Possible Replacements For Jim Larranaga At Miami (And Ron Sanchez At Virginia)

Both schools have a chance to make great hires.

With Jim Larranaga’s abrupt retirement Thursday, barring startling turnarounds, there will be at least two ACC openings this spring: Virginia and Miami.

At Virginia, interim coach Ron Sanchez is just 7-5 and while the offense is still slow-paced in the Tony Bennett tradition, the defense is much more porous. As of this moment, we can’t see Virginia giving him the job on a full-time basis.

We don't really have a feel for who the Cavaliiers might hire, but one name that will almost certainly be in the mix is Ryan Odom.

Son of former Virginia assistant and Wake Forest head coach Dave Odom, the younger Odom is currently at VCU. This could work for or against him: he was the coach at UMBC when the #16 Retrievers just decimated #1 Virginia in the 2018 NCAA tournament. Reportedly, an ACC job is his dream.

Here are a few other names to keep an eye on there:

• Bob Richey, Furman. Virginia fans know...that guy is an excellent coach.
• James Jones, Yale. Pro: he’s proven he can win at an academically elite school. Con: he’s 60.
• Kenny Blakeney, Howard. The former Duke guard may be a bit itchy - earlier this year, he proposed selling interest in the Howard team and was shot down by the administration. He may be worried about keeping up with the Joneses and Virginia would be a good step up. Also, he played for Morgan Wooten at DeMatha and Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, so you know he’s been exposed to great teaching.
• Bucky McMillan, Samford. A creative offensive coach, he could put fannies in the seats, as they say. Pro: he’s just 41. Con: we don’t really know of any.
• Dave Leitao. Just kidding. Thought we’d see if you Virginia fans were awake. Cons: dreadful public persona, potty mouth that would embarrass Bob Knight and more abrasive than steel wool.

Miami is in an interesting situation too. Larranaga came to Coral Gables in 2011 and really built his program both on the court and in the community. It was very much a backwater when he arrived and he made Miami fun. Who wouldn’t want to go to a game there?

He got to Miami when he was 62 and while it’s not the primary consideration, hiring a younger coach might be good - not least of all because of the changing nature of the job. Older coaches are bailing all over the place.

So who’s been mentioned so far? Well...

• Richard Pitino. Thing is, New Mexico is a basketball school. It’s got tradition, it’s got tremendous fan support, it has The Pit. The ACC might draw him, but we’ll have to see.
• Anthony Grant. He’s doing a great job at his alma mater, but he’s a Miami native. Similar situation though: Dayton is a great basketball school, albeit in a lesser conference. Archie Miller used to coach there. Archie Miller went to Indiana and bombed. He’s at Rhody now and while that’s a good job, it ain’t Dayton good. Grant is 58, which might not be ideal for following an older coach, but he can certainly do the job: his career record is 352-185. At Dayton it’s 159-75.
• Will Wade. Would they make him a strong-ass offer? Just kidding. The former LSU coach really crashed and burned there after making a “strong-ass offer” that came up in the FBI/Adidas case that ultimately cost him a nice SEC gig. All that stuff is above board now, but his reputation is still suspect. Would they dare?
• Mike Morrell, UNC-Asheville. Listen, the guy had a 4-27 season in Year One, then was 15-16 in Year Two. Covid hit in his third season and the Bulldogs were 10-10, but as we always say, everyone gets a pass on Covid. After that, Asheville was 17-15, then 27-8 and 22-12 last season. So yes, he’s got chops.
• John Calipari, Arkansas. Okay, this one is not entirely serious. First, he just took the Arkansas job last year. And second, in our opinion, his skills are in decline. However...Calipari would love the spotlight at Miami. He would just soak that up. And he would be in a great position with the tremendous talent that has come out of Miami and Florida in recent years. But again, it won’t happen, unless something seriously goes wrong at Arkansas. If it was last spring instead of late December? Could’ve been interesting to say the least.

We’d like to add in one wild card for both Virginia and Miami to consider, and that’s UConn assistant Luke Murray.

It cannot be easy to escape his father’s shadow: Bill Murray is a comedic legend. Yet Luke seems to have done that. He’s built a lot of respect as an assistant and he’s worked at Arizona, Louisville and UConn, among other stops. He gets a lot of credit for UConn’s brilliant offense and that alone should get him consideration at both schools. At Miami, he could continue Larranaga’s tradition of a fun and exciting offense, and at Virginia, he could reintroduce fans to the concept. Just 39, he could have a long career at either school.

Over the last few years, we’ve always recommended Ben McCollum, who was at Northwest Missouri State, but no one gave him much thought. This year, Drake hired him away from the Bearcats and so far, Drake is 11-0.