Larranaga fills staff opening with well-connected young coach

DJ Irving, who played college basketball at Boston University and has been coaching at Roman Catholic High in Philadelphia and with the esteemed AAU program Team Final, was officially announced as a new member of Jim Larranaga's staff on Thursday morning.

The news was first reported by CaneSport on Wednesday.

Irving replaces Adam Fisher, who recently left the staff to go to Penn State.

“I am honored and incredibly excited to be an assistant coach at the University of Miami,” Irving said in a statement. “I want to thank coach Larrañaga for this amazing opportunity to be a part of his program. He believed in my energy, my passion for the game and my will to help this team get better every day. I cannot wait to work with the players, as well as learn from such an experienced group in coach Larrañaga, coach Caputo, coach Courtney and the rest of the staff. This is something I have been working towards for a very long time and I am truly blessed to be able to live out my dream in Coral Gables. Go Canes!”

Irving gives Miami a young coach with strong recruiting ties to complement Chris Caputo and Bill Courtney, Larranaga's current lead assistants.

Team Final - a Philadelphia, New Jersey, Delaware program which has produced former Hurricanes Lonnie Walker, Davon Reed and Jaquan Newton - is one of the top AAU teams in the country. Irving has worked directly there with the nation's No. 2 rated prospect, center Jalen Duren, and the No. 31 player, point guard Justice Williams, who both presently play at Montverde (FL) Academy. There obviously are no guarantees Miami will be able to land those prospects and others, but Irving's presence on the staff will give the Hurricanes an opening in their recruitment.

During his playing days at BU, Irving started in 121 of 128 games and logged 4,126 career minutes, third most in program history. The two-time team MVP and captain graduated fifth all-time in assists (470) and ninth in points (1,439) and helped lead the team to the 2011 NCAA tournament.

He had his best year as a junior in which he ranked in the top 10 in seven America East categories – including sixth in scoring (14.2 ppg) and seventh in steals (1.4 spg) – and received Mid-Major All-America accolades.

He began his coaching career as a special assistant to head coach Joe Jones at BU and also was a team manager at Penn State. He moved on to the coaching staff at Roman Catholic H.S. under former teammate Matt Griffin (Questrom'12) in addition to working with Team Final.

“DJ came highly recommended to me by coaches and friends I trust. I was immediately impressed with his passion and enthusiasm for working with young players,” Larranaga said. “As a former outstanding Division I point guard who has been coaching at both the high school and AAU levels, he brings a different point of view into our program and recruiting process. I believe DJ has an extremely bright future ahead of him. I am confident our players will enjoy the energy DJ brings to the court and the close personal relationship he’ll develop with them off the court. DJ is a winner in every sense of the word.”