Jeff Lebo Reportedly Resigns as ECU Basketball Coach

After East Carolina's 2-4 start to the 2017-18 season, Jeff Lebo reportedly resigned as head coach of the Pirates basketball team Wednesday, according to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.     

This is Lebo's eighth season with ECU, but the year has gotten off to a rough start with losses to Radford, Central Connecticut, Rutgers and North Carolina A&T.

The 51-year-old was ready to take the blame for the lack of success.

"It's a frustrating point. I'm responsible," Lebo said after the 87-81 loss to North Carolina A&T on Sunday, per Josh Graham of IBX Media. "I'm the coach. It's my team, I take responsibility for that."

There has not been much recent success prior to this season either, with ECU accumulating just a 58-74 record in the last four campaigns. The program has only had two winning seasons during Lebo's tenure (both of which came when East Carolina was in Conference USA).

While the coach is perhaps best known for his six years at Auburn, he has also spent time at Tennessee Tech and Chattanooga, building a 327-278 record over 20 seasons as a head coach. However, he has never had a team make the NCAA tournament.

Although the Pirates have not had much success on the basketball court, there are reasons to be excited about the future with a quality incoming class already signed. Paul Biancardi of ESPN recently noted the young talent in the class of 2018, including DeShaun Wade, Mike Wynn and Jayden Gardner.

ECU has only made the NCAA tournament twice in its history, so it may be an appealing destination for a coach looking to raise the relatively low bar that's been set.

The team has a home game scheduled Thursday against the UNC Wilmington Seahawks.