CORAL GABLES, Fla. – When Sheldon Mac arrived at Miami, he was struggling.

Though he’d started his college career with two solid seasons at Texas, where he averaged double digits nightly, his confidence was gone. He knew he needed a fresh start, even if that meant he’d have to spend a season watching the game he loved instead of playing it.

The Hurricanes, and head coach Jim Larrañaga, offered that fresh start. Mac took it.

Three years later, he left Miami as an All-ACC honoree who’d played in the Sweet 16 of the Men’s NCAA Tournament. He went on to sign with the Washington Wizards and spent two seasons with the organization before a serious injury took its toll on him.

Today, Mac says his dream of reaching the NBA, and of once again finding joy in the game, wouldn’t have been possible without Larrañaga, the coach he says believed in him, and made a point to remind him of that every day, whether he was playing or not.

“He just gave me a great sense of direction of what he wanted to do with me on and off the court. He instilled so much confidence in me,” Mac said. “I came from the University of Texas where I kind of lost my confidence and I wanted to regain that. Just by talking to Coach L in the office, I already felt like I was home, and I knew I could do big things. … He always told me I was the best player in the ACC, and I started to believe that, and my play reflected that. He was just a coach that gave you confidence in every way you could want, as a human being and a basketball player. That’s why I thrived at Miami. …

“I don’t think I could have made the NBA without Coach L because he just set me up to be viewed and looked at in a different way and it paid off for me. It was the best decision I ever made in my life, sports-wise.”

On Thursday, Larrañaga announced he was stepping down as Miami’s head basketball coach after thirteen-plus seasons with the Hurricanes and Mac was one of countless Hurricanes who couldn’t help but send well wishes their coach’s way.

It was a decision Larrañaga said didn’t come easy, but one he felt was necessary, despite his ongoing love for basketball, for teaching, and for the student-athletes he worked with as a head coach at Miami, George Mason and Bowling Green.

“It’s been an honor to be the head basketball coach at the University of Miami and I’ve loved every minute of it,” Larrañaga said. “I can’t thank the coaches that are with me now, who’ve worked so diligently these last several years and all my former coaches and former players who helped create the environment that we have and the legacy that I’m leaving behind. It is really hard to put into words why I’ve decided to do this, but it’s because of my love of basketball. I love the game. I love coaching it. I love practice every day. I love working with the players.

“But because I love the game and I love the University that much, I felt like, okay, there’s one thing you’ve got to constantly ask yourself: are you going to give everything you have the commitment it deserves? A hundred percent of yourself, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually? Quite frankly, I’ve tried to do that throughout my life and throughout my time here. But I’m exhausted.”

Larrañaga leaves Miami as the all-time winningest men’s basketball coach in program history, with a 274-174 record. He led the Hurricanes to six NCAA Tournament appearances, including most recently, the program’s first Final Four berth in 2023. He also led the Hurricanes to their first Elite Eight appearance in 2022, their first ACC Tournament title in 2013 and their first two ACC regular-season titles in 2013 and 2023.

He built Miami into a consistent winner in the ACC, one of the nation’s toughest basketball conferences.

But that, his former players say, is just one part of Larrañaga’s remarkable legacy.

It was what he did away from the court that made their coach special.

“Coach L was, more than anything, a teacher. And obviously, the X’s and O’s were a given,” said former Hurricanes guard Angel Rodriguez, who spent three seasons at Miami and like Mac, was a part of the program’s 2016 Sweet 16 team. “But what separated him was that he was a natural teacher, and good teachers care for their students. That’s what he did. He was constantly trying to teach us new things about life, new things about just being a good person and that goes a much longer way than the basketball part does. X’s and O’s, a lot of coaches are going to teach you that. That’s why their impact is limited. Coach L helped us become men.”

The lessons – and feeling like they were still part of Larrañaga’s family – didn’t stop once players graduated or began their professional careers.

