https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-presence-in-d-c-area/?utm_term=.a0c18fe4ec4c
As play zoomed back and forth, with halfhearted defense giving way to dueling fast breaks, most of the college coaches gathered in one corner of DeMatha’s secondary gym.
But Miami Coach Jim Larranaga sat toward the middle of the worn bleachers, his arms stretched out and his legs covering the two rows in front of him. The 67-year-old watched a handful of prospects competing at the Victor Oladipo Skills Academy last week, and the dim, dusty space made the action look like grainy old game tape. His glasses rested near the edge of his nose. At one point he yawned, stretching his arms just a bit farther before folding his hands on his chest.
It looked as if he were in his own living room. It is, after all, a familiar space for Larranaga. The coach spent 14 years as the head coach at George Mason in Fairfax, Virginia, which glued Larranaga to high school bleachers all over the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area. Now he is entering his seventh season leading Miami, and the Atlantic Coast Conference program is fixed on chasing this area’s most talented basketball players.
He and Chris Caputo — who moved with Larranaga from George Mason and is the Hurricanes’ associate head coach — have strong ties to the region. It is not a bad place to center recruiting efforts.
