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What was the feeling on Larranaga when he left BG?

George Mason doesn't play until tomorrow, correct? I'm surprised that the Toledo Blade hasn't written something on Larranaga.

Overall: BGSU fans generally felt lucky that he took the job at George Mason, saving the University from having to deal with extending his contract.

I recall the feeling among those whom I circulated was that Jim Laranaga was a bad personality fit with the BGSU community. A big city/east coast guy in small town BG. He was considered aloof and unfriendly. He was not known for shopping in the local stores, or paying the obligatory lip-service to doing so. I heard complaints from two business owners in town, that he only showed up to ask for something, and wasn't seen again.

He miffed some locals when he sent his elder son to St. Johns in Toledo so he could play basketball there and not for the Bobcats. I heard locals complain about his never having even a walk-on from BGHS for the sake of getting local fans. He recruited players from big urban cities, who often had issues adjusting to the very un-urban feel of BG. He was heard commenting that it wasn't his job to the a father to the players and they had to make adjustments for themselves. He would go on vacation over seas and come back with players from the Netherlands.

When his teams lost games, you heard little on the radio shows besides, “its just so tough to win in the MAC.” His early teams made some noted NIT runs, but never came close to the NCAA tourney. I personally heard him chatting at length to his assistants (at the Wooster McDonalds where they often ate) about how folks griped about the NCAA, and how winning the NIT would make them happy.

He won a co-title in 1997 to be sure. But the collapse on the road during the last few games underscored what many I know felt was the problem. His teams always seemed to come up short of wrapping things up. By all rights BG should have won the regular season title outright. Instead they wound up adding another banner to Miami's rafters beyond their own. His teams always seemed to have great potential, but underachieved overall. He recruited great talent, which never seemed to live up to its potential. (save for the Antonio Daniels) His program at BGSU did have a history of losing talent, which until recently was worse than even what Dakich is experiencing.

When he did win the co-title in 1997 there were those that groaned and complained that he'd wind up getting a contract extension, and BGSU would win up with another ten years of coming up short. So when he took the GM job, a lot of folks were thrilled. The Falcons got a title, Jimbo got a new job, BG got a new coach.

I got to know him personally during the last few years he was at BGSU. In truth, I found him to be very friendly once he learned your name. He was exceptionally well connected in the media. BGSU got a lot of attention and comments from Dick Vital and others precisely because of Jimbo talking to them. Not that it got us into the NCAA tourney, but we managed an NIT bid in 1997. A couple of the fundraising events he organized, which I volunteered to work, were exceptionally well designed and executed. I might even say they were a tad more refined than many events since then.

I think the feeling was he couldn't take us to the next level. I'm not a hoops junkie like some of you, but that was my sense.

NWLB wrote:His early teams made some noted NIT runs,

Not to totally pick nits, because the rest was pretty well stated, but Coach L took BG to three NIT's (90,91,97) and was 0-3. Not to add to the misery that is BG men's basketball, but not counting the "National Commissioner's Invitational" in 1975, BG hasn't won a national postseason tournament game since 1963.

(And they named the arena after the guy that coached that team. )

No doubt they were noted because getting into any post season tourney was a feat back then. Calling it a run was a bit inaccurate. At BG just getting to the darned thing seems to be a run in-and-of-itself. The knock on the '97 squad was that AD went to war during the game, and the rest of the team failed to show, which was another issue Jimbo's teams suffered from.

NWLB wrote:No doubt they were noted because getting into any post season tourney was a feat back then. The knock on the '97 squad was that AD went to war during the game, and the rest of the team failed to show, which was another issue Jimbo's teams suffered from.

Fair enough. Damn semantics.

I do remember Daniels going off in that NIT game, though. 37 or so points, I believe?

Yes. Not unlike his legendary 27-0 run to start the second half of the Miami game at Anderson that year. Many a Redskinned jaw was left open after that rally.

AD's final shot, a missed three-pointer, would have tied the game I recall.

Ironic that WVU would ruin our year even back then.

