Jeffrey Brian Lebo (born October 5, 1966) is an American basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for his alma mater, North Carolina. He was previously the head men's basketball coach at East Carolina (2010–2017), Auburn University (2004–2010), the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (2002–2004), and Tennessee Tech (1998–2002).

Before becoming a head coach, he spent a total of eight years as an assistant coach at South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and East Tennessee State. He also spent a season as an assistant with the Greensboro Swarm of the NBA G League.

Formative years

Lebo was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. As a high school player, he played for his father, Dave Lebo, at Carlisle High School, where he was a McDonald's All-American. The elder Lebo would later serve as an assistant to his son, at Auburn.

As a collegian, Lebo was a four-year starter (1986–1989) while playing for legendary coach Dean Smith at the University of North Carolina. While at Carolina, Lebo set the Tar Heel record for most consecutive free throws made (41 from January 3 to March 12, 1989), the most assists in a single game (17 vs. Chattanooga on November 18, 1988) and (at the time) had the highest career free throw shooting percentage (.839) in Tar Heel history (currently fifth all time) and was third in Tar Heel history with 580 assists (currently tenth all time).

Lebo was also an Academic All American and graduated in 1989 with a degree in Business Administration.

After leaving the Tar Heels, Lebo had a brief NBA career as a member of the San Antonio Spurs during the 1989–90 season, appearing in four games.

Coaching career

On March 12, 2010, following a loss to Florida in the 2010 SEC men's basketball tournament in Nashville, Lebo was fired as the head basketball coach at Auburn after compiling a 96–93 record in six years as coach of the Tigers to go along with no post-season NCAA tournament bids.

On March 22, 2010, Lebo was named head coach at East Carolina University. During his first year in Greenville, Lebo led the ECU Pirates basketball team to 18 wins, their first winning season since 1997, and a spot in the 2011 CollegeInsider.com Tournament which was the first post-season appearance by the Pirates since the 1993 NCAA Tournament. The 18 wins were the second most wins ever by the ECU Pirates since becoming a Division I basketball team. During his third year at ECU, Lebo again led the Pirates to the CIT Tournament. The Pirates defeated Weber State and won the 2013 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament Championship that year. On November 29, 2017, Lebo announced his resignation as the ECU Basketball Coach. He posted a 116–122 mark during his tenure at ECU.

On April 15, 2021, after former teammate Hubert Davis' hiring as the North Carolina head coach, Lebo was named as one of the three assistants for Davis' inaugural coaching staff, alongside former Tar Heel players Brad Frederick and Sean May.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
SeasonTeamOverallConferenceStandingPostseason
Tennessee Tech (Ohio Valley Conference) (1998–2002)
1998–99Tennessee Tech12–158–10T–7th
1999–00Tennessee Tech16–1211–7T–3rd
2000–01Tennessee Tech20–913–31st
2001–02Tennessee Tech27–715–11stNIT Quarterfinals
Tennessee Tech:75–43 (.636)47–21 (.691)
Chattanooga (Southern Conference) (2002–2004)
2002–03Chattanooga21–911–52nd (South)
2003–04Chattanooga19–1110–62nd (North)
Chattanooga:40–20 (.667)21–11 (.656)
Auburn (Southeastern Conference) (2004–2010)
2004–05Auburn14–174–12T–5th (West)
2005–06Auburn12–164–12T–5th (West)
2006–07Auburn17–157–9T–3rd (West)
2007–08Auburn14–164–126th (West)
2008–09Auburn24–1210–62nd (West)NIT Quarterfinals
2009–10Auburn15–176–10T–4th (West)
Auburn:96–93 (.508)35–61 (.365)
East Carolina (Conference USA) (2010–2014)
2010–11East Carolina18–168–8T–7thCIT First Round
2011–12East Carolina15–165–1110th
2012–13East Carolina23–129–7T–4thCIT Champions
2013–14East Carolina17–175–11T–12thCIT First Round
East Carolina (American Athletic Conference) (2014–2017)
2014–15East Carolina14–196–12T–7th
2015–16East Carolina12–204–14T–9th
2016–17East Carolina15–18*6–12*9th
2017–18East Carolina2–4**
East Carolina:116–122 (.487)43–75 (.364)
Total:327–277 (.541)
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

*Lebo underwent hip surgery on January 16, 2017, and missed the rest of the 2016–17 season. Assistant coach Michael Perry took over as head coach in Lebo's absence. At the time of Lebo's absence, ECU was 9–10 overall and 1–5 in AAC play. **Lebo resigned on November 29, 2017.

External links