Miami head coach Jim Larranaga has taken the Hurricanes on a marvelous run to the Final Four. His team is now just two wins away from winning an NCAA championship, but win or lose over these next two, one has to imagine that Larranaga feels like he’s riding high.
At 73 years old, it would make sense if the longtime head coach decided to call it quits after 37 seasons, no matter where his Hurricanes finish in the March Madness tournament from here on out. After all, a championship is the ultimate goal, but making it to the Final Four is one heck of a consolation prize — and in a sense, either way, Larranaga would be riding off into the sunset on top of his game.
The issue with that scenario, though, is that Larranaga doesn’t want to stop coaching.
“I have no intentions of doing that,” he told ESPN’s Pete Thamel when asked if he’d retire after this season. The head coach went on to say that he hopes his run at Miami, which started in 2011-12, will keep on going for a long time.
Just how long could that be?
“I have no idea. I take it one year at a time,” Larranaga explained. “How I’m feeling and what I expect of myself is to represent the university and the basketball program in a first-class manner. When it comes to the point where I haven’t been able to recruit successfully or my health is bad or I have other obligations that require my attention, hopefully I’ll know that and gracefully bow out.”
Larranaga may not be ready to hang up his whistle just yet, and even considering his age, it’s hard to blame him.
He took Miami to the Elite Eight last season and won the ACC regular season this year while getting his Hurricanes all the way to the Final Four. A win over No. 4 UConn this weekend will put him in position to potentially win the first national championship of his career. Even if Miami falls short this year, he clearly has the Hurricanes humming as a program.
Why not just run it back? Again, and again.
