On Thursday, Jim Larrañaga shocked everyone when he stepped down from his position as head coach of Miami’s men’s basketball program, citing the rise of NIL as one of the main reasons for his decision. And it seems as if ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt fully understands Larrañaga’s decision.
In Larrañaga’s statement detailing his decision to step down, he admitted that he is “exhausted”, detailing a story of how the program lost eight of its best players to the transfer portal after a trip to the Final Four just 18 months ago.
“I’m exhausted,” Larrañaga said. “I’ve tried every which way to keep this going. And I know I’m going to be asked a lot of questions and I want to answer them before I’m even asked. What shocked me, beyond belief, was after we made it to the Final Four just 18 months ago, the first time I met with the players, eight of them decided they were going to put their name in the [transfer] portal and leave.”
Larrañaga’s statement has received mixed reactions. Some believe that NIL and its impact on the transfer portal have essentially created a Wild West atmosphere around the sport where players can simply go wherever they please in the transfer portal.
Others meanwhile are just happy that players are finally getting paid what they are worth regardless of how they are going about doing so.
In response to a post from a user who bashed Larrañaga on X, Scott Van Pelt shared his opinion on the matter, detailing that he is happy players are being paid but that there need to be restrictions on players jumping ship every year for the most money in the transfer portal.
“C’mon, man. It’s mayhem,” wrote Van Pelt in response to the post. “Free agency every year. Let the kids earn money – for sure. There had to be a better plan than you can leave every year with no penalty. ‘But the coach can.’ Yep, with a buyout. Look at the acc talent drain at Coach + Jay Wright. It’s not a coincidence.”
C’mon, man. It’s mayhem. Free agency every year. Let the kids earn money – for sure. There had to be a better plan than – you can leave every year with no penalty.
“But the coach can.”
Yep – with a buyout.
Look at the acc talent drain at Coach + Jay Wright. It’s not…
— Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) December 27, 2024
Van Pelt has been quite adamant in the past that money is essentially the lone driving force in both high school recruiting and the transfer portal now. So it’s perhaps not a shock to hear that he would like to see something in place that restricts players from leaving each year to seek out the most NIL opportunities without any penalty.
What Van Pelt is saying here certainly has some merit. Former Virginia head coach Tony Bennett and former Alabama football head coach Nick Saban cited NIL as a reason for their somewhat sudden retirements. And there are likely others who didn’t publically mention NIL as a key reason for their retirement who are also happy to be away from what is essentially a free market in college sports.
Now, you can add Larrañaga to that growing list of coaches from the old guard who aren’t willing to adapt to the current culture of college sports.
