Larranaga Trades Patriots for Hurricanes, New Recruits React

The 14-season basketball coach who pioneered George Mason University’s run to the NCAA Final Four departed in a private jet paid for by the University of Miami early Friday morning.

Jim Larranaga will take over as head coach for a team that's failed to produce a winning record in Atlantic Coast Conference play since the 2001-02 season.

Though there had been reports that Miami was eyeing Larranaga since the Hurricane's coach, Frank Haith, departed. But the Patriots' coach was known for snubbing offers from other schools, twice turning down a job offer from his alma mater, Providence College. Admitted to the Providence Hall of Fame in 1991, the Friars had asked him to take the head-coaching job as recently as 2008.

A few things have changed since then.

The 2006 Final Four team put Mason on the college basketball map as a national contender with name recognition.

And the VCU Rams took their ride to the Final Four last season under head coach Shaka Smart, who later signed a $1.2 million contract to extend his stay in Richmond, Va.

Larranaga signed a $525,000-a-year contract through 2016, enough money to place him fourth of those employed by the state, according to a 2010 report. He made $700,000 for the 2010-2011 season, including academic and performance bonuses. 

“I don’t know what Miami offered him. I guess it’s a lot,” George Mason University Athletic Director Tom O’Connor said. “We were able to put together a total compensation package that, in a good year, it would put him in the top-5 mid-major coaches in the country.”

In addition, Barnes & Noble donated $1 million to GMU in December 2008, with $590,000 reserved for the Basketball Practice Facility Construction Fund and $140,000 for Intercollegiate Athletic Scholarships, according to a George Mason University press release from 2008.

Larranaga wanted the practice facility to be built so, while the Patriot Center was hosting events during the season, the Patriots would still have a reliable back-up that could be used on demand.

Yet, for three years there have been no plans to build the facility. 

Other media outlets report a rocky relationship between the head coach and the athletic director. 

“I thought [our relationship] was great,” O’Connor said. “I’ve known Jim since we played against each other in college … Through the years we shared stories about New York, New Jersey, New England. Had a great trip with the basketball players, with Jim, in Italy this year. It was a terrific relationship.”

Larranaga was getting on a plane Wednesday night from another recruiting effort to fill the spot left by Rashad Whack, who told the athletic department of his decision to transfer just a few weeks ago.

Whack didn't average much time in the Patriots’ 27-win 2010-11 campaign. Yet his position remains one of three roster spots to be filled by next season. Vaughn Gray and Corey Edwards have already committed, but still have time to remove their name from next year’s roster with the coaching changes.

"Obviously Vaughn is disappointed about Coach Larranaga not coaching at George Mason next year but he respects his decision," said Bill Diamond, Gray's assistant coach at St. Benedict's Prep in New Jersey. "We were all aware of the possibility of him leaving in the near future since he's been such a highly successful coach at GMU. Vaughn's decision to attend GMU was based on multiple factors besides just Coach Larranaga and his staff, such as the academic and social envrionment and reputation at George Mason, as well as the basketball program, facilities and campus."

As of right now, Gray is still committed to attend Mason.

"However, he will wait until he sees who the new head coach is, meet with him and re-evaluate his situation at that time," said Diamond. "Until then, Vaughn still intends to honor his commitment."

Assistant coaches in college basketball bear much of the recruiting weight. Coach Chris Caputo was at the front of the recruiting efforts, often convincing the players to sign up while coach Eric Konkol, a father of two, used his Wisconsin personality to get the parents onboard with George Mason.

Despite their efforts, recruiting is in a bit of a freeze.

Coach Michael Huger called the recruits Thursday night to let them know about the possibility that Larranaga could leave. Larranaga reached out to the players around the same time for the same reason. O’Connor said he would call the recruits as well. 

“They’re employees at the university now,” O’Connor said of the assistant coaches. “I have not talked to Jim about his desire to keep them with him … but I spoke with them and I told them, ‘It’s status quo, move on with your workouts, do your recruiting,’ and we’ll be with them on Monday. They’re terrific people. I’d love to see them stay around because they’ve done a lot to be part of the successful basketball program.”

The players have handled the early stages of transition well so far. Even without their defacto team leader, Cam Long, who ended his career in the NCAA tournament.

“About 1:30 I went over to the Patriot Center in the locker room and told them exactly what was happening,” O’Connor said.

The team has not seen much change in the last few years. Next season, four of the five starters will be in their fourth year out of high school and third year on the starting five.

Mike Morrison, presumed to be next year’s starting senior forward, seemed to take the lead.

“In fact, I ran into Michael over at the Field House,” O’Connor said. “And he was on the way, Michael was very, I love Michael, and he was very upbeat and he understood Coach Larranaga’s leaving and told him we were going to get the best coach available and he understood that and he looked at it in a very mature way.”

But when asked if Morrison’s sentiments spoke for the entire team, O’Connor said, “I don’t know.”

When all is said and done, the core of the team should still be here next year, and the head coaching spot is a coveted one. The Patriots have been touted as a preseason top-25 team, so O’Connor will have a large pool of coaches to choose from.

Among the names of possible head coaches are Bill Courtney, a former Mason assistant and now the head coach at Cornell, Mike Longeran of Vermont, Jeff Jones of American and Mike Rhoads of VCU.

Maybe Larranaga needed more money. Maybe he needed to settle down near his home in Lakewood Ranch, Fla. Maybe he needed another challenge of bringing a team to national recognition.

With the Miami Hurricanes, he gets all three.