The Lady Vols enter year two under Kim Caldwell with one of the best rosters in the country. Tennessee landed five highly-ranked freshmen, including three McDonald’s All-Americans, and a trio of transfers that ESPN ranked as the best group in the country. While it’s a total team effort from the staff to construct the roster, perhaps nobody played a bigger role than assistant coach Gabe Lazo.
It doesn’t take long talking to these newcomers for Lazo’s name to pop up. All of them give credit to Caldwell and the entire staff for why they felt like Tennessee was the right fit, but Lazo is mentioned by name just about every time.
“Huge. He was huge, honestly,” Five-star freshman Deniya Prawl said about Lazo. “He was a great recruiter, he didn’t pressure me ever, he didn’t negative recruit, he was just a very positive impact in my recruiting process. I think out of all schools and all coaches, I was most comfortable with him. He kind of played like a big brother role when it comes to that. Just checking on me, making sure I’m okay outside of basketball.”
It’s not just the freshmen that Lazo brought in, either. The trio of transfers, Janiah Barker, Jersey Wolfenbarger and Nya Robertson, all brought up his name as reasons they picked the Lady Vols. In the case of Barker and Robertson, he already had very strong connections built with them while at previous stops.
“I talked to Coach Gabe a lot,” Wolfenbarger said. “He was probably my main outlet to Tennessee. He just always had energy. At first, I was like, there’s no way this man has this much energy. The longer I’ve been in the program, it is consistently that is Gabe. He has energy, he’s fun, he’s enthusiastic, but he’s also hard-nosed and he’s going to get after you.”
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The consistent message around what players say about Lazo is his transparency and authenticity. There are a lot of promises made in the recruiting process, and sometimes it can be tough to tell the difference between who is being real and who is being fake.
That’s not an issue with Lazo. Five-star freshman Jaida Civil says he’s constantly saying ‘no fakey fakey stuff’ and he lives by it every day. That ability to create trust and a relationship is what makes him so great in the recruiting landscape.
While he’s one of the best in the business on the recruiting trail, don’t fall into the trap of just labeling him as a recruiter, though. Lazo doesn’t necessarily even like the word ‘recruiter’ in the first place. To him, it implies that the process is transactional. In reality, he’s building relationships, even if a player doesn’t pick his school.
“I do get labeled a recruiter a lot,” Lazo said. “I’ll be honest, I don’t really even love the word recruiter. It’s a word that’s very transactional. I’m not a transactional person. There’s young ladies I’ve recruited that have gone to other schools, I don’t unfollow them on social media and get mad cause that’s all transactional stuff, man. I’m all about transformational relationships and being someone who can transform and develop someone. There’s much more than the recruiting piece, I’m a relationship builder.”
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Lazo is also not just helping bring in the talent, but helping develop the pieces, as well. Civil named him as someone who has helped her get ready for her first year on the court.
It’s not a passive approach to it, either. Alyssa Latham, a junior forward entering her second year at Tennessee, was quick to point out the energy he brings to the table.
“He’s intense,” Latham said. “If you’re not going to play hard, go home. If you’re not gonna play hard, not gonna talk or try or do your best, don’t even bother. The energy he brings has been great. You’ll know if Gabe’s not in the building. If Gabe’s not here, you’ll know. Having someone like that that brings that kind of energy is great.”
Lazo credited Caldwell, Sam Purcell at Mississippi State and other figures he’s coached with as people who have helped him get to this point. In the case of Caldwell, a lot of it is her allowing him to be himself while coaching.
It’s not just players she’s letting be free and play out of a box, she’s letting her coaches do the same.
“Coach Kim really allows me to be who I am and allows me to be that passionate coach,” Lazo said. “But I love on them a lot. There’s great balance with me and I believe that’s huge. As hard as I’m gonna coach you, I’m gonna love you, and that’s the no ‘fakey fakey’ right there.”
Lazo admitted that he does have aspirations of leading his own program as a head coach one day. While he’s certainly racking up the qualifications for the role, he’s not worried about that now, though. Instead, he’s focused on the season ahead and the opportunity he has with the Lady Vols in front of him.
