AU HOOPS: Report: Lebo on VCU’s short list

Auburn coach Jeff Lebo is on Virginia Commonwealth University athletic director Norwood Teague’s short list to replace Anthony Grant,
according to a report in Saturday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Grant was announced as the new coach at Alabama on Friday and will be introduced today.

Teague has said he wants a new coach by Thursday.

Efforts to reach Lebo for comment were unsuccessful Saturday. Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs told the Opelika-Auburn News that
Teague has not asked for permission to speak with Lebo — a customary, but not rigidly followed, procedure during coaching searches.

Lebo is the only candidate on Teague’s list of four with head-coaching experience, according to the report. The other candidates are VCU assistant Tony Pujol, Florida assistant Shaka Smart and Texas assistant Russell Springmann.

VCU’s last two hires — Grant and now-Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel — did not have head-coaching experience when they took over the Rams.

Teague told the Times-Dispatch he planned to interview Springmann in Texas and Smart in Florida on Saturday.

Lebo made at least $785,000 this season and his contract runs through 2013. If he were to leave for another job, Auburn would be owed $350,000 per year until 2013, which would total a sum slightly less than $1.5 million.

Grant made $700,000 plus incentives this season at VCU, according to the Times-Dispatch. He is expected to make more than $2 million per year at Alabama.

Teague and Lebo both graduated from the University of North Carolina in the late 80s.

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