Miami’s Chris Caputo hired as George Washington head coach

Miami (FL) associate head coach Chris Caputo was announced Friday as the new head coach at George Washington. Caputo, a Queens native, had been at The U since 2011 and working under Jim Larrañaga for a total of twenty years.

“After a thorough search and identification of numerous highly-qualified coaches, both sitting head coaches and assistants, Chris rose to the top,” said AD Tanya Vogel. “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. 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.”

This is a return to the DMV for Caputo, who started out his career working at George Mason for nine seasons. His first year as a full assistant coach was 2005-06, when the 11-seed Patriots made their miracle run to the Final Four.

“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. “The tradition is here, the desire to win is here, the fanbase is here, and that’s a great place to start. The experiences I’ve had in my career have led me to GW, and I could not be more excited to move back to the DMV and get started where I believe the best talent in the country resides. GW fans and the worldwide network that this excellent university has around it are going to love what they see from our program.”

GW moved on from previous head coach Jamion Christian last month after just three seasons (29-50 overall). The Colonials last played in the Big Dance in 2014 and have not had a winning season since 2016-17.

credit to George Washington Athletics for the image