Gamecocks introduce Lamont Paris, but criticism of search clouds USC’s celebration
Ray Tanner stepped off the stage situated near midcourt of Colonial Life Arena and walked into a gaggle of circling reporters.
Tanner is generally mellow and easygoing in dealings with sportswriters. He’s largely even-keeled and tends to avoid controversy. Thursday, though, there was a visceral frustration in his voice when asked about the winding men’s basketball coaching search that concluded with the hiring of Lamont Paris.
“It’s completely inaccurate,” Tanner said when queried on a report from CBS Sports senior writer Matt Norlander that called South Carolina’s search “something of a disjointed mess,” on Sunday. “I am pretty sure I know where the comment came from, and who said it and why he said it. It is because the choice that he had to be the coach here wasn’t the person who got the job. So I’m well aware of that. And that’s just part of it.”
Days like Thursday are supposed to be a celebration. South Carolina welcomed Paris as the 33rd men’s basketball coach in school history — and the first Black man to hold the position. The former Chattanooga head coach was part of a highly-successful run at Wisconsin under Bo Ryan and, later, Greg Gard as an assistant before taking UTC to the NCAA tournament this year.
But on an afternoon where the usual cliches of winning cultures, recruiting philosophies and postseason expectations persisted, there was a sense of apathy leading up to Paris’ opening remarks after a search that played out as publicly as any in recent memory.
“The South Carolina search was criticized within the industry,” Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde wrote on Wednesday, “with athletic director Ray Tanner viewed as out of touch and ineffective.”
Let’s recap for a second, shall we?
▪ Martin was fired on March 14, four days after South Carolina fell to Mississippi State in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
▪ Former Arizona head coach Sean Miller’s name was immediately thrust to the forefront of any chatter regarding the opening. Murray State head coach Matt McMahon and Cleveland State head coach Dennis Gates also received ample attention.
▪ Miller — who was reported to be in Columbia at Halls Chophouse, a report that was retracted — rather publicly spurned South Carolina when he chose to return to Xavier, where he coached from 2004 to 2009.
▪ McMahon and Gates, too, found homes elsewhere in the SEC at LSU and Missouri, respectively, as South Carolina continued to hunt.
▪ With three perceived front-runners off the board, South Carolina’s search narrowed on Paris and Gamecocks legend and Wake Forest assistant BJ McKie. The latter received plenty of push from former players, hoping McKie would connect the program to the wealth of talent that has left the state for decades.
▪ South Carolina hired Paris.
“It was a great search,” Tanner said Thursday. “We had a plan. We had a process and once we got underway, we stuck to it. We went through it, and we ended up with a guy that we expect to be successful here.”
That Tanner — and to a lesser degree senior deputy AD Chance Miller, who was heavily involved in the search — drew ire over the process wasn’t necessarily surprising. Tanner’s almost 10-year reign as athletic director, in particular, has been a point of contention for fans. The Gamecocks have gone through leadership changes in both football and baseball in that span, with the latter still struggling to reach the lofty standard set during Tanner’s time in the dugout.
Whether the broader criticism of Tanner and his staff is warranted or not is a discussion for another day. But after firing Martin in hopes of reinvigorating a dormant men’s basketball fan base in Columbia, seemingly landing on a third, fourth or fifth choice in such a public manner felt like a swing and miss — at least on the surface.
“South Carolina pressed Sean Miller hard for his services and that was a potential re-entry point (to college basketball),” national college basketball reporter Jon Rothstein explained on CBS last week, shortly after news leaked that Miller had spurned USC. “But as you guys know, South Carolina, especially in the SEC right now, is an arduous, arduous job to climb in that league.”
To be clear, this isn’t an indictment of Paris. The former Wisconsin assistant was wildly impressive Thursday in his first press conference since his contract was approved by the South Carolina board of trustees earlier in the day.
Paris was engaging and entertaining. He was insightful and comedic.
He chided Tanner that there must’ve been kickbacks written into his new deal for saying nice things about him during his introduction. He later revealed he has Charles Barkley and Morgan Freeman impressions in his repertoire of tricks.
The Ohio native also offered a momentary glimpse at a softer side, choking up as he talked about being a first-generation college student and the impact his now-deceased parents had on him growing up.
“While they didn’t go to college, they had a PhD in parenting,” Paris said, pausing for 12 seconds as he collected himself. “And that’s a huge part of why I am who I am and why I’m here.”
For better or worse, South Carolina has a new men’s basketball coach. Criticism of Tanner and his consiglieres will assuredly carry into the coming days and weeks. Such is the life of an SEC athletic director.
In the meantime? Tanner was taking Thursday night to decompress.
“Halls Chophouse is on the list,” he said through a smirk. “I’m just being honest.”
This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
