Lamont Paris’ early to-do list at South Carolina includes heavy focus on roster
South Carolina is poised to hire Chattanooga’s Lamont Paris as its next head men’s basketball coach, with an official announcement expected this week.
Paris will be the 33rd head coach in program history and will take over for 10-year head coach Frank Martin, who was fired on March 14. ESPN reported Paris and the Gamecocks agreed to a five-year contract.
The 47-year-old led the Mocs to a 27-8 record this season and made the NCAA tournament, and Paris holds a career 87-71 record with the program in his five seasons. This year’s March Madness bid was Paris’ first as a head coach, and the No. 13-seed Mocs lost by one point to No. 4-seed Illinois. Prior to arriving in Chattanooga, he served as an assistant coach at Wisconsin from 2011-17, working under Bo Ryan and then Greg Gard.
Paris will be tasked with taking over a South Carolina team that went 18-13 (9-9 SEC) this season and failed to make postseason play. Here’s a look at Paris’ to-do list over the next month as he settles in Columbia.
1. Keep the roster intact
Only graduate students James Reese and A.J. Wilson aren’t eligible to return, but it seems likely — if not probable — that veterans Keyshawn Bryant, Jermaine Couisnard and Erik Stevenson will explore their professional options. Both Bryant and Couisnard dabbled in the NBA draft process a year ago.
And then there’s the transfer portal. March Madness is still going, and there are nearly 600 names already in the portal. Last year, seven Gamecocks transferred away from the team and six players transferred in. With a coaching change, there’s bound to be some roster attrition.
Paris is no stranger to the transfer portal, with eight transfers on this year’s Chattanooga team alone. The attributes Paris values in his players won’t exactly align with what was important to Martin’s regime, and he’ll surely want to bring in talent that suits his style.
But there are talented players already on USC’s roster who Paris should aim to keep. Explosive freshman Devin Carter established himself as a go-to scorer and a clutch player in big games this season and would likely draw Power 5 interest if he entered the portal. Fellow freshmen Ta’Quan Woodley and Jacobi Wright each flashed potential, as did 7-foot LSU transfer Josh Gray. Those players could form a young, intriguing nucleus for USC — or they could scatter to other schools across the country.
2. Evaluate the recruiting class
Shortly after Martin’s firing, Baltimore-based point guard Bryce Lindsay announced his decommitment from the Gamecocks.
As it stands, the Gamecocks have two three-star 2022 signees in Daniel Hankins-Sanford out of Charlotte and Zach Davis out of Denmark. Both stand at 6-foot-8 and are raw, physical prospects. Much like Lindsay, both will have decisions to make now that Martin is no longer in the picture. Paris will have to decide, too, if Hankins-Sanford and Davis fit the mold of what he’s looking for in building the program.
Either through the 2022 recruiting class or the transfer portal or both, expect Paris to put his on imprint on the program over the next few weeks.
3. Try to salvage GG Jackson relationship
Ridge View High School’s G.G. Jackson, the No. 1 recruit in the 2023 class, was a top target for Martin and his coaching staff, and Martin said on the radio with Phil Kornblut this week that he believed the Gamecocks were going to land his commitment.
Of course, Martin can say that now, but the reality is that Jackson won’t be short on options when it comes time to make his college decision, and both Duke and North Carolina are in hot pursuit.
Jackson has credited his relationship with Martin as a key reason for his South Carolina interest. Can Paris mend that severed tie? Surely, it would behoove Paris to establish connection with Jackson and make his own recruiting pitch, but Duke and UNC would seem to have the upper hand as it stands now.
4. Establish presence in Columbia
Somewhat strangely — given the social-media-heavy nature of recruiting in 2022 — Paris does not have a Twitter or Instagram account. That is bound to change once he arrives in South Carolina, especially considering the high-personality Twitter presences that Dawn Staley and Shane Beamer have both brought to their respective programs.
Beyond social media, Paris could have some work to do in winning over the local community. Born in Ohio and an alum of College of Wooster, Paris has spent the majority of his life and coaching career in the Midwest. Though known as an excellent recruiter for Bo Ryan’s Wisconsin teams, will that recruiting ability carry over to the Carolinas and the Southeast?
Even more, can Paris win over fans, donors and alumni? With reports that Sean Miller, Dennis Gates and Matt McMahon each spurned USC for other head coaching jobs, some fans have already taken to social media and message boards to criticize the hire. Paris also went head-to-head against former Gamecock great BJ McKie in the coaching search, and a handful of former Gamecocks expressed support for McKie’s hire.
This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 11:45 AM with the headline "Lamont Paris’ early to-do list at South Carolina includes heavy focus on roster."
