'I'm Exhausted' - Jim Larranaga Announced He's Retiring Today, Decided It Was Time To Step Down When Miami Lost To Mount St. Mary's

So earlier this morning news broke that Jim Larranaga was stepping down/retiring/quitting/whatever word you want to use here. Pretty shocking news considering it's December 26. Again, why coaches aren't doing this at better times is beyond me, but then again, he declared he was exhausted and losing to Mount St. Mary's on Saturday was the breaking point: 

And of course we have transfer portal blame: 

Mind you he made the Final Four on the backs of transfers - Jordan Miller, Nijel Pack, Norchad Omier - you don't get to just blame it when you're 4-8. That's my problem with it. Of course people will bitch about it, it needs to be fixed to a degree but you have to acknowledge how much it helped you in the same way. Now, I say all that because it's the only talking point when it comes to coaches retiring. 

That said, Larranaga is a legend in the coaching game. He took George Mason and Miami to a Final Four. I'll argue when you look at the roster talent, who they beat, everything else, the 2006 George Mason run to the Final Four was the most impressive Cinderella run we've seen. Still have no idea how they beat that UConn team. Then what he did at Miami, turning that program into a consistent Tournament team with some runs and the 2023 Final Four and you have a guy that should be talked about as a coaching legend. Miami was a dead basketball program until Leonard Hamilton saved them a bit and Larranaga brought them to a Final Four and multiple second weekends. 

It also shows how weird the ACC is right now when you look at basketball coaches: 

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The league that had the most notable coaches in the country is no more. Not when that's the tenured list, the face of the coaching league is probably Jon Scheyer by default and you're going to have a handful of teams looking for new coaches. Either way, Larranaga is now done at Miami. I don't love the idea of him stepping away mid-December, but this is what coaches are doing now. Doesn't take away from the fact he had an incredible run in his career.