Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga will enter his 11th season with the Hurricanes without one of his long-time assistants, as UM associate head coach Chris Caputo has been named as George Washington’s head coach.
The hiring was first reported Thursday by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Caputo worked 15 prior seasons as an assistant under Larrañaga at both George Mason and Miami before being promoted to associate head coach in May 2015, as well as assuming the role of the team’s defensive coordinator.
“After a thorough search and identification of numerous highly-qualified coaches, both sitting head coaches and assistants, Chris rose to the top,” GW director of athletics Tanya Vogel said in a news release. “We set out to find someone who understands what it will take to be successful here and embrace the ideal of a student-athlete, and Chris demonstrated that capability.”
Caputo, a native of Elmhurst, New York, was credited as the primary recruiter for current Hurricanes Harlond Beverly and Anthony Walker.
“Combined with his long-tenured success coaching some of the best college basketball players in the country who have gone on to successful careers both in basketball and in life, his recruiting acumen, knowledge of the DMV and international recruiting space, Chris is primed to build a sustained winner in Foggy Bottom,” Vogel said.
This will be Caputo’s first head coaching position.
“I would not have taken this role if I didn’t believe with my whole heart that we are going to build a program the whole university community will be proud of,” Caputo said in the same release. “The tradition is here, the desire to win is here, the fanbase is here, and that’s a great place to start … GW fans and the worldwide network that this excellent university has around it are going to love what they see from our program.”