Old friends Cremins, Larranaga will meet in BracketBusters
Former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins was happy in Hilton Head, playing golf, hanging at the beach, and working as a TV analyst for ESPN.
But at age 58, he didn’t have coaching completely out of his system. When Cremins watched his friend and former rival in the New York Catholic League, Jim Larranaga, lead George Mason to a surprise run to the NCAA Final Four, Cremins was inspired.
Three months later, Cremins returned to coaching, taking a job with the College of Charleston.
“I lacked purpose,” said Cremins. “The next thing I knew, six years had gone by and I thought I would never coach again. I was very fortunate to get back in. I considered this my mulligan.”
Four years later, Cremins is making the most of his second chance, guiding Charleston at the top of the Southern Conference. Saturday he will face the man who moved him to return to the sidelines as Charleston (18-9) takes on George Mason (16-11) in an ESPN BracketBuster game.
“We go way back,” Cremins, 62, told the Charleston Post and Courier. “We’re both from the Bronx. We both played in Catholic School League. We’re Irish-Catholic New York kids.”
When Larranaga was an emerging sophomore at New York City powerhouse Archbishop Molloy, he looked up to Cremins, then a senior star at All Hallows High.
It wasn’t until college that they became friends. While Larranaga starred at Providence, Cremins was the starting point guard at South Carolina, joined by a trio of Larranaga’s former Molloy teammates — Kevin Joyce, Bob Carver, and Brian Winters.
Later, when Cremins was head coach at Georgia Tech (1981-2000) and Larranaga was an assistant at Virginia (1979-86) they would often meet at recruiting camps and square off in another sport.
“Bobby would tell you he was the better tennis player,” said Larranaga. “I would tell you I was the better player.”
Saturday finds them on equal footing — both successful coaches at mid-major programs, both committed to their schools through the 2013-14 season.
While Larranaga (442-323 career) has taken Mason to the NCAA Tournament four times in 12 years, Cremins (537-353) has yet to get Charleston to the tourney, despite his best efforts.
He took the Cougars to the Southern tournament final in his rookie year, losing to Stephen Curry and Davidson. Last year, Charleston missed out despite a 27-9 record, falling to Chattanooga in the title game.
Last month, Cremins got his biggest win at Charleston when he upset then No. 9-ranked North Carolina, 82-79, in Chapel Hill. It was the same school Larranaga upset in the second round in 2006, launching the Patriots to their unlikely Cinderella run, and helping nudge Cremins back to college coaching.
“He told me at the Final Four that year that he really didn’t miss coaching until he saw what we did,” said Larranaga, 60. “He said to himself, ‘I’ve got to get back and do what Larranaga did.'”
