After a search with some twists, South Carolina has agreed to terms with its next coach: Lamont Paris.
The decision was finalized by key board members and power brokers on Monday night, sources said. Paris wound up winning out over South Carolina alum/Wake Forest assistant coach B.J. McKie. The school previously pursued former Arizona coach Sean Miller, who took a couple of days to decide before opting to return to Xavier.
The school will officially approve Paris’ deal later in the week, a source said. Paris went 87-71 in five seasons with Chattanooga. He took the Mocs to the NCAA Tournament this year, losing 54-53 in the first round to Illinois. Paris’ team won the regular-season and postseason championships in the SoCon en route to making the Big Dance for the first time since 2016.
Paris’ previous experience with high-major coaching is at the assistant level, as he served under Bo Ryan from 2010-17 at Wisconsin before spending the past five seasons with the Mocs. Paris replaces Frank Martin, who was fired following a 10-year tenure that included one NCAA Tournament run in 2017, which featured an unexpected sprint to the Final Four for the Gamecocks.
The hiring of Paris concludes a heavy month of changeover for the SEC. The conference had six jobs change hands. The others: Mike White to Georgia; Todd Golden to Florida; Matt McMahon to LSU; Chris Jans to Mississippi State; and Dennis Gates to Missouri.