MIAMI (June 30, 2017) -- FIU Head Coach Tiara Malcom hired South Florida native Gabriel Lazo to complete her women's basketball coaching staff for the 2017-18 campaign. Lazo, who played at FIU for two seasons, comes back to campus after serving as head coach of John A. Ferguson High in Miami for the past five seasons, which advanced in the 9A State Championship game this winter.
 
"While I hate to leave a situation like Ferguson, which returns all of the players from our amazing team last season, it has been my dream to coach at the college level," said Lazo. "I met with Coach Malcom two years ago when she got here, and I have attended some practices. We developed a relationship since they were recruiting my players. I feel I was lucky to be chosen to be back here at FIU."
 
After two seasons at Ferguson, Lazo was promoted from assistant to head coach and led the Falcons to their first-ever district and later regional championships. The "Miami Herald" selected Lazo as the Co-Girl's Coach of the Year for large schools in 2014-15 and the sole winner of that award the past two seasons. Five of his players this past season were All-Dade County selections, and he has coached two Players of the Year, including the current 9A award-winner.
 
"I'm very excited to add Coach Lazo to my staff," said Malcom. "He has proven himself to be very successful at the high school level, and I am very excited to watch him experience success at this level. He has deep recruiting connections and strong ties to the South Florida community."
 
As a player, Lazo was a point guard for the Panthers for two seasons (2004-2006) before finishing his collegiate career at Barry, where he received a degree in education in 2008. He has been an assistant and head coach of the Nike Elite Team Larkins for the past four summers, enhancing his coaching resume and profile. He was a teacher for three semesters in area schools until moving into an administrative role at Ferguson prior to the 2012-13 academic year.
 
"It's going to be a transition to go from being a high school head coach to a college assistant, but I am glad it's at FIU, where I have some history and familiarity," added Lazo. "I am extremely passionate and well connected down here. I hope I can help to bring in some talented players who will succeed at this level."
 
The Panthers return five players from last season's roster and have added five more on the active roster to take into the upcoming campaign, the second under the direction of Malcom.
 
For women's basketball ticket information, contact the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto www.FIUSports.com.
 
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUWBB) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUWBasketball) for all the latest FIU women's basketball news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google+ (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).
 
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in eight different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including Lime Court at FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as an "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged University. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offer bachelor's, masters and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.  FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolled more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.