COACH… The Living Legend... WHY?

Miami head basketball coach Jim Larranaga shocked the college basketball world the day after Christmas when he announced his immediate resignation.

After 53 years of college coaching, forty as a head coach, “Coach L” decided it was time to step down.

WHY? What triggered his decision?

"It's 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 but because 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."

"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. 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’.

Miami director of athletics Dan Radakovich spoke frankly about the changing environment of college athletics.

“Like all of us in intercollegiate athletics, there is so much uncertainty, changing rules, name-image-likeness, demands from agents, unlimited transfers,” said Radakovich. “All of which takes so much time, effort and energy away from actually coaching. It becomes a challenge to create a team atmosphere.”

“In past years years, we have seen legendary basketball coaches step away from the game. Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Jay Wright, Jim Boeheim, Mike Brey and most recently Tony Elliott”

“In seems clear to me that coaching in 2024 is a much different profession than it was a few short years ago.”

We will examine “WHAT’s WRONG?” with the system in part three of “COACH… THE LIVING LEGEND.”

GO CANES!