Mike Brey Retiring

[DeacInVermont]

I remember being pretty meh about Miami hiring Larranaga from George Mason. Thought he was old then and that it was a short-sighted hire.

He's in his 12th season and will be going to his 6th NCAA tourney this year... 2 Sweet Sixteens and 1 Elite Eight

Not terrible.

dr/But if they had hired Larranaga's 14-year old ball boy as coach instead, he'd just now be hitting his prime!/dr

 

[CONeill]

I remember being pretty meh about Miami hiring Larranaga from George Mason. Thought he was old then and that it was a short-sighted hire.

He's in his 12th season and will be going to his 6th NCAA tourney this year... 2 Sweet Sixteens and 1 Elite Eight

Not terrible.

Right there with you on thoughts when he was hired.

He's a great coach to be around, too, in the limited capacity I've been. I've spent a ton of time at his tables at media days, followed the hell out of him after they won the ACC in '13. He's always got interesting things to say on the larger scope of college basketball (or the game in general).

It's always struck me that Larranaga is a teacher. Those are the types of coaches who seem to age gracefully, compared to your tacticians/recruiters/egomaniacs.

 

[thatguy2016]

I have also been surprised at Larranaga's success and longevity, and I'm not hating the player, but it may be easier to be energized when John Ruiz is throwing money at Nijel Pack and Norchad Omier to play for you.

Again, no disrepect to Larranaga, who is doing a much better job managaing a roster of kids getting paid than Jimbo Fisher...

 

[CONeill]

I have also been surprised at Larranaga's success and longevity, and I'm not hating the player, but it may be easier to be energized when John Ruiz is throwing money at Nijel Pack and Norchad Omier to play for you.

Again, no disrepect to Larranaga, who is doing a much better job managaing a roster of kids getting paid than Jimbo Fisher...

A fair assessment. Almost tacked on a John Ruiz mention, too. Certainly doesn't hurt.

To me, though, his re-energizing happened going into last season ... and that season was just some dudes who'd been hurt and/or unproven plus a miniature PG on his fourth school. The NIL/booster situation just prolongs it, at least IMO.

 

[WhoTheDeac?]

• Mike Brey – Notre Dame head coach
  • The Maryland-native and former DeMatha player and assistant has been a D-I head coach for 28 years, but the soon-to-be 64-year old Brey still has time ahead of him and could really flourish back home in the DMV. His tenure at Notre Dame has stagnated, with just one NCAA Tournament bid in the last five years, but he took the Irish to back-to-back Elite Eights pretty recently and has 16 20+ win seasons. But a change of scenery might benefit all parties.

I was coming to share this, but you beat me. With how long Brey has been at ND, I wasn't sure how many folks would remember that he started coaching in the DMV with Morgan Wootten at DeMatha. Even up to a few years ago, he would still call in to the Junkies radio show in DC to talk basketball. Definitely connected to that area.

 

[cville deac]

I remember being pretty meh about Miami hiring Larranaga from George Mason. Thought he was old then and that it was a short-sighted hire.

He's in his 12th season and will be going to his 6th NCAA tourney this year... 2 Sweet Sixteens and 1 Elite Eight

Not terrible.

Felt the same way when he was hired and have been impressed since.

And speaking of Larranaga, I'd argue that Terry Holland's coaching tree has been significantly better than Ratface's. Larranaga, Odom, Jones and Greenberg all had success. Folks forget that Jones started out well before having an affair with a student and his star recruit stab someone in a pick-up game.

 

[Pilchard]

It is amazing how current events dominate people's impressions. Larranaga's last two years at Miami have been impressive, and with their guards, they could make another deep tourney run. That said, Larranaga looked done until last year. Here were Miami's records in 2019, 2020 and 2021:

2019: 14-18 (5-13) tied with BC for 11th in the ACC
2020: 15-16 (7-13) tied with BC for 10th in the ACC (one game ahead of a bad WF team coached by DM)
2021: 10-17 (4-15) 13th in ACC

16-31 in the ACC over that three year stretch. That is BC and WF under DM territory.

Larranaga looked done as a coach and was about to get canned if 2022 was anything close to the previous three seasons. To Larranaga's credit last year, he got a lot out of transfers Cam McGusty, Charlie Moore and Jordan Miller, and Isaiah Wong blossomed. This year, Larranaga benefitted from NIL money to land Nigel Pack and Norchad Omier and suddenly, everyone thinks he's great again. Larranaga is doing a fine job, but like a lot of coaches, his teams do well when he has talent, and his team's suck when he doesn't.

