Lamont Paris, a 1996 College of Wooster alumnus, was named head men's basketball coach at Div. I University of South Carolina on Thursday following five years as head coach at Div. I The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Paris is the first Wooster alumnus to lead a men's basketball program at a Southeastern Conference institution.
"We are so proud of what Lamont has accomplished thus far in his career," said Wooster head coach Doug Cline, who was Paris' teammate for three seasons. "We are excited to see the impact he will have on South Carolina's basketball program. Lamont is a winner on and off the court."
Paris went 87-72 in his five years at Chattanooga, including 65-29 over the last three seasons. This season, the Mocs went 27-8, won the Southern Conference regular-season title, and secured a spot in the NCAA Tournament in dramatic fashion on David Jean-Baptiste's deep buzzer-beating three-pointer in overtime of the SoCon Tournament championship game. In the NCAA Tournament, Chattanooga led fourth-seeded University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in a first-round matchup until the final minute before falling 54-53.
Prior to accepting his first Div. I head coaching job, Paris spent seven seasons on staff at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While there, Wisconsin made consecutive appearances in the Final Four and played for the national title in 2015. Paris' coaching career started at Wooster, where he spent two seasons before moving on to DePauw University. Next, Paris spent four years as an assistant at Indiana University of Pennsylvania before returning to Northeast Ohio for a six-year stint at the University of Akron.
As a Fighting Scot, Paris blossomed into a starter as a senior and ranked third on the team with 10.4 points per game. The guard averaged 3.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game as a senior. As a junior, he was one of the first Scots off the bench, and averaged 7.9 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game.
Paris played on Wooster teams that went 84-25, advanced to three NCAA Div. III Championships, and won two North Coast Athletic Conference titles.
Paris is the second Wooster alumnus to be hired by a Div. I men's basketball program as head coach in the last month. Ryan Pedon '00 was named head coach at Illinois State University in early March. Other Wooster alumni to lead Div. I men's basketball teams include L.W. St. John '06 (Ohio State University, 1911-19), Reggie Minton '63 (Dartmouth College, 1983-84, United States Air Force Academy, 1984-00), and Larry Shyatt '73 (University of Wyoming, 1997-98 & 2011-16, Clemson University, 1998-03).
Photo of Lamont Paris courtesy of Mike Longo, Chattanooga Athletics