New Gamecocks coach Lamont Paris rounds out coaching staff with UNLV assistant
Lamont Paris’ coaching staff at South Carolina is complete.
The USC men’s basketball program is hiring former UNLV assistant Tim Buckley as its final assistant coach. On Thursday, USC’s board of trustees approved a base salary of $350,000 for Buckley.
Last week, the program announced the hiring of assistants Tanner Bronson and Eddie Shannon, who followed Paris from his five-year head coaching stint at Chattanooga.
Buckley brings a wealth of experience to Columbia. He served as a scout for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves for two years prior to spending the last three seasons as an assistant coach for UNLV. Before that, Buckley spent nine seasons (2008-17) as an assistant on Tom Crean’s staff in Indiana. Buckley also coached with Crean at multiple stops at Marquette.
“Tim and I have had a tremendous mutual respect for one another for a long time,” Paris said in USC’s release on the hire. “We have faced off against each other as foes in the Mid-American Conference, as in-state rivals while he was at Marquette and I was at Wisconsin, and as conference opponents in the Big Ten while he was at Indiana. It will be nice to be on the same sideline for a change. Tim is seasoned, accomplished, and highly regarded in this profession. He will be a tremendous asset to Gamecock Nation.”
Per Buckley’s agreement, if he were to be terminated without cause, the university would owe the remainder of his base salary.
Paris, a native of Ohio and a longtime assistant at Wisconsin, stuck to his Midwest roots in constructing a coaching staff and support staff with extensive ties to Wisconsin and the Big Ten basketball footprint. On Wednesday, Paris announced that three of his support staff members from Chattanooga — David McKinley, Colby Arendale and Roman DiPasquale — would make the move to Columbia.
“I’m thrilled to be joining Lamont and the rest of the staff at South Carolina,” Buckley said in an official statement. “We both were in the Big Ten at the same time, and I have so much respect for everything he’s about. The SEC is one of the best conferences in the country. I couldn’t be more excited about the challenge ahead. We’re going to make Gamecock Nation proud on and off the floor.”
Former Gamecock captain and lifelong Columbia native Carey Rich was named as Paris’ first staff member, as a special assistant to the head coach with a role aimed at community outreach. The Gamecocks also maintained long-time strength and conditioning coach and athletic trainer Scott Greenawalt and Mark Rodger.
The new-look coaching staff is tasked with rebuilding a USC roster that has lost six players to the transfer portal and veteran Keyshawn Bryant to the NBA Draft. Paris has yet to bring in a transfer but has seemingly secured the commitments of incoming Frank Martin signees Zachary Davis and Daniel Hankins-Sanford.
New USC men’s basketball coaching staff
Head coach: Lamont Paris (Chattanooga)
Assistant: Tanner Bronson (Chattanooga)
Assistant: Eddie Shannon (Chattanooga)
Assistant: Tim Buckley (UNLV)
Director of player development: David McKinley (Chattanooga)
Director of basketball operations: Colby Arendale (Chattanooga)
Video coordinator: Roman DiPasquale (Chattanooga)
Special assistant: Carey Rich (USC alum)
Strength and conditioning: Scott Greenawalt
Athletic trainer: Mark Rodger
This story was originally published April 14, 2022 at 2:56 PM.
