It's that time of year: College coach carousel!

Yeah, I should have qualified that. I think the health problems were brought about because he became such a stress monster about the job and was working around the clock, and realized he wasn't going to last in that condition.

 

Bumping this back up - and paging Sonner.

Rumors are that Miami's new coach could be...Jim Larranaga?

 

Yeah. I just heard that. I mean...good for him. He obviously wants a bigger paycheck, which he deserves. I ain't mad at the guy. No one at Mason should be. He gave Mason a Final Four. Everything else is gravy.

That said, I hope he sticks around a little while longer.

 

Wow. When BYH reads this, he's going to have an ejaculation that can be measured in megatons.

 

Larranaga to Miami a done deal:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/jim-larranaga-leaving-george-mason-to-become-miamis-coach/2011/04/22/AF42LHPE_story.html

 

Good for Jim Larranaga, who I think can compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference. But someone - or someones - in Coral Gables needs to back Larranaga with better resources as Frank Haith was doing well to pull a dull Swiss Army knife in a league chock full of nuclear weaponry.

Until Miami does more, I'm not terribly sure it's a better position than George Mason in terms of support and resources. Shaka Smart saw that, and is banking on VCU for such.

 

I'll run with the counter argument here: I think Larranaga was smart to leave while the getting was still good. If Smart really does stay in the CAA and the other teams in the league keep moving upward, Mason is looking at a bunch of third- and fourth-place finishes.

So why not bail now, move south and then go to your retirement home a few hours away in about five years? The Miami checks amount to a nice boost to his retirement fund.

 

Mason brings back almost everyone next season and will almost certainly be the runaway pick to win the CAA. The preseason Bracketology (yes, really) has Mason as a 9 seed. And the way the league is set up, George Mason, VCU and Old Dominion should always be competitive even in rebuilding years, because there's such a gap between those teams and the rest of the league in terms of resources.

 

Larranaga ain't getting any younger. Sometimes older coaches take that higher-paying job looking squarely at what it might do for their retirement savings. Really.

 

That's about the only reason to take this job. Otherwise, in terms of resources and chance to win, it's not really any better than Providence, which tried to money-whip him before hiring Keno.

 

From the Moddywealth Times:

Considering they're going to host Duke, North Carolina and at least one more top 25 team most years ... yeeowch.

 

In other news, Syracuse assistant Rob Murphy was hired at Eastern Michigan.