Miami’s men’s basketball program just received a much-needed shot in the arm on Friday when first-year head coach Jim Larranaga signed a three-year contract extension that will run through April 2019. Coach L was hired last April and has led the Canes to an 11-7 record his inaugural season.
Larranaga’s extension adds three years to his existing five-year contract and for a men’s basketball program that’s truly struggled and underachieved since Leonard Hamilton left town at the turn of the century, this type of stability is a must for a program seeking relevancy.
“Jim Larranaga is a tremendous basketball coach and an even better person,” said Director of Athletics Shawn Eichorst. “He has been a great teacher and leader of our student-athletes and he has continued to passionately expand the brand of our men’s basketball program both on campus and in the community. Jim is a first-class representative of our University and we look forward to having him at the helm of our program for many years to come.”
Much like Al Golden and the football program, Coach L will need time to put his fingerprints on a program looking for direction. Injuries and suspensions crippled men’s basketball early on in 2012 much like they did football last September.
But also like Golden, Larranaga is a winner, arriving in Coral Gables with a game plan, a process and a desire to get things right.
UM has twice now invested in good coaches and in due time, the investments will pay off.
Just a question……..Why are we extending Coach L when he’s only two-thirds into his first season? I admit that I have not seen the Cane bball team play this year yet, but the extension seems premature. College bball is a different beast than college fb, so I don’t think we really had to do that at this point. We already know that the university doesn’t have the same reserves as state schools to get out of a bad contracts and move on, and we are just getting over past mistakes of Coker and Haith. Maybe supporters can see change and it’s just not reflected in the record yet, but I don’t know. Someone enlighten me please.
… I would guess it was in good faith considering what Coach L walked into regarding the Shapiro scandal and the impact that’s had on year one for him.