Terry Mohajir on Gabe Lazo hire: "He’s authentic"

Terry Mohajir says Gabe Lazo was the right fit to help elevate UCF’s women’s basketball program.

Speaking after Lazo’s introductory press conference, the UCF athletic director said the process may have appeared fast from the outside, but UCF had a clear profile in mind.

“It wasn’t my first women’s basketball hire,” Mohajir said. “So you get to know the agents over the years, and they have a stable of coaches. And, you know, you kind of talk to the agents and say, this is what we’re looking for, and then it happens pretty quick.”

Mohajir said the process included conversations with the current team about what kind of coach the program needed.

“We got some feedback from the ladies on the team this year, and just some simple feedback when I told them that we were making the change. That’s always something I always talk to the ladies about.

“And so then you start trying to profile, because they’re where the rubber meets the road, and they had the best pulse on what they think they need. It wasn’t every personal. It was about skills. It was about development. It was about evaluation. It was about style, play, all that kind of stuff that went into the decision.”

Asked what most impressed him about Lazo, Mohajir immediately pointed to his authenticity.

“Authentic. He’s authentic. He’s a connector,” Mohajir said. “He talked about recruiter. I actually think the word recruiter is overused too. I think connecting is the most important thing because recruiters were a term used by a lot of basketball coaches back in the old days when I first got in the business.

“It’s about you have to connect with people, and you have to relate to them. And when you connect with people, they listen to you. You can coach them hard, but you have to love them hard, and that’s something that I saw real quick out of him.”

Mohajir said that connection piece stood out not just in formal conversations, but in the way Lazo carried himself and spoke about his background.

“And he was just very authentic. He got emotional talking about his mom,” Mohajir said. “I’m not going to tell you, but he’s got a backstory. You’ll have to ask him about it sometime about how he grew up, and it was a lot like a lot of students that I’ve — former alumni and students that I’ve talked to since I’ve been here. It’s the story. It’s the UCF story.”

Mohajir added that, while it was not the reason for the hire, there were aspects of Lazo’s background that resonated with him personally.

“I’m a son of an immigrant. I know how it is, and that’s not the reason why we made the hire, but it could relate to some of the challenges,” Mohajir said. “And so it was really cool.”

Another obvious talking point around the hire is that Lazo is stepping into his first college head coaching job. Mohajir said he was comfortable with that because of both Lazo’s background and the way he discussed what he has learned from working around successful programs and first-time head coaches.

Lazo was on staff under Sam Purcell at Mississippi State from 2022-24 as Purcell was making the jump from longtime assistant to first-time head coach.

“We talked a lot about what did you learn, what did you see, what were some of the challenges, and what were some of the achievements or the successes or things that you did well to translate from being an assistant to head coach. And I saw all that, and that’s been pretty successful for me over the years when hiring coaches.”

Mohajir also said Lazo’s earlier years as a high school coach mattered in his evaluation, particularly because of the demands that come with winning at that level.

“Well, I think those are just all variables you have to look at when you’re having conversations,” Mohajir said. “You know, I think being a high school — I mean, I’m a purist. You guys know me long enough. I’m a purist. Being a high school coach is the purest form of coaching because when you’re in a public high school, you don’t get to pick your players.

“So, I have a lot of respect for high school football and basketball coaches that win consistently at public high schools based on the kids that are in their district that go to those schools. So, I think I take a lot of credence in have you won at that level. Did you win at the AAU level? Did you win as an assistant coach?”

Mohajir said it was important to move quickly to hire a coach before the opening of the transfer portal.

“He has relationships. He has a little bit of a head start about what he wants to do, and he was already recruiting some of the athletes. He knows the coaches. And so, you know, it gives him an opportunity.”

Mohajir also made it clear that UCF expects more out of the program moving forward. He acknowledged that the Sytia Messer inherited a difficult situation when the roster was depleted after the transition from the prior Katie Abrahamson-Henderson regime, but said the program simply did not improve as needed.

“Well, as you know, our women’s basketball program hasn’t been where we need to be,” Mohajir said. “Now, the transition hurt a little bit with our former coach that left. Back then she took all of her players. And, you know, that was the day and age you could do that. So, we had to start from scratch.

“But we just didn’t get better like we wanted. And we gave them a couple years. We knew that there was some, you know, the cupboard was empty when she got here. It just didn’t get better.”

Because of that, Mohajir said expectations are higher this time around, particularly given the current resources available.

“My expectations are a little higher this time because I think we’re competitively resourced with Revshare,” Mohajir said. “But it’s like I said in my opening remarks, it’s part of the issue. You also have to evaluate. You have to develop. And that was something that he has been doing his whole career is evaluation and developing.”

Mohajir said he expects UCF to be more competitive in the Big 12 sooner rather than later.

“So, I expect us to have, I mean, listen, in this day and age, depending on how many young people you get in the portal, you can turn around pretty quick,” Mohajir said. “I mean, do I expect us to win the national championship next year? No. But I expect that we’re going to be a team that can compete in this league.”

Asked directly what gave him that confidence, Mohajir again came back to Lazo’s background and the number of successful programs he has been around.

“Just the conversations,” Mohajir said. “And he’s been around very successful programs. Every place that he’s been, whether it’s high school, junior college, AAU, you know, mid-major. I don’t like that term, but that’s what the basketball people use. Mid-majors. They win everywhere. He wins everywhere.

“So, he has seen at every different level winning as a player. He’s played Division I. He’s played JUCO ball. So, there’s not a player that can explain to him that, or you haven’t gone through what I’ve gone through. He’s seen it all.”

Mohajir also touched on Lazo’s Hispanic background.

“I mean, it’s pretty cool that he can — when he tries to connect, it just gives him another group of people to connect with, I think,” Mohajir said. “And it wasn’t the reason why, but I like the flavor of, you know, we are a Hispanic-serving institution. We have a lot of young people that celebrate and are proud of their heritage, and I think it’s just another person that is in a leadership position on this campus that can connect with that demographic.”

He added that the hire also gives the program a different feel than what UCF has had in the past.

“It’s that simple. Plus, I think it just adds a little — it’s different, right?” Mohajir said. “It’s different than what we’ve had. It’s different than anybody else’s had. And I did think, based on our last coach, sometimes it’s the pendulum swing. You look at something completely different, and I think we did that.”