L.J. Hepp has had his contract terminated in Japan after American players left the program.

Former Panther Creek coach L.J. Hepp will be a head coach next year for a team you've probably never heard of. Unless you're familiar with the Oita Heat Devils.

That's because the man who had the Catamounts ranked No. 1 in the state for most of the 2008-09 season will be coaching professionally next year for the Heat Devils of the BJL (Basketball Japan League). Hepp spent this past season on the University of South Carolina staff as director of basketball operations.

Hepp signed a three-year deal to lead Oita. One other BJL team recently hired former NBA coach Bob Hill. Oita does have a local tie to the area, as former N.C. State and Enloe High player Mike Bell played there last season.

Hepp's Catamounts finished 28-3 in his final season, losing in the fourth round of the NCHSAA 4-A playoffs after three players, including two Division I players, were suspended by the school after the second round.

Hepp, a Leesville Road High School and University of North Carolina graduate, led Panther Creek in each of its first three seasons.

Panther Creek basketball coach L.J. Hepp resigned from the school on Monday to accept the Director of Basketball Operations position at the University of South Carolina, Panther Creek AD Todd Schuler confirmed to The Cary News' J. Mike Blake.

Hepp, who was previously an assistant at Stanford and Tulsa and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at UNC, had been the Catamounts' coach for all three years of the school's existence.

In his and the school's first season, Panther Creek finished 4-18. In the second, the Catamounts finished 22-7 and won the Tri-Eight Conference Tournament after finishing second during the regular season.

The Cary News has learned that after leading Panther Creek to a 28-3 record in just the school's third year of existence, coach L.J. Hepp has returned to the college ranks to become the Director of Basketball Operations at the University of South Carolina.