Hanna and Haley Cavinder react as Miami’s all-time winningest coach Jim Larranaga steps down as HC

After 13 seasons with the Miami Hurricanes men's basketball, Jim Larranaga announced his decision to step down from his position as the head coach on Thursday. Larranaga led the Hurricanes on one of their most successful runs in history, advancing to Elite Eight in 2022 and Final Four in 2023.

Miami shared the news on its social media accounts:

"Thank you, Coach L 🙌🏀 Coach Larrañaga, Miami’s all-time winningest head men’s basketball coach, is stepping down as head coach of the Hurricanes."

Hurricanes women's basketball players Hanna and Haley Cavinder reacted to the news in the comments.

"❤️," Haley wrote.

"🐐❤️," Hanna commented.

Hanna and Haley Cavinder's reaction to Larranaga's announcement (Image Credits: Instagram/@caneshoops) Hanna and Haley Cavinder

Hanna and Haley Cavinder are playing their fifth college season with the Hurricanes. After leading the team to the Elite Eight in their senior year, the Cavinder twins are hoping to lead Miami further this season.

Jim Larranaga reveals his reason behind leaving Miami

After leading the Hurricanes to the Final Four for the first time in program history, Jim Larranaga lost eight players to the transfer portal. The coach revealed that when asked, the players cited better NIL opportunities as the reason behind leaving, despite loving the Hurricanes program:

"At this point, after 53 years, I just didn't feel that I could successfully navigate this whole new world that I was dealing with because my conversations were ridiculous with an agent saying to me, 'Well, you can get involved [with a prospective player] if you're willing to go to $1.1 million,' and that would be the norm.

"They're a great group of kids. It's not their problem. It's the system or the lack of a system. I didn't know how to navigate through this. I'm exhausted. I've tried every which way to keep this going."

Jim Larranaga is not the first coach to step down because of the changing scene in college sports. Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina's Roy Williams, Virginia's Tony Bennett, Notre Dame's Mike Brey, and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim left their jobs as NIL began to take over the NCAA.

Since the Final Four run, Jim Larranaga and the Hurricanes have struggled as they finished 15-17 overall last season and are now 4-8. Miami's assistant coach Bill Courtney is set to be the interim head coach for the rest of the 2024-25 season.