Jim Larranaga speaks . . .
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/columnists/article/WOOD21_20091020-222806/300625/
GMU’s Larranaga hit high point at lower level
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By Paul Woody
Published: October 21, 2009
WASHINGTON When Jim Larranaga lists the reasons he stays at George Mason University to coach men's basketball instead of heading for a bigger program in a higher-profile conference, GMU's on-campus cuisine makes the cut.
"We have a new cafeteria that is the most incredible eating facility you've ever seen on a college campus," Larranaga said. "You walk in, pay one price and there's a salad bar, a fruit bar, a hamburger and hot dog grill, a pizza place, wraps. It's got a cappuccino machine.
"My wife and I went there for Sunday brunch, and they not only serve omelets, they make them right there."
Any coach worth his sales pitch will extol the quality of his school's dining services. Not just any coach actually will dine there, much less take his wife there for Sunday brunch.
Larranaga is not just the basketball coach at GMU. He is entering his 13th season at the Northern Virginia school and has become as much a part of the landscape as the meticulously manicured lawns and the flora and fauna he will wax eloquently about if given the chance.
Larranaga has become a role model for young coaches and even not-so-young coaches who bemoan their mid-major fate.
It is possible to attain the highest success -- reach the Final Four -- at a mid-major program. It is possible to work in a place where the mission of the college coincides with that of the basketball coach.
And if you find that place, you should be circumspect about leaving. The money might be better, the path to the NCAA tournament might seem easier, but what seems bigger and better often is a program fraught with problems and perils and headed nowhere, no matter who is its coach.
"There are coaches who want to climb the ladder as fast as they can, get to the ACC or Big East, the highest level they can, so they can make a lot of money and compete against the best," Larranaga said.
"For many years, I felt that was the direction I felt I wanted to go in as well. But as you get older, as you get more years behind you than you have in front of you, your thoughts change a little. And right now, I'm very, very happy with where I am."
No one should doubt that Larranaga could field competitive teams in the ACC, Big East or Big Ten. He knows the X's and O's of coaching. He's proved he can develop unsung players in the Colonial Athletic Association.
Give him the prestige and influence of the ACC, and he could bring in Top 100 players every year.
Bigger schools have inquired. Larranaga has remained in his little corner of the world, a corner he helped expand with a Final Four appearance in 2006 and with a program that consistently ranks among the CAA's best.
"You have to list the categories of the things that are most important to you." Larranaga said. "I know there are a lot of professionals whose goal is to make as much money as they can. I don't happen to be one of those guys.
"It's not that I don't want to make a lot of money. It's just not been a major motivating factor."
Larranaga earns close to $600,000 per year at George Mason, about three times what he earned when he began coaching the Patriots. His current salary is about half of what many coaches earn in the ACC and other power conferences.
"There are some things far more important to me -- being successful, being happy, being comfortable, being appreciated," Larranaga said. "A lot of intangible things are more important to me than some tangible things."
The challenge in a profession as competitive, some will say cutthroat, as college basketball is to be a secure person in an insecure world.
It would be difficult to find a coach more secure than Larranaga. And his security does not come from money, fame or adulation. It comes because he knows who he is and has found a spot where the fit is almost perfect.
Larranaga knows what many of his colleagues need to learn. There are many ways to win as a college basketball coach. Not all are on the court.
Contact Paul Woody at (804) 649-6444 or
pwoody@timesdispatch.com.
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