Despite ‘a lot of emotions,’ Bill Courtney ready to lead Hurricanes men’s basketball
The news was hard for Bill Courtney to process. Jim Larranaga, his mentor for nearly three decades, had decided to step down as the Miami Hurricanes’ men’s basketball coach 12 games into his 14th season at UM and 53 years coaching basketball overall, citing that he was “exhausted” amid the team’s 4-8 start and the swirling changes that have taken over the sport due to the impact of name, image and likeness as well as the transfer portal.
“I hated for him to have to step down,” Courtney said Monday. “I hated that he felt he had to. I hated that we couldn’t do anything to help fix it as an assistant coach to him, a guy who he counts on. I felt very bad about that. It was a lot of emotions.”
But Courtney also knows the emotions need to be put to the side sooner than later. He has a job to do.
Courtney is taking over as interim coach for the rest of the season, knowing he has big shoes to fill.
Courtney, 53, is in his sixth season at the University of Miami and has served as associate head coach since the 2022-23 season. He previously served on Larranaga’s coaching staffs at Bowling Green (1996-97) and George Mason (1997-2005). He also spent six seasons as head coach at Cornell, from 2010 to 2016.
“Basically all the good things I know about basketball, I know from Coach L,” Courtney said. “I can certainly say I worked for a lot of great coaches, but he was the guy that I was with the longest. He’s the guy that taught me things on and off the floor — how to treat the players and how to run a basketball program. I think that’s his biggest strength, and I think that that’s part of the whole thing, of getting away from the way things are now. Building a program has become a little bit difficult in this day and age, but running a program is one of the biggest strengths I think he had, and that’s something I’ll try to take with me.”
Larranaga, who finished his UM tenure as the winningest men’s basketball coach in school history with a 274-174 record, credited Courtney for his masterful recruiting efforts, saying he recruited “all the players at George Mason that took us to the Final Four” in 2006 and that he was point person at Miami for bringing in the likes of Jordan Miller, Charlie Moore, Nigel Pack and Norchad Omier.
“I wouldn’t have been able to stay coaching if I had not met him 28 years ago,” Larranaga said of Courtney, whom he called his “best friend.” “He’ll do a great job. He’s got a very difficult job ahead of him because the ACC is a very difficult league.”
And the Hurricanes are in a difficult spot. They are 4-8 (0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) heading into a road game against Boston College (8-5, 0-2 ACC) on Wednesday (noon, ACC Network). They are 107th nationally in KenPom rankings.
“We’ll be ready to play certainly,” said Courtney, who noted that he doesn’t anticipate any players transferring during the season. “Hopefully we play well, but we’ll certainly be ready to play that game.”
Senior Matt Cleveland said the past week has been “long, just with everything going on,” but added “the team has come together well and is taking steps in the right direction.”
Courtney’s main message to the team as they try to get out of their early-season funk?
“Be more aggressive,” Cleveland said. “Play faster, harder, just give more effort while we’re out there and try to turn the season around.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2024 at 12:47 PM.
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