While the South Carolina Athletic Dept. has not issued an official announcement, all indications point to Lamont Paris being the new Men's Basketball Coach there. The coaching carousel has had twists and turns this week that eliminated some other possible choices for the Gamecocks vacancy. Sean Miller elected to go back to Xavier for a second stint there and Matt McMahon took the job at LSU. Both of those men were candidates at South Carolina but with them off the board, sources say Paris is the guy at SC. The announcement is expected to come after the board officially approves Paris later this week.
Pete Thamel and Jeff Borzello from ESPN both are reporting that Paris has agreed to a deal with South Carolina. They say that Paris met with South Carolina officials Sunday and was offered the job officially Monday afternoon. Below is Borzello's tweet reporting the hire.
The deal will make Paris a historical hire, as the 1st black head coach of South Carolina Men's Basketball. Other than Women's Basketball Coach Dawn Staley, South Carolina has never had a black head coach in any major sport. But, Lamont Paris is more than an equality hire, he's a proven winner. He's also considered a high level recruiter and understands how to navigate the transfer portal which is and will be a paramount component to success in college hoops. His Chattanooga team was "portal built" this year, as they had 4 D-I transfers. Including former Kansas Jayhawk Silvio De Sousa and Chattanooga's leading scorer Malachi Smith who transferred in from Wright State.
Paris went 87-70 in his five seasons at the helm in Chattanooga. That is a little misleading, because his first two seasons were spent building the foundation. After some growing pains in the first two years, Paris went 65-27 in his last three seasons. That culminated with winning SoCon Regular Season and Tourney Titles this year. His Chattanooga squad then gave 4 seed Illinois all they could handle before falling 54-53. The Mocs led for about 39 minutes of that game and missed a 16 footer at the buzzer that would have won it.
Prior to his time at Chattanooga, Paris served as an assistant at Wisconsin. He worked as the lead recruiter for Wisconsin under Coach Bo Ryan and then later Greg Gard. Paris was an integral part of Wisconsin's run to the Final Four in 2014 and National Title Game Appearance in 2015. He served as an assistant at Akron from 2005 to 2010.
While the hire of Lamont Paris may come with mixed initial reactions from Gamecock fans, I am not sure there any better realistic options. With guys like Sean Miller and Matt McMahon off the board, and New Mexico State Coach Chris Jans taking the Mississippi State job, there wasn't too many other viable options. One name that wasn't mentioned much that would have made some sense was Gregg Marshall. However, he comes with some baggage after resigning from Wichita State in 2020 after allegations of abusive actions towards his players. I am not sure South Carolina was ready to take on the heat that hiring Marshall less than 2 years after that would've brought to them.
All things considered, Lamont Paris is a proven winner which SC AD Ray Tanner, said the school would hire someone with a winning track record. He also is highly thought of among coaches and college basketball insiders. It will likely take some time for Paris to right the ship in Columbia. However the deal is reportedly for 5 years which looks like they will give him the time he needs.