Jim Larrañaga was handle—and frequently thrived—in the old school sporting system, where athletes could only get paid under-the-table, even if that meant the Feds may summons his text messages. The head men’s basketball coach at the University of Miami, a 75-year-old man, acknowledged this week that he lacked the skills to compete for skill in the burgeoning available market.
This, despite the fact that Larrañaga’s 2022-23 federal finalist group, led by Kansas State move Nijel Pack, became an early ideal for the new era of booster-funded NIL.
Larraaga announced his resignation as the Hurricanes ‘ coach on Thursday in a surprise announcement, saying he would do so soon after two months of leading the system to its first Final Four. His latest agreement, which was extended in May 2023, ran through the end of second academic time. After winning its first three sports, Miami is now 4-8 this year.

As a private school, Miami is never forced to disclose its workers ‘ deals. Nevertheless, in the college’s 2023 tax processing, which is open, it showed that Larrañaga earned$ 2.85 million in annual payment.
” I’m exhausted”, Larrañaga told reporters in a press conference. ” I’ve made every effort possible to keep this going.” And I am aware that I will be posed a lot of issues, but I want to respond to them before I actually start to do so.
He explained he was” shocked…beyond idea” when, in the midst of the team’s traditional Final Four appearance 20 months previously, eight of his people decided to put their names in the transfer portal.
Lamented Larraaga:” The opportunity to make money elsewhere created a situation that you have to begin asking yourself as a coach: What is this all about?”
Larrañaga’s chagrin echoes that of several other big-time college basketball coaches—including Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina’s Roy Williams, Virginia’s Tony Bennett and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim—who have retired in the four years since the NCAA’s rule changes that now allow college athletes to sell their NIL. Boeheim, incidentally, publicly accused Miami of having “bought” its Final Four team with NIL money.
Arguably, Larrañaga should be perfectly well-positioned to explain the forces of capitalism motivating his players to seek more money elsewhere. In 2011, at the age of 61, Larrañaga left his long-time head coaching job at George Mason—which he had led to its only Final Four run five years earlier —to take the reins at UofM. Prior to that, he had spurned other offers, including from Providence, citing his comfort and familiarity with Northern Virginia, where he had coached the Patriots since 1997.

The change of scenery quickly proved fruitful. In his second season, the Hurricanes won the ACC regular season title and made it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA men’s tournament.
However, Coral Gables would also experience its darkest days.
In 2017, Larrañaga received a grand jury subpoena as part of the Department of Justice’s college basketball corruption investigation, and he later acknowledged cooperating with the authorities. Although he was never charged or accused of any wrongdoing by the government, he was allegedly mentioned in a wiretapped phone call between two defendants as asking for help from Adidas to get a recruit Miami hoped to sign. However, in court filings that identified him as” Coach-3″ were allegations that he had been identified as” Coach-3.” Larraaga refuted the claim that he or his associates exchanged money with athletes.
” It’s been a strain—physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually”, he said at the time, according to the Associated Press. ” But it’s something that’s there. I have to handle it. Additionally, my wife and a wonderful family give me the support. I have the backing of both my staff and players as well as the backing of the university. So we just have to keep moving forward”.
He persevered, but the team slogged through three losing seasons following his subpoena. Then, in 2021-22, they turned it around, posting a 26-11 record and earning a berth to the Elite Eight.
A month later, the Hurricanes landed Pack thanks to a two-year$ 800, 000 NIL deal with LifeWallet, the company founded by UM booster John Ruiz. With Pack leading the charge, Miami went 29-8 the following year on its way to the Final Four.
Including Pack, now playing a fifth-year graduate student, Miami’s current roster sports eight Division I transfers.