Early favorite to replace Jim Larranaga could be Bill Courtney

With Jim Larranaga now officially leaving for Miami who will be the next George Mason head coach?  One name your going to hear a lot about is former Larranaga assistant Bill Courtney.  Courtney practically built the 2006 Final Four team and still has ties to the school.  Boosters have told me he paid money out of his own pocket to travel to Cleveland to watch this year's team in the NCAA tournament. Courtney left the program  right before the 2005-2006 season to go to Providence and watched the team he had a large hand in recruiting reach the Final Four. The university paid for him to be there during that year at the NCAA tournament.  He then moved on to be an assistant at Virginia, Virginia Tech and brief stint at VCU before becoming head coach at Cornell where he is at currently.  

Courtney would be a great hire as he is already familar with the program and the university.  There could be a few more sexy candidates out there, such as Harvard's Tommy Amaker, a Fairfax native.  Wouldn't that be ironic if the guy who turned down the Miami replaces the guy who took it?  Also current Vermont head coach Mike Lonergan could be a candidate. I would love to see Chris Caputo get the job but I heard rumors he's got something else in the works, we'll have to wait and see.

Mason AD Tom O'Connor, who I'm sure most fans aren't happy with right now, says he wants to replace Larranaga quickly but as thoroughly as possible.

Update: The latest from the Post:

"However, a source close to the team said Courtney would be a long shot to get the job, at best.
Another possibility is Vermont Coach Mike Lonergan, a former assistant at Maryland and former head coach at Catholic, where he led the Cardinals to the 2001 Division III national championship. Lonergan was born in Silver Spring and raised in Bowie, and he attended Archbishop Carroll High School.

American Coach Jeff Jones and Virginia Commonwealth assistant Mike Rhoads are also seen by some as possible candidates."

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Lebron James Wallpaper And

Lebron James Wallpaper and

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Jim Larranaga to leave George Mason, accept Miami head coaching job

Gary Parrish of the CBSSports.com and Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports have confirmed that Jim Larranaga is taking the Miami job.

The news came as a bit of a shock to the Mason nation yesterday.  I certainly didn't see this coming, especially after Larranaga turned down the Providence job for the 2nd time.  The move is a little puzzling to the college basketball community because the University of Miami isn't exactly a better coaching job despite being an ACC opportunity.  Larranaga is leaving behind a potential Top 30 team in next year's Patriots and at 61 is taking on the task of rebuilding a struggling ACC program.

Almost every member of the seems to be scratching their head as to why now and why Miami. He's had opportunities to coach in power conferences before at much more established programs.  The Miami job is arguably the worst one in the ACC in terms of program support and fan attendance.  Does he really care that much about newer facilities at this stage of his career? Perhaps the move is strictly about money.

This whole speaks to the George Mason administration. Gary Parrish said "it got nasty between Jim  and athletic director Tom O'Connor at the end. Both egos played a role". Larranaga has talked about resources before in his career and it was the reason he left Bowling Green for Fairfax back in 1997.  He's resources were being cut there and who knows if something like that is happening here.  For instance where is the basketball practice facility the school talked about almost two and half years ago? I wouldn't be surprised if Larranaga was promised things back in 2006 and then again in 2008 that didn't quite materialize.  There was a clause in his contract that stated the school would spend $150K a year to promote the of the program. Aside from a funny cartoon YouTube that went semi-viral I'd love to see how exactly that money was spent.

In the end it's about getting paid. Larranaga is at the end of his career and just saw a 2nd year fellow CAA coach get $500K more in annual base salary then him after doing exactly what he did in 2006. It's not about winning, he has done that already it's about him doubling his salary when he has the opportunity.  People will say he's looking for a challenge, as if bringing George Mason out of the basement of the CAA wasn't enough of a daunting task especially when you think of what this program was like back in 1997.

Larranaga is responsible for the George Mason program you now see that will most likely be a Top 30 team unless a bunch of guys transfer. The program obtained some brand recognition over the last couple of years and he really built something great here in Fairfax.  It's sad to seem him go as he has been the face of George Mason basketball but this was going to happen sooner or later.  The head coaching job at Mason is now one of the most coveted currently available so at least we aren't searching for a new coach during a rebuilding process.

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Roundup of the Larranaga to Miami news

Confused about what is going on with all this Jim Larranaga to University of Miami news?  Your not alone.  The news broke yesterday afternoon and the latest is that he is expected to meet with Miami officials today.  As of late Thursday he has not accepted the job. Here is what we know at this point:

- Gary Parrish broke the news yesterday that Coach L was in serious discussion with Miami about their coaching vacancy

- Steven Goff of the Washington Post confirmed that Miami asked for and was given permission to talk to Larranaga

- Local DC radio station 106.7 The Fan reported that George Mason assistant coaches were looking for other jobs.  They also insinuated that one of Larranaga's reasons for leaving could be the University not paying to keep his assistants.  Some rumors also flowed around yesterday that Chris Caputo was out securing a new gig.

- Many are saying the move could have something to do with GMU president Alan Merten retiring.  It was no secret Merten's dedication to the basketball program was one of the reasons Coach L stayed after the offers were pouring in back in 2006. Might Larranaga think a new president won't be as committed to helping the program's growth continue?

