Steve Sloan, Jeff Lebo, and Chancellor Bill Stacy

Jeff Lebo and Steve Sloan shake hands at news conference.

Vice Chancellor Richard Brown at news conference announcement

Sloan is New UTC Athletic Director

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chancellor Bill Stacy announced Steve Sloan as the Mocs’ new Athletics Director at a media conference held Friday in UTC’s McKenzie Arena.

Sloan, who possesses a wealth of experience as a player, coach and administrator in college athletics, leaves the position of director of athletics at the University of Central Florida, where he served since 1993. Sloan had previously held similar posts at the University of Alabama and the University of North Texas.

After taking over the reins at Central Florida, Sloan restructured the department and supervised the university’s elevation of the football program to the NCAA Division I-A level, a goal that was reached five years ago. The tremendous growth of the UCF athletics department in recent years in all aspects, ranging from facilities to staffing, is due in large part to Sloan’s vision and guidance.

Sloan made the move to UCF after spending three years as athletics director at the University of North Texas in Denton. While there, he gained first-hand experience in what it takes for a football program to move to I-A, as he spearheaded UNT’s efforts to attain that status by 1995.

Sloan is perhaps best recognized for his association with the University of Alabama, where he played and later coached football under the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant. Sloan’s association with Alabama also includes a stint as thletics director from 1987 to 1989.

In 1965, Sloan earned All-America honors as quarterback for the Crimson Tide, guiding the team to an Orange Bowl victory and a national title. He was named the game’s MVP and was later inducted into the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame (1982).

After graduating with a bachelor of science degree in business and education, Sloan was drafted by the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, where he played for two seasons (1966-67). He returned to Alabama as an assistant coach on Bryant’s staff in 1968, a position he held for three years.

An accomplished golfer, Sloan served as the Tide’s head golf coach in 1969. Sloan also served as an assistant football coach at Florida State (1971) and Georgia Tech (1972) before landing his first head coaching opportunity at Vanderbilt in 1973. He spent two seasons at the Commodores’ helm, earning SEC Coach of the Year honors in his final season there.

Sloan then became the head coach at Texas Tech (1974-77) and was named Southwest Conference coach of the year in 1976.

From Tech, Sloan moved to Mississippi, where he was head football coach and assistant athletics director from 1978 to 1982, and later to Duke (1983-86) as head coach, before returning to Alabama as athletics director. He then spent one year as an assistant coach at Vanderbilt before being named AD at North Texas in 1990.

Born in Austin, Texas, Sloan had an outstanding high school career at Bradley Central in Cleveland, Tenn. In 1961-62, he was named all-state in football and basketball and earned honors as one of the top prep golfers in the state.

In the summer of 1995, Sloan fulfilled a lifelong dream of competing in a major golf championship when he qualified for and played in the U.S. Senior Open at The Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland. He was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame on March 3, 2000, and was selected as the one of the top athletes of the century from the state of Tennessee by Sports Illustrated.

The author of two books, Calling Life’s Signals (1966) and A Whole New Ballgame (1975), Sloan is married to his former high school sweetheart, Brenda, and they have two sons, Stephen Jr., 29, and Jonathan, 27.

Lebo is New UTC Mocs Basketball Coach

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chancellor Bill Stacy announced Jeff Lebo as the head men’s basketball coach during a media conference Friday in UTC’s McKenzie Arena.

Lebo comes to UTC from Tennessee Technological University, where he has served as men’s basketball coach since 1998. Since taking the helm at Tech, Lebo has molded the Golden Eagle basketball program into one of the premiere units in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Under Lebo’s leadership Tech has made steady progress, capped off by last season’s OVC Championship. The Golden Eagles finished 27-7 overall and 15-1 in the conference. Those numbers set school records for the most conference wins in a season and tied a 54-year-old Tech record for most wins in a season. It was also the first time the Golden Eagles posted back-to-back winning seasons since posting 15 wins in the 1991-91 and 1992-93 campaigns.

In the 2001-2002 season, the Golden Eagles garnered their fifth OVC title in school history. The season also brought Lebo his second consecutive OVC Coach of the Year Award.

Lebo came to the Golden Eagles with the goal of returning the Tech basketball program to its former prominence. And after going 48-36 in his first three seasons, including an OVC championship and two Coach of the Year honors, there is little doubt Lebo has the knowledge of the game and understanding of student athletes to transfer his past success into a promising future for the Mocs.

Lebo’s background includes assistant coaching positions at the University of South Carolina, Vanderbilt and East Tennessee State University. Before that he was an Academic All-America player and team captain for the University of North Carolina Tar Heels under the legendary coach Dean Smith.

A consensus high school All-American while playing for his father, Dave Lebo, Jeff led Carlisle (PA) High School to the first of its four straight Pennsylvania AAAA state championships. He was named first team All-American by Parade Magazine and four other national publications and was on both the Converse and Adidas Coaches Association Academic All-America teams.

Lebo continued his distinguished playing career while earning four letters as the starting point guard for the Tar Heels.

On his way to being an All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection and earning two ACC all-tournament honors, Lebo set UNC records for free-throw shooting, three-point shooting and assists. He ranks in the North Carolina Top 20 in career scoring with 1,567 points and is fourth in all-time assists with 580.

Lebo earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1989 from UNC and spent one season with the San Antonia Spurs of the NBA before embarking on his successful coaching career.

Lebo and his wife, Melissa, have three children: Addison, 6, Mills 3, and Creighton, three months.