South Carolina to Hire Chattanooga Head Coach Lamon Paris as the next men’s basketball head coach, according to the report from ESPN writer Pete Thamel.
Paris met Gamecocks officials on Sunday in Columbia and was formally offered the job on Monday afternoon. Other finalists included former Gamecocks greats. BJ McKiewho currently works as an assistant at Wake Forest.
Paris is also a historic rental. He is the first African American head coach in the history of the South Carolina men’s basketball program.
Paris was 87-70 in five seasons with the Mocs, culminating in a 27-7 record and Southern Conference title (both regular season and tournament) last season and a 54-53 first-round loss in the NCAA Tournament to Illinois. . Paris has been 65-27 for the last three years in Chattanooga.
Before getting a job in Chattanooga, Paris was an assistant to Beau Ryan and Greg Guard in Wisconsin from 2010 to 2017, where he was the top recruiter for that state. The Badgers advanced to the Final Four and became national champions in 2013–14 and 2014–15. During his time in Wisconsin, the Badgers were 189-66 and hit the Sweet 16 six times. When Guard replaced Ryan, Paris became assistant coach and played a major role in everything from game planning to recruiting.
Paris played at Wooster from 1992 to 1996 and started his career there as an assistant. He then moved to DePauw from 1999 to 2000, IUP from 2001 to 2004 and Akron from 2005 to 2010 before landing in Madison.
The contacts revealed that Paris’ plan for the Gamecocks program and his ability to acquire talent, including a job at a transfer portal, got him the job.
According to a pre-match NCAA Tournament interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Paris spoke about his days at the IUP as a top recruiter in the state and mentioned that the roster that reached the Division II Final Four was made up of transfers, junior college players and players from “all sections of society” and that this style of hiring “attracted him”. He also mentioned that his first two teams in Chattanooga were junior teams (22-43 overall record) and that he would never want to have that situation on the roster again.
If so, then this is a good sign for Gamecocks. There are several players in South Carolina who are eligible to return but with immediate eligibility for the NCAA transfer portal and a change of coach from Frank Martin to Paris, to be recruited. Gamecocks also appear to be active on the portal themselves and from the high school ranks as they make the 2022-2023 roster.
One person familiar with college basketball said that “it’s a talent scouting game and South Carolina has hired one of the best in the country in that regard.”
Paris emerged as a leading candidate after former Arizona coach and Xavier. Sean Miller give up his job to return to Cincinnati and lead the Musketeers for a second term. Murray State coach Matt McMahon was also in the mix for work.
This is the first men’s basketball contract with a South Carolina director of athletics. Ray Tanner. Martin and the Gamecocks parted ways after Carolina was denied a NIT bid after an 18–13 season and a fifth-place (tie) in the SEC.