Just four days after he was promoted to associate head coach at Mississippi State, Gabe Lazo has joined the coaching staff at Tennessee under new Volunteers head coach Kim Caldwell.
Lazo came to Starkville after Sam Purcell was hired as the Bulldogs’ head coach in 2022 and helped MSU reach the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. He previously was an assistant coach at Florida International, George Washington and Stony Brook, and before that was the head coach at John A. Ferguson High School in his home city of Miami.
Purcell has already added former Georgia Southern head coach Anita Howard to his staff, and will now need to make at least one more hire. Michelle Clark-Heard left last month to become the head coach at Mercer, and Corry Irvin was recently named the head coach at Chicago State.
“My time is up here in Starkville. I will always be thankful for the opportunity to represent the maroon and white,” Lazo wrote in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter). “I will never forget how caring and loving you guys were with me and my mother. A special thank you to my guy Sam Purcell for taking a chance on me; you changed my life and I will forever be grateful.”
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