Coach Kim Mulkey announced Tuesday that she has hired former Tennessee assistant coach Gabe Lazo to her LSU women’s basketball staff.
Lazo is an ace recruiter who’s spent the last four seasons in the SEC — two with Mississippi State and two with the Lady Vols. In 2025, he helped Tennessee land its most highly rated freshman class since 2017. That group, which ESPN said was the second-best haul in the country, featured three McDonald’s All-Americans: guards Mia Pauldo, Deniya Prawl and Jaida Civil.
Lazo, a Miami native, also helped the Lady Vols sign 6-foot-3 forward Oliviyah Edwards — the second-best recruit in the 2026 class, according to ESPN.
“Gabe will be an outstanding addition to our staff,” Mulkey said in a statement. “He has been an invaluable member of two SEC staffs with an unbelievable ability to teach the game and recruit the best players in the country.”
Mulkey has two openings to fill on her staff this offseason because one of her former assistants, Gary Redus, accepted Rutgers’ head coaching job on March 8. Daphne Mitchell, a former Baylor assistant who followed Mulkey to LSU in 2021, joined his staff.
During his two-year stint at Mississippi State, Lazo helped coach Sam Purcell land nationally ranked freshman and transfer classes. In 2025, Purcell said he expects Lazo to become a head coach someday. Lazo, he said, was “a major part” of why Tennessee signed one of the nation’s best freshman classes that year.
“He’s a big, strong dude, but he’s a teddy bear inside,” Purcell said. “And his life and where he’s been…man, he can relate to a lot of kids. And he has a passion and energy for life that sets him apart from other people.
“He’s just an absolute workhorse. He gets after it, and when you got those ingredients, it makes for a special person, and that’s why he’s doing a special job.”
Lazo played his college basketball at Florida International and Barry University from 2004-08. He started his coaching career in the high school ranks, then made stops as an assistant at FIU, Stony Brook and George Mason.
“Gabe will impact our program at the highest level,” Mulkey said, “and his unmatched work ethic will lead to great results on the court and on the recruiting trail. It doesn’t matter if Gabe is out recruiting or coaching on the floor because the contributions he will make toward our program will be significant.”
Lazo resigned from his job at Tennessee on Friday. Under second-year coach Kim Caldwell, the Lady Vols finished the 2025-26 season with only 16 wins — the fewest in the program’s NCAA-era history. They drew a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament and lost to No. 7 seed North Carolina State in the first round.
