After 42 years of coaching, Minneapolis North head boys basketball coach Larry McKenzie is calling it a career.
McKenzie announced his decision in a tweet on Monday afternoon writing, "After much thought, prayer, and conversation with my family I have decided to hang up the whistle. Over the past 42 years, and more so the last 24 I've been blessed to share the game I loved with hundreds of young men and women."
Prior to spending nine seasons coaching Minneapolis North, McKenzie led basketball programs at both Patrick Henry High School and the Academy of Holy Angels.
In 2017, he became the first coach in Minnesota high school basketball history to lead two separate schools to multiple state titles. Patrick Henry won four straight state championships from 2003 to 2006, and Minneapolis North won back-to-back titles in the 2016 and 2017.
"[Coach McKenzie] is one of the greatest high school basketball coaches that you're going to find here in the state of Minnesota," WCCO Radio's Henry Lake, a North High School alum, said. "He had success everywhere that he went. Just one of those individuals that wasn't just a great x's and o's basketball coach, but somebody that was so giving to the community, and still gives."
Coach McKenzie spoke to WCCO Radio's Mike Max on Monday night after announcing that he was retiring.
"The last couple of years I've been dealing with a couple of health challenges," McKenzie said. "Knowing that I'm in the fourth quarter, and I hope it's the beginning of the fourth quarter, I just thought that I've had a great career and there's a few other things that I want to do."
McKenzie added that among the things he wants to do is mentor and help other coaches.
"I want to be able to share the recipe or secret sauce with other young coaches while I still have some energy to do that," he said. "I've got four beautiful granddaughters, the oldest from what I hear is a pretty good soccer player. I want to be able to see her."
Minneapolis North finished 27-7 in the 2021/2022 season, losing to Annandale in the Class AA championship.
That success, however, came as the North dealt with the tragic death of Deshaun Hill, 15, who was and killed in February.
"This past season was the hardest of my career," he said. "We were still fighting COVID, still having kids coming to practice knowing their parents were unemployed, and knowing some of the struggles they were having in their home. We lost Deshaun Hill and also went through the Minneapolis teachers strike. There was no training manual. To look those kids and young men in their eyes after the loss of a teammate and classmate, just trying to fight and make him proud, it was really hard."
McKenzie was part of the Minnesota High School Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2022 and became the first African-American coach selected to the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2014.