Insight, perspective on Larranaga from broadcaster who knew him best. And football notes

No member of the media spent more time with Jim Larranaga over the past decade than the program’s longtime radio voice, Joe Zagacki.

So when Larranaga stunned the college basketball world by announcing his immediate retirement on Thursday after 14 years and four Sweet 16 appearances with the Hurricanes, Zagacki wasn’t particularly surprised. He sensed Larranaga’s frustration, with his 4-8 team and generally with this new-age transfer portal-focused world of college basketball, when players routinely flock to the highest bidder.

As he drove to Orlando for Saturday’s Pop Tarts Bowl, Zagacki put in perspective where Larranaga stands in the pantheon of UM coaches.

“He’s on the Mount Rushmore of any UM coaching Mount Rushmore,” Zagacki said. “If you want to put Howard Schnellenberger and Ron Fraser and Jimmy Johnson there, you better put Jim Larranaga. Nobody has had bigger games and more sustained success. He knew how to expose other teams’ weaknesses and attack them. That’s why they always beat Duke and Carolina.”

Zagacki has spent time with all the great UM coaches, in football and other sports.

“And of all the coaches I’ve been around, I don’t know anyone who laid out better game plans,” he said.

Stories came flooding back on his ride up I-95 on Thursday, including how Larranaga warned former guard Ja’Quan Newton that when he entered a game against Duke, Blue Devils players would yell “Driver! Driver!” as an alert to teammates to pack the paint.

Naturally, Duke players did exactly that when Newton entered the game hours later, and Newton kicked it out to three-point shooters, just as Larranaga had instructed him in the pre-game meeting.

Zagacki appreciated how Larranaga, in meetings, would ask players to say something they admired about a specific teammate. “Reggie Johnson, say something you appreciate about Kenny Kadji,” Zagacki recalled.

Sometimes, Larranaga would have players, coaches - even Zagacki - come to the front of the room and tell everyone something that “nobody would know about you.”

He cared about his players as much as people, taking them to museums, teaching life lessons and asking them to watch “History of the World” on a bus trip to Charlotte.

The overriding takeaway: “He always found a way for his team to make it fun and exciting,” Zagacki said. “For me, when you are the play by play guy, you are the confidante of the coach. I would spend an hour before every game in the locker room or his office. He was about much more than basketball. He was so well read and so dialed into society. We had all kinds of adventures together.”

There was the time, at the 2023 Final Four - the pinnacle of Larranaga’s UM tenure - that players were stuck in an elevator and called the coach. Zagacki frames the story well:

“All of his meetings, he always had some message that he thought would make his players better or one of his teams better. When we went to the Final Four and we were playing Houston, he told the players, ‘we are going to pack the paint. Take away the paint.’ He went over and over that, telling the players that all of Houston’s points came off turnovers and scoring in the paint. When they got stuck on the elevator, they called coach and said, ‘coach, we’re packing the paint.”

There were the personal moments that Zagacki will always treasure, like wandering with Larranaga around the streets of Manhattan at 3 in the morning, after an NIT loss to Stanford, and lamenting the officiating.

What qualities made him the most successful coach in UM basketball history?

“Smart, decisive, organized,” Zagacki said. “There was never chaos. Everything was calm. His teams reflected that. Everybody knew they were held accountable for their job with him but nobody was afraid of him [in a bad way]. But they respected him and did their job out of respect.”

Larranaga, 75, went 274-174 at UM and led the Hurricanes to six NCAA Tournament appearances, including four trips to the Sweet 16. He guided the Hurricanes to their first Elite Eight (2022), first Final Four (2023), first ACC Tournament title (2013) and first two ACC regular season crowns (2013 and 2023).

ESPN’s Dick Vitale captured sentiment on social media on Thursday, saying Larranaga was “born to coach” and “thus I am saddened to see... he will be stepping down.” ⁦

Potential candidate

Athletic director Dan Radakovich will conduct an extensive search for Larranaga’s successor, and George Washington coach and former UM assistant Chris Caputo figures to be among those who will be considered.

Caputo - who is well-liked in the industry - overlapped one year with Radakovich at UM and has a good relationship with Rudy Fernandez, UM’s executive vice president for university operations and external affairs.

Caputo, 44, is off to an 11-2 start at George Washington after going 16-16 and 15-17 his first two seasons there after leaving UM.

Football portal notes

▪ UM picked up a commitment Thursday from Arizona transfer cornerback Emmanuel Karnley. Last season, he permitted 22 receptions in 43 targets for 288 yards and four touchdowns and no interceptions, which equals a 103.6 passer rating in his coverage area.

▪ Per 247 Sports, Western Virginia linebacker Trey Lathan will visit UM. He had 79 tackles, including nine for loss, and two sacks this season.

▪ Two UM offensive linemen reportedly entered the portal: Zion Nelson, who medically retired in July, and Frankie Tinilau, who played 52 snaps last season.

▪ Cornerback Andrew Marshall, who visited UM last weekend, signed with Nebraska.

▪ Former UM cornerback Robert Stafford, who entered the transfer portal last week, committed to UCLA.