Larranaga will stay at George Mason

Joe Conroy
Published: April 3, 2008

Citing strong support from the communities surrounding George Mason University and its men’s basketball program, head coach Jim Larranaga signed a three-year contract extension Wednesday afternoon.

Financial terms of the agreement that runs through the 2014-15 season were not disclosed.

Larranaga, 58, was considered the top candidate to replace Tim Welsh who was fired from his coaching job at Providence College following the completion of the 2007-08 season. Larranaga is a Providence grad having played for the Friars from 1967 to 1971.

“I’ve made it clear over the years that my family and I have loved it here at George Mason,” Larranaga said through a press release. He was not available for interviews by press time.
“I feel very fortunate to work under the great leadership of President [Alan] Merten and [Athletic Director] Tom O’Connor.”

The coach, in his 11th year with the Patriots, is Mason’s career leader in wins with a 207-131 record and turned down a lucrative deal from Providence according to Friars AD Bob Driscoll.

“We offered him a very substantial package but he was too comfortable in his current situation and opted to stay at George Mason,” Driscoll said in a release.

The familiarity and support from Fairfax was at the center of Larranaga’s decision to stay.

“I feel very connected to both the George Mason and the greater Fairfax County communities,” he said. “We have enjoyed their great support and it continues to grow. I’ve said before that I hope to retire here at George Mason and this contract extension allows me to do just that.”

Chris Fleming, a junior forward and 2005 Osbourn Park graduate, said he heard the news that Larranaga was staying through a text message sent Wednesday afternoon to the team from Kent Dernbach, the team’s director of operations.

“I was pretty pumped when I saw that,” Fleming said. “He’s obviously been here since I got here and he recruited me. It’s nice to know he’s going to be here the rest of my time.”

On Tuesday the team met for one of its first offseason workouts and Larranaga spoke to the players regarding the swirling rumors that he was leaving.

“He asked us had any of us heard anything and some had, some hadn’t,” Fleming said Tuesday. “He told us it was going to be a tough decision but that he would keep us in mind when he made one.”

That was the first time the possibility of life without the winningest coach in Patriots’ history seemed real, Fleming said Wednesday.

“I was a little bit [nervous],” Fleming said. “In years past there had been rumors that teams were interested, even back when he was recruiting me. Most of them were dismissed by him and never seemed legitimate enough to take him away.

“This was the first time he made it known to us he was considering it,” Fleming said. It opened my eyes a little bit.”

The Patriots won the Colonial Athletic Association Championship this season, the third conference title for the program time since Larranaga took the helm in 1998. Mason posted a 23-11 mark this year and reached the NCAA Tournament for the third time during Larranaga’s tenure. The Patriots were seeded 12th in the tournament, falling to No. 5 Notre Dame in the opening round.

Larranaga has posted 10 straight winning seasons, a school record. He is also the CAA’s winningest coach with a 139-74 record in conference contests. Mason has played in the postseason six times with Larranaga heading the program.

“Jim is a terrific ambassador for George Mason University,” O’Connor said in the statement. “Obviously with the 2006 run to the Final Four, our basketball program and the university have garnered a lot of national attention. On top of that he is a tremendous basketball coach, he’s our coach and I’m proud to say that he will continue to be our coach for the next seven years.”