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Jim Larranaga
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James Larranaga (born October 2, 1949 in the Bronx, New York) is an American college basketball coach and the head coach of the George Mason Patriots men's basketball team. He became a media darling during the Patriots' improbable run into the Final Four of the 2006 NCAA tournament.
ing up in the Bronx, one of six children, Larranaga attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, NY, where he starred on the basketball varsity under coach Jack Curran, graduating in 1967. He went on to play basketball at Providence College, He was the basketball team captain as a senior, 1970–71, leading Providence College to a 20–8 record and a NIT appearance.
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Encyclopedia
James Larranaga (born October 2, 1949 in the Bronx, New York) is an American college basketball coach and the head coach of the George Mason Patriots men's basketball team. He became a media darling during the Patriots' improbable run into the Final Four of the 2006 NCAA tournament.
Early years
Growing up in the Bronx, one of six children, Larranaga attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, NY, where he starred on the basketball varsity under coach Jack Curran, graduating in 1967. He went on to play basketball at Providence College, He was the basketball team captain as a senior, 1970–71, leading Providence College to a 20–8 record and a NIT appearance. He graduated as the school’s fifth all-time leading scorer with 1,258 points and was the team’s top scorer as a sophomore and junior, being named New England’s Division I Sophomore of the Year in 1969. (Larranaga's time at Providence was recognized with his induction into the Providence College Hall of Fame in 1991.) He graduated from Providence in 1971 with an economics degree, and was selected in the sixth round of the 1971 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons. He never sought an NBA career, opting instead to go into coaching.
Coaching development
Immediately after graduating from Providence, he took a job as an assistant to Terry Holland at Davidson College, also serving as the freshman team coach. In his five years under Holland, Davidson won three regular-season Southern Conference titles and reached the NIT once, and he also amassed a 47-12 record as freshman coach. In 1976, he moved to Belgium in order to serve as player-coach for a professional club, but only stayed there for one season.
He returned to the U.S. in 1977 for his first head coaching job at American International College, a Division II program which had losing records in the previous five years. In two years at AIC, his teams had a 28-25 record, including a win against Northeastern University, who was coached by Jim Calhoun at that time. In 1979, he was reunited with his former Davidson mentor Holland, who by now had become the head coach at the University of Virginia. Larranaga became an assistant at a program that had begun to emerge as a power in the ACC, arriving at the same time as highly touted freshman Ralph Sampson. In seven seasons at Virginia, Larranaga was on the bench for an NIT title in 1980 and NCAA Final Four berths in 1981 and 1984.
Bowling Green
In 1986, Larranaga left Virginia for the head coaching job at Bowling Green State University. In his first season there, the Falcons improved by eight games over the 1985-86 season, finishing 15-14. He went on to record a 170-144 record in 11 years there, and was only the second coach in Bowling Green history to take the Falcons to postseason play in consecutive years (the 1990 and 1991 editions of the NIT). During his tenure at Bowling Green the Falcons defeated the perennial national powers Kentucky, Michigan State (twice), Ohio State, Penn State and Purdue. In his final season at Bowling Green (1996-97), he led the Falcons to a regular-season co-championship in the Mid-American Conference and another NIT berth, and was also named the conference's Coach of the Year. He left Bowling Green as the second-winningest coach in school history, as well as one of the winningest coachces in the Mid-American Conference. One notable NBA player who played for Larranaga was New Orleans Hornet's guard, Antonio Daniels, who was selected fourth overall in the 1997 draft.
George Mason
Larranaga arrived at George Mason in 1997. His first team only went 9-18, but signs of improvement were present. In the 1998-99 season, the Patriots went 19-11, won the school's first Colonial Athletic Association regular-season title in history, and won the conference tournament to advance to the NCAA tournament. The Patriots would again go to the NCAA tournament in 2001 and two NITs in 2002 and 2004. The 2004 team was notable as Mason's first 20-win team in 14 years, and also won consecutive postseason games for the first time in school history.
