Lamont Paris (born November 11, 1974) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head men's basketball coach at

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

Playing career

Paris played high school basketball at

Findlay High School Findlay High School is a public high school in Findlay, Ohio. It is the only high school in the Findlay City School District, and the second largest high school in northwest Ohio. Their nickname is the Trojans. They are members of the Northern Lak ...

in Findlay, Ohio. He then played college basketball at the

College of Wooster {{Infobox university , image = College of Wooster seal.png , image_upright = .6 , name = The College of Wooster , former_names = University of Wooster (1866–1915) , motto ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, where he was captain for his junior and senior seasons while also being a two-time All- North Coast Athletic Conference selection.

Coaching career

After beginning his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater during the 1997-98 season, Paris moved on to assistant coaching stints at DePauw and IUP before landing on Keith Dambrot's staff at Akron where he stayed for five seasons. Paris then joined Bo Ryan's staff at

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

in 2010, and was a part of two Sweet 16 squads and the Badgers' Final Four and national championship game appearances during the 2013–14 and 2014-15 seasons. When Ryan stepped down, Paris was elevated to associate head coach under Greg Gard when Gard was given the job on a permanent basis.

Chattanooga

On April 4, 2017, Paris was introduced as the 20th head coach in Chattanooga history, replacing Matt McCall who left to become the head coach at

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. During the 2021–22 season, Paris led the Mocs to a 27–8 record and the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

regular season and tournament championships. In the NCAA Tournament, 13th seeded Chattanooga narrowly lost to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

54–53.

South Carolina

On March 22, 2022, Paris was officially announced as head basketball coach at

, replacing Frank Martin. Paris, who signed a five-year deal, became the first African-American to lead the Gamecocks' men's basketball program. The 2023-2024 season saw Paris named SEC Coach of the Year after leading the Gamecocks to a 13-5 conference record and 26-7 overall record ahead of the NCAA tournament. He was also named a finalist for the 2023-24 Werner Ladder Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year Award.

Head coaching record

References