Lady Vols basketball is losing one of its top assistant coaches under Kim Caldwell. Gabe Lazo, the coach primarily responsible for the extremely successful high school and transfer portal recruiting, resigned on Friday, the school announced.
Lazo is the first coach on Caldwell’s staff since her tenure began to leave the program. However, fellow assistant coach Roman Tubner recently interviewed for the head coaching job at Kennesaw State, according to reports.
He is being replaced by Florida State associate head coach Bill Ferrara, according to a report, as well.
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. His name has also been floated around as a potential head coach candidate this season.
More From RTI: Gabe Lazo, an Architect of the Lady Vols’ Stacked Roster, is Much More than a ‘Recruiter’
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.
“He’s intense,” Lady Vols forward Alyssa Latham told RTI before the season. “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.”
One Response
Going to try to make a get a male in there to be a the head coach ruined the Lady Vols I never said that I would I can’t believe that I will not be watching them anymore if that happens that is just wrong. For 52 years I’ve been watching and keeping up on them and I will not know I’ll still be a Lady Vols fan but it’ll be mostly the softball and the rolling if that happens