Miami Hurricanes Coaches Discuss Best Advice They Ever Received

Jim Larranaga didn’t take over the Miami Hurricanes until late in his career. He was 61 when he was hired by Miami in 2011. He had been a college basketball head coach for 20 years by the time he was hired.

Many doubted his hiring by a power five conference school at his age. The questions that existed were how long would he be Miami’s coach and could he recruit well enough to succeed at Miami.

Larranaga is a compassionate teacher that treats people with respect. He is well organized and his teams are usually well prepared when they take the floor. The advice he lives by reflects that:

"“I’ve gotten a lot of very good advice from a lot of people during the course of my career. In my coaching career, a dear friend, Dr. Bob Rotella, said, ‘Train, then trust.’ I’ve tried to live by that. It’s been a very important part of my teaching. I’m a college basketball coach working with players and staff. For us to really do our job well, we’ve got to train our players well in practice, in meetings, in talks. If you train the guys in practice and under game conditions, then you just need to trust in actual games they’ll do the things they practice. You don’t want to be trying to teach and correct mistakes constantly during a game. You should clap after mistakes, showing your emotional support. I also received some very good advice from my brothers, Bob and John: ‘If you ever need an answer, go to the library.’ They said you can find every answer to every subject in a book. That was many years ago. Now they’d say to Google it.”"

Larranaga’s teams have often overachieved. His 2006 team at George Mason become the first true mid-major since Penn in 1979 to advance to a Final Four.

They knocked off several heavyweights of college basketball along the way to get there. It would be nearly impossible to accomplish that without the Patriots having been meticulously prepared.

His team this upcoming season should be the most talented team he has had in his coaching career. It’s also going to be one of his youngest. He will have a lot of teaching to with his incoming freshman class and some of the players in his Sophomore class during fall practice.

Next: The Miami Hurricanes Had a Say in the Creation of a National Championship Game

Getting them ready and having them prepared for each game is going to be a challenge as the players learn the college game. Larranaga will be able to draw on the advice he received to put his team in position to succeed.