After turning 75 in October, Jim Larranaga had decided that he was done with the current landscape of college basketball and stepped down as the head coach of the Miami Hurricanes last week, which was effective immediately.
He mentioned in his press conference after the Hurricanes made it to the Final Four, eight players entered the transfer portal, which made it unappealing to continue on in the current environment of college basketball.
So who replaces Jim Larranaga full-time? The oddsmakers at BetOnline.ag have opened lines for the next Hurricanes coach and Sean Miller is the favorite.
Miller has been the Xavier head coach since 2022, but before that spent over a decade as the coach of the Arizona Wildcats. Other names that will be familiar to Big 12 fans include Brad Underwood and Shaka Smart.
Underwood is currently on a successful run as the head coach of Illinois. But the former K-State guard and Kansas native was the head coach of Oklahoma State for one season from 2016-17 and was an assistant at his alma mater in the early to mid 2000’s. Shaka Smart is having a resurgence at Marquette after a mediocre six-year run at Texas from 2015 to 2021 and is also receiving odds to be the next basketball coach at Miami.
Interestingly, interim coach Bill Courtney is not in the Top 5 for odds to be the next Miami basketball coach.
Below is the full list.
Odds to be the Next Miami Basketball Coach
| Sean Miller | 3/1 | |
| Will Wade | ||
| Anthony Grant | 5/1 | |
| Richard Pitino | 7/1 | |
| Ben McCollum | 8/1 | |
| Bill Courtney | 10/1 | |
| Brad Underwood | 14/1 | |
| Archie Miller | 16/1 | |
| Bucky McMillan | 16/1 | |
| Shaka Smart | 16/1 | |
| Chris Caputo | 18/1 | |
| Chris Mack | 18/1 | |
| Eric Konkol | 18/1 | |
| Adam Fisher | 20/1 | |
| Bryce Drew | 20/1 | |
| Greg McDermott | 20/1 | |
| Kimani Young | 20/1 | |
| Speedy Claxton | 20/1 | |
| Rick Pitino | 50/1 | |
While there are some long shots on this list, there’s no doubt that the Hurricanes are willing to pay for coaches (and players) and will offer a lucrative deal to their next target to run the basketball program.
And if nothing else, some of the coaches on this list may get a nice raise, just by being in the conversation.
