Associate head coach Chris Caputo who spent 19 seasons with Jim Larranaga, the last 10 with the Miami basketball program has been hired as the head coach at George Washington. The Colonials announced Caputo as the head coach on Friday. Caputo returns to the D.C. area where he helped Larrranaga recruit successfully.
Caputo has been a critical part of the Miami basketball program. During the vast majority of post-game interviews, Miami play-by-play announcer Joe Zagacki spoke to Caputo as the spokesperson for the basketball program. This is the second year in a row Miami has lost a key assistant. Adam Fisher went to Penn State last year.
Caputo helped Miami sign current Hurricanes Harlond Beverly and Anthony Walker plus center Ebuka Izundu who currently plays in Serbia. Beverly and Walker project as starters for Miami next season. Caputo was the defensive coordinator for Miami. The scramble defense Miami used this season was critical getting to the Elite Eight.
Miami signed 6’11 center Favour Aire for 2022 out of District Heights, Maryland. Former Miami point guard Chris Lykes is also originally from D.C. During his Miami tenure, Caputo helped Miami to seven postseason appearances, five NCAA Tournament berths, three Sweet 16s and the Elite Eight this year.
Caputo has spent 20 seasons under Jim Larranaga at Miami and George Mason and now will get his first head coaching job in the Atlantic 10.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 1, 2022
Miami won the 2013 ACC Regular Season and Tournament Championships with Caputo as an assistant. Bill Courtney who was previously an assistant under Larranaga at Bowling Green and George Mason and was then head coach at Cornell from 2010 through 2016, seems likely to ascent to the top Miami assistant.
Caputo and Larranaga are both alums of Archbishop Malloy in Queens, New York. All-American points guards Kenny Anderson of Georgia Tech and Kenny Smith of North Carolina also played under legendary head coach Jack Curran at Malloy. There has been no indication of who Miami could hire to replace Caputo.
D.J. Irving who just finished his second season with Miami is the remaining Hurricanes assistant coach. Miami director of basketball operations Jeff Dyer who has worked his way up in the Miami basketball program could potentially be considered for an assistant job if Larranaga doesn’t go outside the Hurricanes.