George Mason’s Jim Larranaga made headlines on Wednesday by turning down an offer to become the head coach of the Providence Friars. He had the opportunity to coach at his alma mater in one of the nation’s best conferences where he would most certainly get more media attention, better recruits, and most likely a nice pay raise, but to me, his refusal of the offer was no surprise. Why? George Mason is more fun.

Larranaga looks like a fun-loving guy, and I’m not sure if there is more of a fun-loving program than the one right here in Fairfax. When your pep band leader looks like this and has his very own bobblehead, you can be assured your program knows how to have a good time.

I picture the Patriots to be like the 1972 Miami Dolphins. I see them as a group of guys who love their once in a lifetime accomplishment and want to celebrate their moment in the spotlight everyday. So this is what I think happened. I bet Larranaga was with his team at some sports bar - probably a place like Buffalo Wild Wings if the commercials do them any justice - and they were watching the Elite Eight game between Kansas and Davidson. There he was rooting against the underdog to make sure the pundits would still be talking about Mason and wouldn’t start asking “Who will be this year’s Davidson?”. As Jason Richards missed his three-pointer at the buzzer, the whole bar erupted, and Coach Larranaga looked to his left to see that bobble-heady fashion wizard stoke up the band and looked to his right to see the green fuzzy monster Gunston dancing around.

Then a couple days later, he gets a call from his former school. He thinks of all the great things he could accomplish at that program and all of the clear benefits that come with being a Big East coach. But then he remembers that night with his team, and he realizes he wouldn’t be able to live with himself seeing this guy running around at timeouts. And he quickly asks for an extension at Fun Times U.