Kansas Jayhawks coach discusses changes in college basketball, Larranaga’s retirement
Jim Larranaga joined the group of men’s college basketball coaches who have decided to retire amid a changing landscape in NCAA-sponsored athletics.
Larranaga, who was in his 14th season at the University of Miami, announced this week he’s stepping down from his Hurricanes post. Miami is off to a 4-8 start following a 15-17 season, a far cry from the success the program had in 2023 when the team reached the Final Four. Also in 2022 his Hurricanes were defeated by the eventual national champion KU Jayhawks in the Elite Eight.
“I’m happy for him. He’s been a pillar in our profession many years,” Kansas coach Bill Self said Friday, when asked for reaction by The Star. “He deserves to step down if that’s what he wants to do. Hopefully he’ll have many good years left to enjoy life.”
Miami associate head coach Bill Courtney has been hired as interim coach.
Several veteran coaches have decided to retire in recent years, including Hall of Famers Roy Williams (North Carolina, KU), Jay Wright (Villanova), Mike Krzyzewski (Duke) and Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), plus Virginia’s Tony Bennett. Football coaching legend Nick Saban also retired in January of 2024, citing the new landscape as one of the reasons for his departure.
“I’m exhausted,” Larranaga said on Thursday. “I’ve tried every which way to keep this going. The opportunity to make money someplace else (through players NIL) 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.”
Larranaga won 744 games in a 41-year career that included stops at Miami, American International, George Mason and Bowling Green.
“It seems clear to me that coaching in 2024 is a much different profession than it was just a few short years ago,” Miami athletic director Dan Radakovich said.
KU’s Self, who turned 62 on Friday, has not let the pressures of finding funds to give players through NIL, and the uncertainty of revenue sharing in the future, make him want to leave amateur athletics.
Self appears to have adjusted to the times, delving deep into the transfer portal the past several offseasons.
“I took the approach after last year if I can’t adjust it’s time to get out basically,” Self said, speaking on the Field of 68 podcast on the first day of the 2024-25 preseason. “I’m not saying we’ve adjusted great,” added Self, who has embraced the portal, with seven transfers (Shakeel Moore, David Coit, AJ Storr, Zeke Mayo, Rylan Griffen, Noah Shelby, Hunter Dickinson) on this year’s roster.
“I’m not going to change how we coach them from 2 to 4:30 (p.m.) every day. I told our guys (assistants) … they asked me what do I hope to get out of this? How do I hope players view me? The only thing I could come up with is I think I know what wins. I think I know values that win, but how can I keep those same values, how can I still be old-school and be hip and cool?
“My mindset has changed a little bit. I’m not looking at it just as how screwed our business is. I’m looking at it: This is the way it is. Every business that anybody is involved with, over a course of time there will be drastic change and you have to adjust in regard to that business. It is the wild, wild West now. It is what other coaches say now. I’ll say the same thing, but I do think it’ll level out. I do think the guardrails at some point in time will get back on to the point we all know what we are operating with. I don’t know if any coach out there actually knows what they are operating with,” Self added.
Self was asked recently if he’ll be able to coach the same as he did 10 years ago with players set to make significant money now and years to come.
“In all honesty I think that kids still want to be coached. I still think great players want to get better. I still think that there’s a hunger that exists that kids still yearn for accountability and for discipline,” Self said. “I do think that is expected within your team if you have a good team and if you have good leadership.
“I don’t think I’m going to coach the guys different. I think I may interact with them differently where maybe it’s their idea of what we do,” Self added.
“That’s been the thing with me, is I love what I do. I love being in the gym. I love coming up with new things. The other thing about our sport that I think is great, is just when you think you’ve figured out how to do something, that’s when you’re really going to get burned, because there’s always somebody out there that’s got an idea that’s probably better than yours. So you got to always be evolving, and people are going to catch up. Even if you think you’re ahead, you’ll be ahead for a week, and people will catch up, so the o big thing is recruit good players, teach them philosophies and how what you think wins, and then let them be good players.”
