023. However, the Hurricanes had a losing record in 2023-24 and appear on their way to having another losing season in 2024-25.

Miami started out the 2024-25 season with three straight wins, before losing seven games in a row. That stretch included losses to Drake, Charleston Southern and VCU. Larranaga and Miami did bounce back to beat Presbyterian on Dec. 15, before falling to Mount St. Mary’s in overtime on Dec. 21.

Bill Courtney, who is taking over as the head coach for Jim Larranaga, is in his fourth season with the Hurricanes. He was promoted to associate head coach in May of 2022.

Miami’s next game is at Boston College on Wednesday, Jan. 1. It will be the second ACC game for the Hurricanes, who are currently 0-1 in the league. The next home game for Miami is against Florida State on Wednesday, Jan. 8.

Jim Larranaga is one of several legendary ACC coaches to step away from college basketball in recent years, joining Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina’s Roy Williams, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim and most recently Virginia’s Tony Bennett.

There has certainly been a lot of turnover in the ACC recently, which is partly why the league has been viewed as being down in recent years.

Duke is the only team ranked in the current AP Top 25 poll as the Blue Devils are the No. 4 team in the country.