I will say however, when Jimbo was here, BG simply did not lose at home. No matter how totally outmanned our teams were, they somehow found a way to eat teams alive.

Some of those games are the stuff of recent legend. The epic games again the Duke of Earl and his EMU teams. The 7 point rally in 27 seconds against Ball State. Beating the Gary Tent centered OU teams, including The Dunk AD had over Trent, which made Sportcenter that night. So help me if AD didn't seem to jump from the three point line.

That stuff hasn't happened at BG for too many years. Some of DD's early years, yes. But there are things the kids on the sidelines just weren't here for, that were literally just before they got here, which are sadly gone.

Not remembering the end of the game totally (aside from AD having a chance at the end, but I think that would have won it, we lost that one 97-95.

http://bgsusports.com/mambo/content/view/175/51/

NWLB wrote:Overall:
I recall the feeling among those whom I circulated was that Jim Laranaga was a bad personality fit with the BGSU community. A big city/east coast guy in small town BG. He was considered aloof and unfriendly. He was not known for shopping in the local stores, or paying the obligatory lip-service to doing so. I heard complaints from two business owners in town, that he only showed up to ask for something, and wasn't seen again.

He miffed some locals when he sent his elder son to St. Johns in Toledo so he could play basketball there and not for the Bobcats. I heard locals complain about his never having even a walk-on from BGHS for the sake of getting local fans. He recruited players from big urban cities, who often had issues adjusting to the very un-urban feel of BG. He was heard commenting that it wasn't his job to the a father to the players and they had to make adjustments for themselves. He would go on vacation over seas and come back with players from the Netherlands.

When his teams lost games, you heard little on the radio shows besides, “its just so tough to win in the MAC.” His early teams made some noted NIT runs, but never came close to the NCAA tourney. I personally heard him chatting at length to his assistants (at the Wooster McDonalds where they often ate) about how folks griped about the NCAA, and how winning the NIT would make them happy.

He won a co-title in 1997 to be sure. But the collapse on the road during the last few games underscored what many I know felt was the problem. His teams always seemed to come up short of wrapping things up. By all rights BG should have won the regular season title outright. Instead they wound up adding another banner to Miami's rafters beyond their own. His teams always seemed to have great potential, but underachieved overall. He recruited great talent, which never seemed to live up to its potential. (save for the Antonio Daniels) His program at BGSU did have a history of losing talent, which until recently was worse than even what Dakich is experiencing.

When he did win the co-title in 1997 there were those that groaned and complained that he'd wind up getting a contract extension, and BGSU would win up with another ten years of coming up short. So when he took the GM job, a lot of folks were thrilled. The Falcons got a title, Jimbo got a new job, BG got a new coach.

I got to know him personally during the last few years he was at BGSU. In truth, I found him to be very friendly once he learned your name. He was exceptionally well connected in the media. BGSU got a lot of attention and comments from Dick Vital and others precisely because of Jimbo talking to them. Not that it got us into the NCAA tourney, but we managed an NIT bid in 1997. A couple of the fundraising events he organized, which I volunteered to work, were exceptionally well designed and executed. I might even say they were a tad more refined than many events since then.

I'm not sure why you(others) thought Larranaga was a bad personality fit for BG. Because he grew up in a big city? Do these people know that Charlottesville has 10,000 more people than BG?

Yes, he did recruit from NYC. But what other 'big urban' areas are you talking about? Cleveland? The majority of his recruits were from Ohio, correct? Daniels, Stacey, Shane-Kline, Tom Hall, etc... Larranaga can recruit and has good connections, better than Dakich.

I don't fault him for sending Jay and Jon to St. Johns at all. The goal is to play the best competition, and develop them into better players. The NLL and coach Vannett, especially, weren't going to help Jay out.

I'm not sure who some of the locals you talked to, but they have the wrong perception of Jim. The is no doubt he isn't the best Xs and Os type coach, but he's a players coach. People seemed to enjoy playing for him. His style of play (offense and half court trapping D) made it pretty exciting to watch.

edit: I want to point out that I knew he grew up in NYC.

dduncan wrote: I'm not sure why you(others) thought Larranaga was a bad personality fit for BG. Because he grew up in a big city? Do these people know that Charlottesville has 10,000 more people than BG?