- Later on yesterday Len Robbins of the NY Post stated that Larranaga was holding a team meeting and that is basically a done deal that he was moving on to Miami. A few hours later this report was shot down by Fox Sports' Jeff Goodman who tweeted no such team meeting happened.

- This brings us to today were the Miami Herald is saying Larranaga is one his way to Miami today to meet with University officials. They go on to say a deal could be reached today and that the two sides were close to a deal last night.  

-This morning Michelle Kaufman who wrote that article from the Miami Herald was 106.7 The Fan this morning.  Sounds like all speculation to me.  If Larranaga is doing a dance to get more from George Mason I could definitely see him going to Miami and meeting with them. Nothing is signed yet.  Will post podcast of that when it is up.

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News and Notes: Friday Edition

Above, Cornell's postseason NCAA Tournament Media Guides from 2008, 2009, and 2010. Below, some news and notes for Friday...

• Tonight is Cornell's season awards banquet. The season highlights video produced by SlopeSports will be premiered during the awards banquet. The video will be made available later during the weekend (and possibly as early as tonight) on The Cornell Basketball Blog.

• Numerous sources, including Jeff Goodman of FoxSportscom, are reporting that Jim Larranaga, head coach of George Mason has accepted the head coaching position at Miami (Fl). Cornell head coach, Bill Courtney and Cornell assistant coach, Ricky Yahn, are both former George Mason staff members. Several George Mason beat writers and bloggers have already speculated that Courtney is a potential replacement target for George Mason. Under Larranaga at George Mason, Courtney was largely credited with recruiting the core of players that helped the Patriots to the 2006 NCAA Final Four. He spent eight seasons as an assistant and associate head coach (1997-2005), helping the Patriots to a pair of regular season CAA titles and four postseason bids, including trips to the NCAA tournament in 1999 and 2001. During that run, George Mason won at least 18 games five times and won 10 league games in each of his last seven years there. The 2003-2004 squad set a then-school record with 23 wins.

• The Daily Princetonian published an article on the topic of the Tigers' booster club, The Friends of Princeton Basketball. James Lane ’92, president of the Club had this juicy comment,“It wouldn’t surprise me if the other schools are more aggressive in that area [regarding recruiting, facilities and attracting coaches and personnel] because everyone is always trying to catch Princeton,” he said. “Year after year there are flashes in the pan, but there’s this one consistent force in the national news in Ivy League basketball, and that’s Princeton.” Lane must have been asleep or on a deep space voyage during Cornell's three-year dynasty during 2008-2010 which culminated in Cornell becoming the only Ivy League program in the last thirty (30) years to finish the season ranked in the Top 25 and to reach the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16. A message to Mr. Lane (who may have personal views which do not represent the views of his booster club): Cornell was not and is not chasing Princeton. The Big Red have already passed Princeton, broke the Ivy glass ceiling and set the bar to a new level. Now the rest of the Ivy League is trying to accomplish what was already been achieved by Cornell
  

• The Staten Island Advocate notes that Allan Weissglass ('56) (far right) was inducted into the Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Staten Island's Hall of Fame. The Advocate notes of Weissglass, "After playing youth basketball at the JCC, he played at Curtis HS and eventually became captain. At Cornell University, he made the freshman team moving up to the Varsity in his sophomore year. That year Cornell won the Ivy League Championship and played in the NCAA Tournament. After returning to Staten Island, Allan coached such legends at the JCC as his younger brother Julian, Wally Kaner, Joel Cohen and Irwin Sherman. He also played in the Adult League until as he put it- 'it took me a week to recover from all the elbows and rough play of the others.'" Weisglass was a member of Cornell's 1954 EIBL/Ivy League Championship team.

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Best Sports Players: Kevin

Best Sports Players: kevin

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Jim Larranaga in discussion with Miami officials about the school's coaching vacancy

Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com just posted this interesting little tidbid about Coach Larranaga:

"George Mason's Jim Larranaga has had serious discussions with Miami officials about the ACC school's coaching vacancy, multiple sources told CBSSports.com on Thursday. Whether Larranaga is leveraging for a better deal from George Mason or on the verge of actually moving to Miami is unclear, both sources said. But the talks are advanced and ongoing, and the 61-year-old New York native has developed into Miami's top target."

More to come as this story develops. Hopefully it's just some smoke and perhaps Larranaga is trying to get another raise from George Mason. Keep in mind that Larranaga is widely viewed as the ambassador of the CAA (and mid-majors for that matter) and VCU's Shaka Smart is set to make about $500K more per year in his base salary.

Update: Steven Goff of the Post writes that George Mason granted Miami permission to talk to Jim Larranaga.

Update: According to 106.7 The Fan this afternoon some of the assistant coaches are looking for new jobs. Losing a guy like Chris Caputo would be a huge loss.

Update: Len Robbins from the NY Post reported that Coach L called a meeting to address the team tonight. Hard to think this would be for anything other than his departure from Fairfax.

Now Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports has stated there was so such meeting at George Mason. Wow.

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