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Miami's Jim Larranaga architect of Hurricanes' surprising surge
Under-the-radar coach who shone at tiny George Mason has transformed the University of Miami into a national title contender
CORAL GABLES The Miami Hurricanes' basketball program has long lived in the shadows of its football dynasty, rarely being ranked as a top basketball program compared with five national football titles.
After almost 20 years in relative obscurity, the University of Miami basketball team is now squarely in the national spotlight with a meteoric rise throught the national college rankings. UM can thank its basketball coach Jim Larranaga, who arrived on campus two years ago to rehab a program that has never had a winning season during its schedule in the Atlantic Coast Conference, a league considered one of the top basketball conferences in nation.
The program has been the to the NCAA Tournament only five times since 1985.
Despite the Hurricanes history, Larranaga, who spent most of his college basketball career in the relative minor leagues, came to Coral Gables with a vision to lift the program to previously unreached heights. Players were skeptical — even though he'd become the darling of the sport with his miracle run to the Final Four five years earlier at George Mason.
"I would say everybody wondered why'd they hire this guy," said Reggie Johnson, then a rising junior. "But once he got us in a room and talked to us and seeing the vision and plan to do something special. I kinda believed him."
And so it began.
Larranaga's first team meeting was a seminal moment in the program's rise. Less than two years later, the silver-haired native of the Bronx not only has the players sold; the whole country is buying into Hurricane basketball hysteria.
With a 19-3 record, UM is ranked third nationally in this week's Associated Press poll — the highest in program history. Just five weeks ago, UM was an afterthought not even receiving votes.
But this team caught fire with 11 consecutive wins that sparked a revolution. It is selling out the on-campus BankUnited Center regularly while building a national brand for a school typically associated with football.
As the school with the on-going NCAA investigation into alleged violations that involve the pre-Larranaga basketball program, the current crop of experienced athletes are bringing a new level of energy to the game.
It starts with Larranaga, the architect of the hottest new attraction on the South Florida sporting scene.
The program was coming off a 21-15 season when Larranaga arrived in 2011 after predecessor Frank Haith's departure to Missouri. The Hurricanes started fast in the 2010-11 season, but faded after compiling an 11-3 record. There were lingering issues internally.
"I wouldn't say it was coach Haith's fault," said basketball player Rion Brown, now a junior. "But the team didn't really buy into it with what he was doing."
But he, like Johnson, was sold with the first impression of Larranaga. The coach was smiling and Brown was staying. He had considered transferring, but he saw something special brewing.
"The biggest change I see is the organization — a real plan," said Brown, who tied a career-high with 22 points during Sunday's 87-61 beating of traditional powerhouse North Carolina. "I know coach Haith had a plan, but it's just the way Coach L goes about it," Brown said. "They way he laid it out and put in the foundation last year and really getting us to buy into the system was the main thing."
Methodically structured practices are paramount to the plan. Larranaga has notebooks on top of notebooks of every practice plan he's devised in 28 years as a head coach. No detail is too small; every dribble, pass and layup matters in Larranaga's program.
But he's not the task-master type who rules by force.
Larranaga finds ways to relate to the 20-somethings on his team. They really respond to the pre-practice circle where a coach shares an inspirational quote and the meaning behind it. He's a youthful 63-year-old even if he walks with two artificial hips.
Senior forward Kenny Kadji notices his coach "bopping his head," when pregame rap blasts in the Hurricane locker room. Johnson made a connection when Larranaga recognized a Tupac rap song sampled the beat of his favorite Bruce Hornsby song. He quickly downloaded "Changes" to his iPhone and listens to it along with Hornsby's "The Way It Is" on team road trips.
"So he's down with it, I guess," a smiling Johnson said.
But this is a results-based business, and Miami seemed to underperform in Larranaga's first season. Injuries and suspensions associated with the NCAA investigation contributed to the Hurricane's late-season slide back into the National Invitational Tournament. The 20-13 record was a disappointment.
