KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jim Larrañaga had just finished posing for pictures with the Miami cheerleaders and was answering questions from media at half court, on his way to his second Final Four, when Liz Larrañaga ran up and tugged on his shirt. “You gotta listen,” Liz, his wife of nearly 52 years, said. “You like that song.”
Queen’s “We are the Champions” played over the loudspeaker at T-Mobile Center, and Larrañaga paused right as the chorus played. He was informed that at 73 he could be the oldest coach to ever win a national championship. “I’m not that old,” he shot back.
He started this journey 51 years ago as an assistant at Davidson, moving his way up the ranks and not even appearing in an NCAA Tournament until he was 49. The three dominant coaches of his generation — Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams and Jim Boeheim — have all retired in the last two years. Is he next?
“I think he’ll do it until he just can’t do it,” said Liz, with the freshly-cut net draped around her neck. “I’m not going to let him retire. This is what he loves.”
No one should drive him away either. The game can pass people by, but not Larrañaga. He proved on Sunday in an 88-81 win over Texas in the Midwest Regional final that he absolutely still has it, making a few…
