James Joseph Larranaga Jr. (born January 30, 1975) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach and former player who currently serves on the staff of the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

. He was previously the top assistant coach for the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). He is also the son of

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

men's basketball coach

Jim Larrañaga James Joseph Larrañaga ( ; born October 2, 1949) is the head men's basketball coach for the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. He has held this position since 2011. Before joining the University of Miami, he served as the head men ...

Career

After graduating from

St. John's Jesuit High School and Academy St. John's Jesuit High School & Academy comprises two schools on the same campus: St. John's Jesuit High School (SJJ) and St. John's Jesuit Academy (SJJA). It is located within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo. Both are private, all-male Je ...

, Larranaga played college basketball for the

Bowling Green Falcons The Bowling Green Falcons are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Bowling Green State University (BGSU), in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The Falcons compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Divi ...

alongside

Antonio Daniels Antonio Robert Daniels (born March 19, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player who played 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is currently the television color analyst for the New Orleans Pelicans on B ...

. Here he played all four years for his father, Jim, setting BGSU records for three-point field goals in a game, season, and career. Before his departure to Italy in 1997, Larranaga became a three-time Academic All-Mac and attained a cumulative 3.4 GPA studying business at Bowling Green State University. Larranaga joined

Peristeri B.C. Peristeri B.C. (Greek: Περιστερίου K.A.E.) is a Greek professional basketball club that was founded on October 22, 1971. The club is located in Peristeri, Greece, which is a suburban municipality in west Athens. It is a part of the G.S ...

in Greece for the 1998-99 season. Larranaga then moved to France to play for

ASVEL Villeurbanne ASVEL Basket, commonly known as ASVEL or sometimes as ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne, and also known as LDLC ASVEL for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional basketball team that is located in the city of Villeurbanne, which is a suburb of Lyon ...

, he also played in and won the 2000 French All-Star game. Larranaga moved back to Italy in November 2000 to join

Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

however he moved back to France to play for the

Paris Basket Racing Paris Basket Racing, or PBR, was a French professional basketball club from Paris. It was founded in 1922, as the basketball section of the multi-sports club Racing Club de Paris. The team took the name "Paris Basket Racing" in 2000. In 2007, the ...

. Larranaga then moved to Spain to play for

CB Gran Canaria Club Baloncesto Gran Canaria – Claret, S.A.D., is a professional basketball club based in Las Palmas, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home arena is the Gran Canaria Arena. From 2012 until 2021, they have been sponsored by Herbalif ...

and CSF Sevilla. He then moved back to Italy to join

Pallacanestro Virtus Roma Pallacanestro Virtus Roma, commonly known as Virtus Roma, was an Italian professional basketball club based in Rome, Lazio. It competed in the first division of Italian basketball, the LBA, for the last time in the 2020–21 season. It was form ...

and his former club

Viola Reggio Calabria Viola Reggio Calabria was an Italian professional basketball club based in Reggio Calabria, Calabria. At its heyday the club was renowned for discovering talented players who would go on to play at the highest level, for example five former playe ...

. He went back to Spain in 2004 to join

Real Madrid Baloncesto Real Madrid Baloncesto (English: Real Madrid Basketball) is a Spanish professional basketball team that was founded in 1931, as a division of the Real Madrid CF multi sports club. They play domestically in the Liga ACB, and internationally i ...

where he won the Spanish National Championship. He then won the Italian National Cup with

Basket Napoli Napoli Basket, known for sponsorship reasons as GeVi Napoli, is an Italian professional basketball team of the city of Naples. It's the ''de facto'' successor of the Basket Napoli which was dissolved in 2009. The team has achieved the promotion t ...

in 2006 and 2008. Larranaga retired after spending two seasons in Eldo Caserta and appearing in various All-Star games throughout his lengthy career. In 2008 Larranaga was announced as player/manager of the Ireland team. Previous to the hiring, he was captain of the Irish national team from 2001-2006.

Coaching career

Larranaga entered his first season as an assistant coach with the

in 2012. He spent the previous two seasons as head coach of the Erie BayHawks of the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

. In two seasons with the BayHawks, Larranaga led his squad to consecutive playoff appearances while accumulating a regular-season record of 60–40. He also established team records for all-time wins (60), wins in a season (32), and player call-ups (12). During Larranaga's two years in Erie, eight different players received NBA call-ups. Prior to arriving in Erie, Larranaga served as an assistant coach at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and before that, he was head coach of the Irish National Team for two years. Larranaga spent the summer of 2012 as an assistant for the Ukraine National Team under former NBA coach

Mike Fratello Michael Robert Fratello (born February 24, 1947) is an American sports broadcaster and a professional basketball coach. Fratello is currently an analyst for Fox Sports Ohio for the Cavaliers and a part-time color commentator for Fox Sports West f ...

. In 2013, Larranaga was interviewed by the Celtics to possibly replace

Doc Rivers Glenn Anton "Doc" Rivers (born October 13, 1961) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After playing for Marquette Universit ...

, but Butler basketball head coach

Brad Stevens Bradley Kent Stevens (born October 22, 1976) is an American basketball executive and former coach who is currently the president of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics. Born and raised in Zionsville, Indiana, Stevens starred on the Zio ...

became the Celtics' new head coach. In the previous 3 seasons, Larranaga and the coaching staff led the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Playoffs including a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2016-2017 season. Larranaga was a top candidate to fill the head coaching positions at

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

and

George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...

, but decided to stay in his position with the

. In July 2021, Larranaga was hired as an assistant coach under

Tyronn Lue Tyronn Jamar Lue (pronounced ''Ta-RON LEW''; born May 3, 1977) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He formerly served as t ...

with the

Honors

France

All-Star

*All-Star game winner: 2000

Italy

Basket Napoli

Italian Basketball Cup The Italian Basketball Cup (Italian: Coppa Italiana di Pallacanestro), or Coppa Italia, is an annual professional basketball competition between pro clubs from the Italian Basketball League (LBA). It is Italy's first-tier cup competition, and is ...

winner: 2006

Spain

Real Madrid

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

winner:

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Copa del Rey de Baloncesto The Copa del Rey de Baloncesto (English: '' King's Cup of Basketball'') is an annual cup competition for Spanish basketball teams organized by Spain's top professional league, the Liga ACB. History Originally known as the ''Copa de España de B ...

runner-up: 2005

Personal life

Larranaga and his wife, Sarah, married in 2017. He has two children, daughter Tia and son James, from a previous marriage.

References