The 2004-05 team, with three junior starters but dominated by freshmen and sophomores, went 16-13. However, these players would prove themselves the following season.
2006: The dream season
The Patriots entered the 2005-06 season as a strong contender for the CAA title. They entered the conference tournament 22-6, finishing in a tie for the regular-season title with UNC Wilmington. Near the end of the regular season, they were briefly ranked in the Top 25 in the ESPN/USA Today poll, the school's first ranking ever, and were on the brink of making it to the Associated Press poll. They also narrowly lost to Wake Forest and Mississippi State, and survived a tough match at Wichita State in the ESPN-sponsored BracketBusters event.
However, from Mason's perspective, the CAA tournament would not live up to their expectations. The Patriots survived an overtime scare in the quarterfinals from Georgia State, and then lost to Hofstra in the semifinals. During that match, starting guard Tony Skinn hit a Hofstra player below the belt, earning a one-game suspension for his action. Many observers considered Mason to be "on the bubble" for an NCAA bid; some believed that Skinn's suspension would lead the NCAA Selection Committee to leave Mason out of the field. However, the committee put the Patriots in the field, making them the first at-large team from the CAA in 20 years. Some commentators, notably Billy Packer, criticized Mason's entry in the tournament.
The Patriots would enter the tournament as a #11 seed in the Washington, D.C. Regional, facing 2005 Final Four participant Michigan State. They pulled a 75-65 upset, giving Larranaga and George Mason their first NCAA tournament victory ever. Next was a matchup against defending national champion North Carolina. The Patriots found themselves in a 16-2 hole, but climbed out of it to win 65-60 and advance to the regional site at the Verizon Center, about 30 minutes away from their campus.
They next won a rematch with Wichita State, controlling the game throughout and winning 63-55. That put them in the regional final against 2004 champions and regional top seed University of Connecticut. The Patriots trailed by as much as 12 during the first half, and by nine early in the second. However, they would storm back to make the game close the rest of the way. Larranaga would motivate his team during timeouts by telling his players that the UConn players didn't know what conference George Mason was in . He told them that on this day "CAA" stood for "Connecticut Assassins Association." Mason would win 86-84 in overtime, becoming the first mid-major team to make the Final Four in more than a quarter-century. Their improbable run ended on April 1 in Indianapolis when they lost 73-58 to eventual national champion Florida in the national semifinals.
Larranaga received the Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award for his accomplishments during this season.
Larranaga's overall head coaching record going into the Final Four was 366–273. His 168–104 record at Mason makes him the winningest coach in the history of both the school and the CAA.
Interest from other schools
Seton Hall University had tried to talk to Larranaga about their vacant head coach position but he declined; instead he extended his contract to stay with the Patriots through the 2011–12 season.
Academic activities
In August 2007, Larranaga was appointed as an associate professor in the GMU School of Management (SOM), specifically in the school's Executive MBA program. Although his basketball schedule only allows him to teach part-time, he is a frequent presenter in classes on leadership, management, and team development, and also often speaks at SOM-sponsored seminars. He had been a guest lecturer in the SOM since arriving at Mason in 1997.
Head coaching record
Personal
Larranaga and his wife Liz have two sons, Jay and Jon. Jay has played professional basketball for Eldo Napoli in Italy and as a member of the Ireland national team (he has also played for the Italian teams Viola Reggio Calabria (1997-1998),ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne (1999-00), Adecco Milano (2000-2001), Lottomatica Roma (2004) and Eurofiditalia Reggio Calabria (2004-2005)). In February 2008, Jay was named head coach of the Ireland Men's Senior National Basketball Team. Jon played for his father at Mason from 1999 to 2003, and has played professionally in Spain for Menorca and in Italy for Benetton Treviso (2003) and Euro Roseto (2003-2004). Currently he is employed with the Meltzer Group in Bethsedia, Maryland, his wife, Elyssa is deputy director of scheduling in the office of United States Vice President Cheney.
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