Steve Lepore joined the Eastern Kentucky University men's basketball staff as an assistant coach in May of 2018. He was promoted to associate head coach in May of 2025.
Lepore helped EKU capture the 2023-24 Atlantic Sun Conference Regular Season Championship. It was the first regular season conference title for the Colonels in 45 years (1979). In his seven seasons as an assistant coach, the Colonels have broken 103 program records. Lepore has been on the staff for two of the five winningest seasons in program history, in addition to one of only seven regular season conference championships.
In 2024-25, Lepore helped the Colonels win 18 games and stay in the running for a second straight Atlantic Sun Conference Championship up until the final week of the season.
EKU beat East Tennessee, led Clemson by four with less than 13 minutes left in the game and nearly beat Louisville during the non-conference portion of the schedule. The Cardinals had to hit a last second shot to beat EKU by one. Once conference season started, the Colonels put together their longest conference winning streak in 59 years. An 8-game ASUN winning streak allowed the team to climb to the top of the league standings, beating eventual champion Lipscomb twice during that run. The team also had three wins against two more postseason tournament teams – Florida Gulf Coast (2) and Queens (1).
After the 2024-25 season, Devontae Blanton earned first team All-ASUN honors and was a candidate for ASUN Player of the Year after putting together a season in which he was the only player in the conference ranked among the top-15 in points, rebounds, assists, steals and field goal percentage. George Kimble III, who joined the program after one season in Division II, became a second team all-conference selection. Mayar Wol was chosen as the ASUN Sixth Man of the Year.
Lepore helped compile the highest rated class in the internet recruiting era. EKU’s 2022 class was ranked 65th in the country by 247Sports, higher than such programs as South Carolina (66th), Kansas State (67th), Connecticut (73rd), Georgia (79th), Oklahoma State (81st), Arizona (83rd), Mississippi State (86th) and North Carolina State (94th).
The class included the program’s first-ever ESPN four-star freshman recruit, a former 4-star high school prospect, a 3-star freshman point guard, a former 3-star high school forward, a 3-star freshman center, a junior college All-American and Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball, the first to come to EKU as a freshman since 1980.
“Steve brings a wealth of basketball experience as a coach and former player,” head coach A.W. Hamilton said. “He’s a proven winner, playing a part on championship teams in high school, prep school, NCAA and the professional level. Steve is a huge asset to our program, developing and recruiting our players.”
Multiple national preseason publications, and two preseason polls conducted by the league office, picked the Colonels to win the ASUN Conference in 2023-24. CollegeInsider.com had the Colonels ranked as the 20th-best team in their Preseason Mid Major Top 25. EKU won its first seven conference games, which tied the best start to conference play in program history. No squad had started the league schedule with seven straight wins since 1959-60.
The Colonels set a new program mark for blocks in a game with 13 against Troy on Nov. 27. For the second straight season, the team set a new single season blocks record with 190. EKU was fifth in the nation in blocks per game, 14th in rebounds per game (40.13), 17th in offensive rebounds per game (13.23) and 29th in scoring (80.8/game).
In his second year in the program, Isaiah Cozart turned in one of the most impressive seasons in program history. Cozart was chosen as the ASUN Player of the Year and the ASUN Defensive Player of the Year. He was the unanimous selection as defensive player of the year and the first player in conference history to earn player and defensive player of the year recognition in the same season. Cozart was also chosen First Team All-ASUN, First Team NABC All-District and played in the Reese’s Division I All-Star Game in Phoenix during the Final Four. Following the season, Cozart was selected as a finalist for the 2024 Lou Henson National Mid-Major Player of the Year Award and the 2024 Lefty Driesell National Defensive Player of the Year Award. In April, he was invited to the prestigious Portsmouth Invitational, a pre-NBA Draft Combine tournament.
Michael Moreno ended his career first in program history in 3-pointers made (334) and games played (161), second in rebounds (958), sixth in scoring (1,631) and eighth in steals (168). Leland Walker earned First Team All-ASUN honors and Second Team NABC All-District recognition. Blanton, the 2023 ASUN Preseason Player of the Year, earned Third Team All-ASUN honors. John Ukomadu finished second in the 2024 College Slam Dunk Championship in Phoenix.
