Miami (Fla.) head coach Jim Larranaga capped off the most successful season since the Hurricanes joined the Atlantic Coast Conference by taking home the 2013 Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year Award, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced on Sunday. The award was presented to Larranaga at the Naismith Awards Welcome Brunch in Atlanta.
Larranaga was chosen from a group of finalists that also included Saint Louis coach Jim Crews, Gonzaga coach Mark Few and Georgetown coach John Thompson III. Larranaga was selected by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s National Voting Academy, which based its criteria on the coaches’ performances throughout the 2013 men’s college basketball season. First created in 1987, Indiana’s Bob Knight claimed the inaugural award.
“Coach Larranaga led the Hurricanes’ resurgence to tremendous heights, and clearly has made the program a key force in the ACC in just two years, which is no easy feat,” said Eric Oberman, Executive Director of the Atlanta Tipoff Club. “His success really stood out among all the great coaching performances during the season.”
“It is humbling and really an honor to receive a national award like this, especially, in the name of the founder of our game, Dr. James Naismith,” said Coach Larranaga. “I greatly appreciate the recognition by the Atlanta Tipoff Club, its membership and its voting academy to select me because there are so many great college coaches in the country. This really is a team award that represents a lot of hard work by my staff and our players.”
Under Larranaga’s leadership, the Hurricanes won the 2013 Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and the ACC Tournament, earning a No. 2 seed in the East Regional of the NCAA Championship. In Miami’s first appearance in the Dance since 2008, Larrañaga led the Canes past Pacific and Illinois, but in the Sweet 16 fell to Marquette. Miami finished the season with a 29-7 overall record and a 15-3 mark in n ACC play. Larranaga was named as the ACC Coach of the Year by both the media and his peers.
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