Jarrod Lazarus

(updated August 2021)

Jarrod Lazarus is in his third season at Florida State as the Director of Operations for Leonard Hamilton and his staff.

His Director of Operations duties at Florida State include coordinating team travel, scheduling practice times, overseeing the team managers and the Leonard Hamilton Basketball Camps along with coordinating the daily operations of the basketball office.

In 2020, he was an integral part of the first ACC Regular Season Championship in school history. The Seminoles finished with a 26-5 record and 16-4 in ACC play — the 16 wins in ACC play established a school record for ACC wins in a season. The Seminoles finished the season ranked No. 4 in the final Associated Press poll – the highest final national ranking in school history. Florida State was on their way to earning one of the highest NCAA Tournament seeds before the event was cancelled because of the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic. Patrick Williams (No. 4 by the Chicago Bulls) and Devin Vassell (No. 11 by the San Antonio Spurs) – became the first pair of players picked in the NBA Draft Lottery in school history.

Lazarus, who graduated from Florida State and was a student manager for the Seminole Men’s Basketball team from 2006-09, was the Director of Operations at USF from 2017-19 and at Middle Tennessee State from 2013-17.

During his two seasons at USF, the Bulls won 34 games and finished with a 24-14 record in 2019.  Lazarus’ rebuilding project came full circle in his second season with the Bulls. In 2018-19, he directed USF to the best turnaround in the NCAA by leading the Bulls to a school-record 24 wins, 14 more victories than the season before en route to winning the College Basketball Invitational defeating DePaul in a three-game series for the program’s first postseason tournament championship since 1990. Along the way, USF won a school-record 18 home games and finished with eight wins in The American to post its most victories in league play since joining the conference in 2013. In addition, USF turned in its best finish in the standings in league history, won three road games in league play for the first time ever, won five postseason games in the same season for the first time in school history and had two five-game winning streaks in the same season for the first time ever.

Lazarus was the Director of Operations at Middle Tennessee before moving to USF. Lazarus arrived in Tampa following one of the most successful seasons in Blue Raiders history. In 2016-17, MT posted a school-record 31 victories, including a program-high 17 wins in Conference USA. The Blue Raiders were ranked nationally for the first time in program history and won the C-USA Championship. The historic team boasted C-USA Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year JaCorey Williams, and C-USA Tournament MVP Giddy Potts.

In NCAA Tournament play, the Blue Raiders upset No. 2 seed Michigan State in 2016 and No. 5 seed Minnesota in 2017. MT is the first program in NCAA history, as a No. 12 seed or higher, to record first round wins in back-to-back seasons over Power Five schools.

Before being promoted to the Director of Operations position at Middle Tennessee, Lazarus served as a graduate assistant at Middle Tennessee in 2013. He managed the Blue Raiders’ video operations, editing/scouting game and practice tapes, as well as monitoring reports of all student-athletes academic progress. Lazarus was responsible for helping with practices, team travel and Coach Kermit Davis’ summer camps.

Prior to his arrival at Middle Tennessee, Lazarus was the Director and Assistant Coach for Gold Coast Basketball (2004-12) of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). Serving under legendary head coach Marcos “Shakey” Rodriguez, Lazarus handled player development, training, budgeting, marketing, travel, and game planning. He assisted the team in posting back-to-back Sweet 16 runs at AAU Nationals and an Elite Eight appearance in 2008. Lazarus was also an academic advisor and holds the distinction of being the youngest member to ever win the AAU Leadership Award in 2010.

Lazarus was a student manager for four years at Florida State. He assisted with practices, helped study opponents and kept stats during games/camps. During his senior year in 2009, Florida State played in the ACC Championship game for the first time in school history and played in the NCAA Tournament.

He graduated from Florida State in 2009 with a B.S. in Business Management. Lazarus earned his MBA in Business Administration from Middle Tennessee in 2016.

Lazarus is a native of Weston, Fla.

Lazarus married Joy Heriveaux in July 2015. The couple has a son, Jayden Carter, who was born in 2018.