Former Lady Vols basketball assistant coach Gabe Lazo is looking for his next stop. This past Friday, Lazo submitted his resignation to Tennessee while he pursues other options. This could include the potential to be a head coach.
UCF moved on from its head coach, Sytia Messer, on Monday, and is set to conduct its search for the next head of the program. USA TODAY’s Mitchell Northam released a list of candidates to know for the search. At the top of the list was Lazo.
“For this opening, it’s worth mentioning that Lazo grew up in Miami and has deep ties in Florida dating back to his time as a head coach in the high school and AAU ranks, where he was a three-time high school coach of the year and led his AAU team to the Nike Nationals,” Northam wrote. “Lazo is also Cuban, and UCF’s student enrollment is 31% Hispanic.”
More From RTI: Lady Vols Basketball Expected to Hire Florida State Associate Head Coach to Join Kim Caldwell’s Staff
Lazo just concluded his second season as an assistant coach under Caldwell at Tennessee. He was hired off the staff at Mississippi State, bringing needed SEC experience to Knoxville.
Lazo was the primary recruiter for all five high school signees and three transfer portal prospects that Tennessee signed last cycle. He was also the primary recruiter for UT’s pair of high school signees in the 2026 class, Oliviyah Edwards and Gabby Minus.
“I talked to Coach Gabe a lot,” Tennessee forward Jersey Wolfenbarger said before the season. “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.”
While Lazo has proven to be an elite recruiter, he prides himself on much more than just that. He also plays a big hand in the X’s and O’s that go into preparing for games.