“I can’t put it into words how excited I am for the opportunity to work for A.W. Hamilton on the EKU men’s basketball staff,” Lepore said. “Coach Hamilton truly believes in developing well-rounded young men on and off the court, which is what coaching is all about. I am learning from one of the best up-and-coming head coaches in the business.”
In 2022-23 Lepore helped the team win 23 games, the third most in one season in program history. The Colonels reached the championship game of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). It was the program’s first national postseason tournament title game ever and the first time in 78 years that an EKU team won three games in a national tournament.
Despite being picked to finish 10th in the ASUN in 2022-23, the Colonels placed third. EKU led all NCAA Division I teams in Kentucky in wins. The squad broke 19 program records, including points in a season, blocks in a season, field goals in a season and games played.
The Colonels were the eighth highest scoring team in the nation in 2020-21, averaging more than 80 points per game, and the 16th highest scoring team in 2021-22.
During the 2021-22 season the Colonels broke program records for 3-pointers in a game (25), 3-pointers attempted in a game (51), 3-pointers made (363) and attempted (1,029) in a season, and 3-point field goals in a road game (18). EKU ranked second in the country in turnover margin (+5.84), third in 3-pointers per game (11.71), fourth in steals per game (10.19) and seventh in turnovers forced (17.42).
In 2020-21 Lepore helped the Colonels to a 22-7 mark and the most conference wins in program history (15). The team ranked as high as No. 12 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 and concluded that season ranked 25th. The .759 winning percentage was the best by a Colonel team since 1964-65, and was the highest winning percentage by any NCAA Division I team in the Commonwealth of Kentucky that season. The Colonels also led the nations in steals (10.3 per game).
Lepore has played a key role in player development. Nick Mayo had the best season of his decorated career in 2018-19, ranking 10th in the country in scoring and becoming the first Colonel since 2002 to drop 40 points in a game. Wendell Green Jr. broke the single game assist record, the freshman record for assists in a season and was selected to the Freshman All-America Team in 2020-21. Blanton is the only player in program history to score 1,600 points, grab more than 800 rebounds and dish out more than 400 assists. He concluded his time as a Colonel ranked second in EKU history in scoring, fourth in assists and seventh in rebounds.
In his first seven seasons as an assistant coach, EKU has had 11 all-conference selections, three all-freshman/newcomer honorees and two conference all-tournament picks.
The former Wake Forest standout and professional basketball player came to EKU following three seasons as an assistant coach at Virginia Military Institute.
While at VMI, Lepore helped develop QJ Peterson, a 2017 First Team All-Southern Conference selection and a professional basketball player in Korea. Lepore was also pivotal in signing several recruits, including Bubba Parham, the 2018 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year.
Prior to coaching at VMI, Lepore served as an assistant coach for two seasons at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia. During his tenure at Hargrave, the post-graduate squad posted a 70-12 record and attained No. 3 and No. 5 national rankings. Lepore helped develop several Hargrave players who landed at Power Five conferences such as the ACC, Big Ten and SEC.
Lepore’s coaching resume also includes an extended run as an assistant coach at his alma mater, St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio. After a year playing professionally, Lepore returned as a varsity assistant coach from 2006 through 2011.
Lepore played collegiately at Wake Forest from 2001 to 2003. He was co-captain of the 2002-03 ACC Regular Season Championship team. Lepore began his collegiate career at Northwestern, playing for the Wildcats from 1998 to 2000 before transferring.
After college, Lepore had stints in professional basketball both overseas and in the U.S. He was a member of the USA Basketball Junior World Championship Team as a shooting guard in 1998 and 1999, winning the gold medal in the Dominican Republic in 1998 and the silver medal in Portugal in 1999. Lepore was the leading scorer on both teams that featured 10 future NBA players.
Lepore received his bachelor’s of arts degree in communications with a minor in international studies from Wake Forest in 2003.
He and his wife, Carrie, are the proud parents of two daughters.