Yes, he did recruit from NYC. But what other 'big urban' areas are you talking about? Cleveland? The majority of his recruits were from Ohio, correct? Daniels, Stacey, Shane-Kline, Tom Hall, etc... Larranaga can recruit and has good connections, better than Dakich.

I don't fault him for sending Jay and Jon to St. Johns at all. The goal is to play the best competition, and develop them into better players. The NLL and coach Vannett, especially, weren't going to help Jay out.

I'm not sure who some of the locals you talked to, but they have the wrong perception of Jim. The is no doubt he isn't the best Xs and Os type coach, but he's a players coach. People seemed to enjoy playing for him. His style of play (offense and half court trapping D) made it pretty exciting to watch.

To start with, I didn't share that view of his personality as I noted at the end of my post. I'm just relating what I bore witness to during the many years I have lived here. And you can go back and read the Sentinal Tribune, which made many of these same comments I have related, even while he was here. The Blade also made comments to the same effect during and after his departure.

I don't fault him for sending his kids to St. Johns, it was/is a better high school with a basketball team that is the best in the area (as can be noted by their return to the state final four this weekend.) I said it annoyed and alienated people locally. Is that response a bit small-minded and hick-ish? Sure enough, and I think it was silly. But it was also why a lot of locals pounced in getting DD to push hard to get Josh Almanson. If DD had failed, or not tried hard, there would have been hell to pay politically. Again, I'm not supporting the view or response, just saying it was there.

Most kids were from the Ohio area, but there were always, and I mean ALWAYS kids from Brooklyn, due in no small part to Jimbo's deep connections to the area. And yes, the two I recall dropping out while I was here noted his communication with them and the area as being reasons they left. Granted you can take those comments with a grain of salt. But then you had the kids from Toledo that were not shy about saying what they thought of him when they either transfered, or after he left.

In short, I'm not saying there isn't a lack of silly views or responses to many things about Jimbo. I'm just saying what I observed. And I trust I talked and know enough people to be able to accurately state what was happening here at the time.

dduncan wrote:George Mason doesn't play until tomorrow, correct? I'm surprised that the Toledo Blade hasn't written something on Larranaga.

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... /-1/SPORTS

NWLB wrote:To start with, I didn't share that view of his personality as I noted at the end of my post. I'm just relating what I bore witness to during the many years I have lived here. And you can go back and read the Sentinal Tribune, which made many of these same comments I have related, even while he was here. The Blade also made comments to the same effect during and after his departure.

I don't fault him for sending his kids to St. Johns, it was/is a better high school with a basketball team that is the best in the area (as can be noted by their return to the state final four this weekend.) I said it annoyed and alienated people locally. Is that response a bit small-minded and hick-ish? Sure enough, and I think it was silly. But it was also why a lot of locals pounced in getting DD to push hard to get Josh Almanson. If DD had failed, or not tried hard, there would have been hell to pay politically. Again, I'm not supporting the view or response, just saying it was there.

In short, I'm not saying there isn't a lack of silly views or responses to many things about Jimbo. I'm just saying what I observed. And I trust I talked and know enough people to be able to accurately state what was happening here at the time.

I'm not faulting what you observed or heard from locals. I'm just surprised.

I'm really interested to know what locals, specifically, were annoyed and alienated that Jay went to St. Johns? I was one grade ahead of Jay and can say that none of the people who went to HS with me or even the coaches were miffed or surprised.

I can tell you one thing, the students seemed more annoyed with Larranaga than anyone in the community. Some of the student section, especially in the corner behind the BG bench would show their displeasure at Jim for letting Jay play more than they thought he should have.

Also, the Larranaga family constantly had the team over for various occasions. I lived a block away from their house.

It's true. I don't think Jim had a strong presence in the community. Is it wrong? Not sure. I don't think less of the guy for not showing his face around town more.