Rodriguez finds himself back at the Watsco Center often, putting up shots and working out in Miami’s facility. And when he does, it’s not unusual for the former star guard and coach to catch up and discuss everything but basketball.

“I think his greatest gift is making players feel loved,” Rodriguez said. “Just last week, we were going from the practice facility into the Watsco Center, and he hugged me the whole way. I felt so special, as if I were still trying out for him or something. But it’s just that genuine energy. He makes his players feel loved and appreciated. I’m going to miss that about him.”

Like Mac and Rodriguez, Los Angeles Clippers guard Jordan Miller starred on one of Larrañaga’s history-making teams at Miami.

The former second-team All-ACC honoree and NCAA Midwest Region All-Tournament Team selection was a key contributor during the Hurricanes’ magical Final Four run in 2023.

He had his share of memorable moments, including one of the most remarkable individual performances in program history when he went a perfect 7-of-7 from the field and 13-of-13 from the free throw line during Miami’s Elite Eight win over Texas that March.

But as special as nights like those may have been for him personally, Miller said it was the entirety of Miami’s Final Four run, and the way Larrañaga coached him all throughout his career that helped make his time as a Hurricane so meaningful.

“There’s a lot of memories, actually,” Miller said. “I think the favorite one and what everyone expects me to say is just getting to the Final Four, right? Him being able to help us get there because he’d been there before and then being able to cut down those nets and see that genuine happiness from him …  That was definitely a highlight moment. But I’ll always remember, too, how calm Coach always was. I always respected that because you don’t always need a coach that’s yelling in your face every time you make a mistake. Coach L had a lot of trust in me and my other teammates, too. He was never a yeller. He just got his message across efficiently and effectively, and honestly, that just made us want to play harder.”

Larrañaga’s ability to connect with players, despite an age gap many of them said he navigated with humor and grace, was yet another one of his unique traits.

Former Hurricanes guard Davon Reed still smiles when he recalls getting to know Larrañaga throughout the recruiting process.

At the time, Reed – a top-100 prospect out of New Jersey – was receiving a barrage of text messages from coaches all across the country. Some, he noticed, didn’t even bother to change who they were addressing in those messages, simply cutting and pasting the same texts to multiple recruits.

But for Reed, conversations with Larrañaga – via text, or in person – always felt honest, sometimes brutally so.

“I had a lot of different coaches reaching out to me, telling me everything I wanted to hear. But something that stuck out to me from Coach L, that separated him from the other coaches was when he was like, ‘Hey, I think you can rebound the ball a little bit more,’” Reed recalled with a laugh. “He wasn’t just telling me what I wanted to hear. He gave me constructive criticism and that stood out to me. During the entire recruiting process, coaches would mess up and text me the same message they would text somebody else. It just didn’t really feel authentic. Then to have Coach come sit in my mother’s living room and say how excited he was for me to come to the University of Miami, just those little things when he recruited me, and finally teaching me a lot about the game of basketball as a whole … those are things I’ll never forget.”

Those relationships, those connections continue to mean the world to both Larrañaga and his former players. That’s why even as the coach is stepping away from the day-to-day duties of coaching, he said Thursday he hopes to remain connected to Miami in some fashion.

For him, it’s a special place that made his dream of coaching in the ACC a reality; a place that’s felt like home.

“I love coaching. I love what I do,” Larrañaga said. “I want to stay very heavily involved with the University in whatever capacity they see fit. … This place is awesome, and the University has been so kind and generous to me and my wife.”

His players, for their part, say whatever comes next for their coach, his legacy at Miami, and beyond, is one that won’t ever be forgotten.

“He forever changed the face of Miami basketball and they’re going to have some very big shoes to fill, not just from the basketball perspective, but just as a person and as a leader,” Reed said. “he’s been able to impact and change so many lives. He changed my life. He helped me accomplish my dream of going to the NBA and going to the NCAA Tournament. There are so many things I can give him a lot of credit for helping me with and I’m sure all of his players can say something very similar.”