Going to Paris: USC to hire Chattanooga coach to lead Gamecocks
South Carolina is turning to an up-and-comer from the mid-major ranks to fill its men’s basketball head coaching vacancy.
Lamont Paris is leaving Chattanooga to be the next Gamecocks’ coach, The State confirmed through multiple sources with knowledge of the hire Tuesday. ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Jeff Borzello were the first to report the news late Monday night.
The 47-year-old Paris will be the 33rd head coach in school history. He’ll replace Frank Martin, who was fired March 14 after 10 seasons.
Paris’ hire requires approval by the university board of trustees, a process that’s expected to happen this week. A formal announcement from the school isn’t expected to come before Wednesday.
The Mocs went 27-8 this season and made the NCAA tournament, and Paris holds a career 87-71 record with the program in his five seasons. This year’s March Madness bid was Paris’ first as a head coach, and the No. 13-seed Mocs lost by one point to No. 4-seed Illinois. Prior to arriving in Chattanooga, he served as an assistant coach at Wisconsin from 2011-17, working under Bo Ryan and then Greg Gard.
His first contract with South Carolina will be for five years, Thamel and Borzello reported. Financial details weren’t weren’t immediately known, but his annual salary at Chattanooga was $250,000. Martin was making $3.2 million annually at the time of his dismissal.
Paris will be the first Black head coach of any of South Carolina’s three major men’s sports — football, basketball and baseball. With Dawn Staley at the helm of the women’s team, USC is the only school in the SEC with Black head coaches for both men’s and women’s basketball.
Paris will be the USC program’s third hire from a mid-major conference since the Frank McGuire era. The others were Steve Newton (Murray State, 1991-93, two seasons); and Darrin Horn (Western Kentucky, 2008-12, four seasons).
USC fired the 10-year coach Martin on March 14, a day after the Gamecocks (18-13, 9-9 SEC) learned they did not receive a bid to either the NCAA tournament or the NIT. Hired in 2012, Martin, 55, compiled a 171-147 (79-99 SEC) career record with the Gamecocks. The win total is the third most in program history, and his tenure was highlighted by the program’s only Final Four in 2017.
But the Gamecocks failed to make the NCAA tournament after that 2017 run, and athletic director Ray Tanner cited the lack of postseason appearances in the school’s official release on the matter.
Though Paris has led the Mocs to just one NCAA tournament appearance in his five years, teams associated with Paris were 497-217 (.696) with five conference titles and 12 NCAA tournament appearances reaching three Final Fours before he took over at Chattanooga in 2017.
Born in Findlay, Ohio, Paris played at the College of Wooster in Ohio before beginning his coaching career. He had assistant coaching stops at Wisconsin, Akron, IUP and Depauw before shifting to head coach with the Mocs.
Lamont Paris coaching history
- Chattanooga, head coach, 2017-22
- Wisconsin, asst. coach, 2011-17 (head coaches Bo Ryan, Greg Gard)
- Akron, asst. coach, 2005-10 (head coach Keith Dambrot)
- Indiana U. of Penn., asst. coach, 2001-04
- DePauw, asst. coach, 1999-00
- College of Wooster, asst. coach, 1997-98
Lamont Paris, year-by-year at Chattanooga
Year and final record, with Southern Conference record in parenthesis
- 2017-18: 10-23 (3-15)
- 2018-19: 12-20 (7-11)
- 2019-20: 20-13 (10-8)
- 2020-21: 18-8 (9-7)
- 2021-22: 27-8 (14-4)
This story was originally published March 21, 2022 at 11:16 PM.
