Larranaga was in the midst of his 14th season on the job, and has his Hurricanes at just 4-8 on the year after being predicted to finish sixth in the ACC preseason poll.
On Thursday, he held a press conference explaining his reasoning for stepping away from his role as head coach.
“It’s really hard to to put into words why I’ve decided to do this but it’s because of my love of a basketball. I love the game. I love coaching it. I love practice every day. I love working with the players um but because I I love the game and I love the university that much I felt like okay there’s one thing you got to constantly ask yourself. Are you going to give everything you have, the commitment that it deserves? A hundred percent of yourself, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. And quite frankly, I try to do that throughout my life and throughout my time here. But I’m exhausted. I’ve tried every which way to keep this going.”
The former Bowling Green and George Mason head coach has coached 1,199 games in his career and has 716 wins in his coaching career. He won MAC Coach of the Year once, CAA Coach of the Year twice, AP Coach of the Year once, Naismith Coach of the Year once, and ACC Coach of the Year twice.
“…What shocked me beyond belief was after we made it to the final four, just 18 months ago, the very first time I met with the players, eight of them decided they were going to put their name in the portal and leave,” Larranaga said. “I said, don’t you like it here? No, I love it. I love Miami. It’s great. But the opportunity to make money someplace else created a situation that you have to begin to ask yourself as a coach, what is this all about? And the answer is it’s become professional. But it’s been my philosophy and the way I’ve approached this game is about teaching, coaching, developing relationships with young kids and trying to help them develop and prepare them for life when they’re no longer playing basketball. And my wife and I have tried to create a family atmosphere. I’ve always felt I’m an ambassador of the university. Wherever we go, we represent the University of Miami and it’s all about the ‘U.'”
Larranaga led Miami to two regular season titles in his time in the ACC. He won one conference tournament in the ACC as well. Larranaga led the Hurricanes to six NCAA tournaments in his tenure, including the 2022-23 season in which his team made the Final Four for the first time in program history. The 5-seed Hurricanes tied for first in the league that year, going 29-8 overall.
Larranaga joins former longtime ACC coaches Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Jim Boeheim, Tony Bennett, and Mike Brey who have stepped down or retired in the last few years.
