{"id":6014,"date":"2026-06-30T21:06:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T21:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6014"},"modified":"2026-06-30T21:06:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T21:06:03","slug":"new-ucf-womens-coach-gabe-lazo-who-grew-up-in-little-havana-leans-on-life-changing-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6014","title":{"rendered":"New UCF women\u2019s coach Gabe Lazo, who grew up in little Havana, leans on life-changing lessons"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Gabe Lazo was growing up, if he wanted to get away from it all, he would find a pickup basketball game at one of the many parks in or around his home in Little Havana in Miami.<\/p>

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Basketball was Lazo\u2019s escape, a safe place where he could forget about all the troubles that surrounded him. Those cement courts were the one place where he didn\u2019t have to worry about the drugs or the gangs or the crime that surrounded him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always outside riding my bike and playing basketball here or there. It was nonstop basketball, basketball, basketball,\u201d Lazo recently told the Orlando Sentinel.<\/p>\n

Lazo, 41, is set to begin his first season as UCF women\u2019s basketball coach.<\/p>\n

He was hired on April 6, replacing Sytia Messer, who was fired after four seasons with the Knights.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s another chapter in what has been an unbelievable journey for Lazo, a first-generation Cuban-American, who becomes the first Hispanic women\u2019s head coach in the Power Four.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t put pressure on myself because I\u2019m not afraid of failure,\u201d Lazo said, reflecting on the honor.<\/p>\n

Lazo was raised by his mother, Adela Aguiar, who fled Cuba as a young girl during the Fidel Castro regime, emigrating to Miami with her family in 1964. Lazo and Aguiar would develop a strong bond, one that would carry them through some unimaginable tough times.<\/p> \n

\u201cWithout a doubt, my mother is my inspiration,\u201d said Lazo, whose eyes wander to a picture of her on his office wall.<\/p>\n

Aguiar suffered from mental health issues, which would put her in and out of institutions. Lazo would be there for her, making sure she was taken care of along the way.<\/p>\n

But it was on the basketball courts where Lazo would learn some of life\u2019s biggest lessons. He had an older brother, who was around occasionally, and he would follow him to the parks to play pickup games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would play with the older guys,\u201d Lazo recalled. \u201cI was six and his friends were like 15. That\u2019s where I picked up the nickname Pee Wee.<\/p> \n

\u201cThat\u2019s what got me into playing the game. It changed my life because the area I\u2019m from is rough. I never got into the gang stuff, never got into the drug-dealing stuff. It was all basketball. Once I got older, those guys were like, \u2018Yo, you\u2019re really good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Lazo lived across the street from Kinloch Park, west of downtown Miami. It would be one of the many locations where he would play pickup games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always out there playing, playing, playing, playing, playing and mom would come out of the house and yell my name, \u2018Gabriel!\u2019 and I would run home,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a little bit of a watchful eye over you.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it was a chance meeting that would change Lazo\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met a coach named \u2018Chicago\u2019, who was the park manager at Jose Mari Park,\u201d Lazo said. \u201cHe recruited me to go play for him. I would catch the public bus, go play for him and then he would take me home and feed me every night. The guy took care of me like his son.\u201d<\/p>\n