James Larrañaga (/ˌlɛərəˈneɪɡə/ LAIR-ə-NAY-gə; born October 2, 1949) is an American college basketball coach and the head coach of the University of Miami men's basketball program. Prior to his time at Miami, he was most recently the men's basketball coach at George Mason, where he coached the Patriots to 13 consecutive winning seasons and became a media sensation during the Patriots' improbable run to the Final Four of the 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.
Growing up in the Bronx, one of six children, Larrañaga attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, where he starred on the basketball varsity under coach Jack Curran, graduating in 1967. He went on to play basketball at Providence College. He was the basketball team captain as a senior, 1970–71, leading Providence College to a 20–8 record and an NIT appearance. He graduated as the school’s fifth all-time leading scorer with 1,258 points and was the team’s top scorer as a sophomore and junior, being named New England’s Division I Sophomore of the Year in 1969. (Larrañaga's time at Providence was recognized with his induction into the Providence College Hall of Fame in 1991.) He graduated from Providence in 1971 with an economics degree, and was selected in the sixth round of the 1971 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons. He never sought an NBA career, opting instead to go into coaching. Jim's grandfather was born in Cuba of Basque parents, and was part of the Por Larrañaga cigar company in that country.