Big raise, contract extension coming for Lamont Paris at South Carolina
South Carolina is doing its part to make sure Lamont Paris isn’t going anywhere after this season.
The Gamecocks’ men’s basketball head coach is expected to receive a contract extension through the 2029-30 season, The State confirmed Thursday through a USC athletics source. ESPN’s Pete Thamel first reported the news.
The South Carolina board of trustee will have a 9 a.m. meeting Friday with the lone item on the agenda being the “approval of athletics employment contract.”
Per Thamel, Paris’ new contract is estimated to average “over $4 million annually,” a significant raise from his current deal at $2.3 million. The new deal would making Paris one of the highest-paid coaches in the conference, after being the lowest-paid the last two seasons.
Paris’ name was floated by national media outlets as a potential target for the head coaching vacancies at Ohio State and Louisville.
He’ll be the third SEC head coach to receive a contract extension this week, with Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard accepting a new deal Wednesday afternoon and Florida’s Todd Golden signing a new contract Thursday.
Paris is in his second season at South Carolina, turning the program around from an 11-win regular season to a historic 25-win regular season this year. He was recently named the SEC Coach of the Year by both the conference and the Associated Press for his efforts during the 2023-24 regular season.
Paris brought South Carolina men’s basketball its first national ranking in seven seasons, and is days away from sending the Gamecocks to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016-17. South Carolina was set to play its first SEC Tournament game of the season Thursday afternoon.
This story was originally published March 14, 2024 at 10:28 AM.