Home crowds averaged 3,936 — about half of the BankUnited Center's capacity and well below the 4,763 Haith's last team averaged. Through 11 games this season, home crowds average 4,844 including three sellouts in the last four dates. Miami had never sold every ticket for consecutive games in program history.
Now students were camping out for marquee opponents such as Duke and Florida State. Larranaga was always there to show his appreciation. He brought doughnuts out to the camped-out students the afternoon of the program's biggest win.
The 90-63 demolition of then-No. 1 Duke propelled that already-surging program to the next level. UM went from being ranked 25th by the Associated Press Top 25 poll to 14th — the second-largest jump in the poll's modern history.
The wins kept coming as the program's exposure rose. Larranaga hardly considers turning down an interview opportunity because he knows the benefit it has to the team and school in general.
Former Duke star guard Jay Williams, now an analyst at ESPN, was one of the first to identify something special was taking place in Coral Gables. He worked out on campus a few times this summer and saw the level of commitment.
"I knew they were going to be loaded and I knew they were going to be a handful in the league," Williams said. "A lot of teams didn't really know who they were. I knew who Duke was, but I thought Duke was the only other team could contend with them."
So far, nobody in the ACC knows the secret to beating this Hurricane team. It is unbeaten when playing at full strength, which it is right now. The roster is also packed with veterans, which manifests in crucial moments. UM won three of its last eight games in the closing moments.
The experience also makes this run a little sweeter.
Sixth-year senior Julian Gamble was on the 2009-10 team that finished dead last in the ACC. The 4-12 record was disheartening.
"Being at the top of it now is kind of a surreal feeling," Gamble said. "It's really hard to describe. But we really worked for this."
Now things have never been better for the Miami basketball program. It's a bona fide national championship contender in a wildly unpredictable season.
Larranaga is building something special in Coral Gables.
That smile isn't fading any time soon.
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/20...ll-program-miami-s-jim-larranaga-rion-brown/2
Under-the-radar coach who shone at tiny George Mason has transformed the University of Miami into a national title contender
CORAL GABLES The Miami Hurricanes' basketball program has long lived in the shadows of its football dynasty, rarely being ranked as a top basketball program compared with five national football titles.
After almost 20 years in relative obscurity, the University of Miami basketball team is now squarely in the national spotlight with a meteoric rise throught the national college rankings. UM can thank its basketball coach Jim Larranaga, who arrived on campus two years ago to rehab a program that has never had a winning season during its schedule in the Atlantic Coast Conference, a league considered one of the top basketball conferences in nation.
The program has been the to the NCAA Tournament only five times since 1985.
Despite the Hurricanes history, Larranaga, who spent most of his college basketball career in the relative minor leagues, came to Coral Gables with a vision to lift the program to previously unreached heights. Players were skeptical — even though he'd become the darling of the sport with his miracle run to the Final Four five years earlier at George Mason.
"I would say everybody wondered why'd they hire this guy," said Reggie Johnson, then a rising junior. "But once he got us in a room and talked to us and seeing the vision and plan to do something special. I kinda believed him."
And so it began.
Larranaga's first team meeting was a seminal moment in the program's rise. Less than two years later, the silver-haired native of the Bronx not only has the players sold; the whole country is buying into Hurricane basketball hysteria.
With a 19-3 record, UM is ranked third nationally in this week's Associated Press poll — the highest in program history. Just five weeks ago, UM was an afterthought not even receiving votes.
But this team caught fire with 11 consecutive wins that sparked a revolution. It is selling out the on-campus BankUnited Center regularly while building a national brand for a school typically associated with football.
As the school with the on-going NCAA investigation into alleged violations that involve the pre-Larranaga basketball program, the current crop of experienced athletes are bringing a new level of energy to the game.
It starts with Larranaga, the architect of the hottest new attraction on the South Florida sporting scene.
