He led ECU to its greatest heights. Now, Jeff Lebo returns to face the program he once coached, seeking a historic win.
North Carolina (11-1) Assistant Coach Jeff Lebo Will Face The ECU Program He Once Led On Monday Night.
Jeff Lebo will be a primary storyline for UNC's non-conference finale against East Carolina (5-7). Prior to becoming an assistant on Hubert Davis' staff in Chapel Hill, Lebo spent seven seasons as the head coach of the Pirates.
He also led ECU to some of its greatest heights in basketball. His 116 career wins in Greenville, N.C., are a program record since the Pirates joined Division I in the 1960s.
One of those victories was in the championship game of the 2013 CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament. A former UNC ball boy Akeem Richmond hit a buzzer-beating triple for the Pirates to clinch the title at Weber State.
When Lebo arrived at ECU, the program had endured 13 consecutive seasons without a winning record. Despite this, Lebo broke the drought with winning seasons in two of his firs three years.
He never took the Pirates to the NCAA Tournament, however. The school has just two all-time appearances in March Madness off conference-tournament titles in 1972 and 1993.
ECU's most recent tourney team, which made the field of 64 despite sporting a 13-17 record because of a surprising run to a CAA title, lost in Round 1 to a Eric Montross-led UNC team that went on to win the national championship in New Orleans.
When Davis was tabbed to be Roy Williams' successor, he wanted to build a diverse staff of former Tar Heel players that represent different eras of Carolina basketball.
Lebo (1985-1989) and Pat Sullivan (1990-1995) played for Dean Smith. Brad Frederick (1996-2000) was in uniform for most of Bill Guthridge's tenure as head coach. Sean May (2002-2005) and Marcus Paige (2012-2016) were All-ACC players under Roy Williams.
But what separates Lebo from the rest of the staff, though, is that he has substantial head-coaching experience. In addition to Lebo's seven seasons at ECU, he was the head coach at Auburn (2004-2010), Chattanooga (2002-2004) and Tennessee Tech (1998-2002).
This head-coaching resume has been valuable to Davis, who did not have D1 head coaching experience prior to being promoted to replace Williams in 2021.
Tip-off for ECU-UNC is set for 8 p.m. inside the Smith Center.