 

[WRS]

Yeah he was on a pretty dramatic decline. Probably still better for them if he retires sooner than later. He’s 73 so not really sustainable for long anyway.

 

[thatguy2016]

counterpoint: Larranaga's three bad years (including the Covid year) don't look all that different from Prosser's last two years, and both earned the right to turn things around

 

[DeacsATS]

It is amazing how current events dominate people's impressions. Larranaga's last two years at Miami have been impressive, and with their guards, they could make another deep tourney run. That said, Larranaga looked done until last year. Here were Miami's records in 2019, 2020 and 2021:

2019: 14-18 (5-13) tied with BC for 11th in the ACC
2020: 15-16 (7-13) tied with BC for 10th in the ACC (one game ahead of a bad WF team coached by DM)
2021: 10-17 (4-15) 13th in ACC

16-31 in the ACC over that three year stretch. That is BC and WF under DM territory.

Larranaga looked done as a coach and was about to get canned if 2022 was anything close to the previous three seasons. To Larranaga's credit last year, he got a lot out of transfers Cam McGusty, Charlie Moore and Jordan Miller, and Isaiah Wong blossomed. This year, Larranaga benefitted from NIL money to land Nigel Pack and Norchad Omier and suddenly, everyone thinks he's great again. Larranaga is doing a fine job, but like a lot of coaches, his teams do well when he has talent, and his team's suck when he doesn't.

Sure. But it’s Miami. He’s done pretty well overall. Even the down years were nowhere near as bad as some of the messes we’ve seen in the ACC.

 

[DeaconSig]

Right there with you on thoughts when he was hired.

He's a great coach to be around, too, in the limited capacity I've been. I've spent a ton of time at his tables at media days, followed the hell out of him after they won the ACC in '13. He's always got interesting things to say on the larger scope of college basketball (or the game in general).

It's always struck me that Larranaga is a teacher. Those are the types of coaches who seem to age gracefully, compared to your tacticians/recruiters/egomaniacs.

I have a buddy who played for him when he was at Bowling Green. I'll just say I think he has grown a lot as a coach since then.

 

[JuiceCrewAllStar]

he doesn't give off the vibes of a guy that would connect well with the modern youth but his players seem to love him

 

[awakegirl]

Would love Cooley. He gets it done.

Pitino would create buzz, but his run at Iona hasn't been that great. The MAAC is a low-major conference, and because he is Rick Pitino, Iona recruits on a much higher level (both out of HS and through the portal) and it's not like Iona is dominating the MAAC. They are among the best in a crappy conference, but Iona lost in their first MAAC tourney game last year, and are tied with Rider this year. It's not like he's had brought Iona to another level like Pat Kelsey has at Charleston or Dusty May at FAU. If college hoop is really just entertainment and not about building a program, Pitino back in the Big East would be fun.

No chance Cooley leaves Providence for Gtown of all places. He’s from Providence. He has deep roots in the community and spends a ton of time giving back to the community. Plus PC is like Wake in that there’s not too much pressure and an off year or two isn’t going to kill you. I say all of this as the child of parents who are basically URI groupies and hate PC, but Cooley is the real deal and he’s not going to leave Providence for anything I can see short of the NBA, but def not Georgetown.

 

[NJDeac’22]

Right there with you on thoughts when he was hired.

He's a great coach to be around, too, in the limited capacity I've been. I've spent a ton of time at his tables at media days, followed the hell out of him after they won the ACC in '13. He's always got interesting things to say on the larger scope of college basketball (or the game in general).

It's always struck me that Larranaga is a teacher. Those are the types of coaches who seem to age gracefully, compared to your tacticians/recruiters/egomaniacs.

Impressive that he's been able to navigate the crazy player poaching / payment situation there without throwing off the team as happened with aTm football this year, but spending millions on roster construction is still going to limit how much credit I give him for winning and I think that's fair.

 

[WakeForestRanger]

 

[WRS]

On the surface that seems like a better “retirement” move than being the head coach at a crappy and/or rebuilding program.

 

[Biff Tannen]

It’s like what Bz did.

 

[TheReff]

On the surface that seems like a better “retirement” move than being the head coach at a crappy and/or rebuilding program.

Age 64, great money, and no more dealing with transfer portal nor NIL.

 

[PhDeac]

Age 64, great money, and no more dealing with transfer portal nor NIL.

Somebody tell TheReff about the NBA offseason.

 

[DeacsATS]

Yeah, I was thinking he seems like a guy who'd take a head coaching gig at a high school in a few years just because he loves coaching. Or maybe an NBA assistant gig. Or even one of those older guys who comes in to help out a young coach at a high profile program.

This guy gets it.