The program was coming off a 21-15 season when Larranaga arrived in 2011 after predecessor Frank Haith's departure to Missouri. The Hurricanes started fast in the 2010-11 season, but faded after compiling an 11-3 record. There were lingering issues internally.
"I wouldn't say it was coach Haith's fault," said basketball player Rion Brown, now a junior. "But the team didn't really buy into it with what he was doing."
But he, like Johnson, was sold with the first impression of Larranaga. The coach was smiling and Brown was staying. He had considered transferring, but he saw something special brewing.
"The biggest change I see is the organization — a real plan," said Brown, who tied a career-high with 22 points during Sunday's 87-61 beating of traditional powerhouse North Carolina. "I know coach Haith had a plan, but it's just the way Coach L goes about it," Brown said. "They way he laid it out and put in the foundation last year and really getting us to buy into the system was the main thing."
Methodically structured practices are paramount to the plan. Larranaga has notebooks on top of notebooks of every practice plan he's devised in 28 years as a head coach. No detail is too small; every dribble, pass and layup matters in Larranaga's program.
But he's not the task-master type who rules by force.
Larranaga finds ways to relate to the 20-somethings on his team. They really respond to the pre-practice circle where a coach shares an inspirational quote and the meaning behind it. He's a youthful 63-year-old even if he walks with two artificial hips.
Senior forward Kenny Kadji notices his coach "bopping his head," when pregame rap blasts in the Hurricane locker room. Johnson made a connection when Larranaga recognized a Tupac rap song sampled the beat of his favorite Bruce Hornsby song. He quickly downloaded "Changes" to his iPhone and listens to it along with Hornsby's "The Way It Is" on team road trips.
"So he's down with it, I guess," a smiling Johnson said.
But this is a results-based business, and Miami seemed to underperform in Larranaga's first season. Injuries and suspensions associated with the NCAA investigation contributed to the Hurricane's late-season slide back into the National Invitational Tournament. The 20-13 record was a disappointment.
Home crowds averaged 3,936 — about half of the BankUnited Center's capacity and well below the 4,763 Haith's last team averaged. Through 11 games this season, home crowds average 4,844 including three sellouts in the last four dates. Miami had never sold every ticket for consecutive games in program history.
Now students were camping out for marquee opponents such as Duke and Florida State. Larranaga was always there to show his appreciation. He brought doughnuts out to the camped-out students the afternoon of the program's biggest win.
The 90-63 demolition of then-No. 1 Duke propelled that already-surging program to the next level. UM went from being ranked 25th by the Associated Press Top 25 poll to 14th — the second-largest jump in the poll's modern history.
The wins kept coming as the program's exposure rose. Larranaga hardly considers turning down an interview opportunity because he knows the benefit it has to the team and school in general.
Former Duke star guard Jay Williams, now an analyst at ESPN, was one of the first to identify something special was taking place in Coral Gables. He worked out on campus a few times this summer and saw the level of commitment.
"I knew they were going to be loaded and I knew they were going to be a handful in the league," Williams said. "A lot of teams didn't really know who they were. I knew who Duke was, but I thought Duke was the only other team could contend with them."
So far, nobody in the ACC knows the secret to beating this Hurricane team. It is unbeaten when playing at full strength, which it is right now. The roster is also packed with veterans, which manifests in crucial moments. UM won three of its last eight games in the closing moments.
The experience also makes this run a little sweeter.
Sixth-year senior Julian Gamble was on the 2009-10 team that finished dead last in the ACC. The 4-12 record was disheartening.
"Being at the top of it now is kind of a surreal feeling," Gamble said. "It's really hard to describe. But we really worked for this."
Now things have never been better for the Miami basketball program. It's a bona fide national championship contender in a wildly unpredictable season.
Larranaga is building something special in Coral Gables.
That smile isn't fading any time soon.
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/20...ll-program-miami-s-jim-larranaga-rion-brown/2
