Lamont Paris had to grow.
The man who took over as head coach of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball program in April 2017 is no longer that same person. In a new era when student-athletes are more empowered than ever, Paris realizes some of the ways he felt he could communicate with his players are no longer reliable.
“Kids don’t respond to that the same way,” he said. “They are just made differently there. They’ve seen different things; I’ve had different experiences. I’m not saying what’s better or worse, but I think we’re at the height of flexibility and really evaluating what you’re doing and how it impacts them.”
Now entering his fifth season in charge of the Mocs – the longest tenure leading the program since John Shulman’s nine seasons from 2005-13 – Paris has adjusted, and now he has a team that appears capable of securing the program’s first NCAA tournament berth since 2016.
Three of the four coaches who completed at least five seasons in the program’s Division I history have made at least one NCAA tournament. In all, four of the seven coaches who preceded Paris in the Mocs’ D-I era have made the NCAA tournament; the exceptions were Henry Dickerson and Will Wade, who left after the 2014-15 season but was arguably the architect of the team that set a school record with 29 wins the following season.
So there are expectations in Chattanooga. The administration saw potential in Paris, giving him a contract extension after the 2018-19 season despite the former Wisconsin assistant having a 22-43 record after two years with the Mocs. In the two seasons since, UTC is a combined 38-20, with his fifth team potentially his best.
The Mocs will take another step toward their Nov. 9 season opener at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles when they host an exhibition Thursday. Their opponent for the 7 p.m. matchup at McKenzie Arena is Ohio’s College of Wooster, an NCAA D-III program where Paris played and began his coaching career as an assistant in the 1990s.
Staff photo by Robin Rudd / UTC men’s basketball coach Lamont Paris talks to an official about a call during a SoCon game against Western Carolina in February at McKenzie Arena.The Mocs’ 2021-22 roster is flush with size, speed, shooting ability and depth, all of which made UTC the consensus favorite to win the Southern Conference.
“We try to stay pretty even-keeled and have a high level of expectation for ourselves,” Paris said. “We’ve addressed some things, but we’re just worried about the next day, the next practice and how we can improve and what it looks like. I haven’t shied away from the fact that I think we have a chance to be good, but there are a lot of things that have to happen between now and the time we play in order for us to be really good, and if we don’t do those things, we’ll be mediocre.”
The SoCon is trying to improve its basketball reputation – it had a top-10 RPI last season – and the goal is to make it the type of conference that receives multiple bids in March, not just the NCAA tournament’s automatic berth. But it’s also been a stepping-stone league, evidenced by seven coaches moving on to bigger jobs since 2015, including four – Wade (LSU), Steve Forbes (East Tennessee State, now Wake Forest), Wes Miller (UNC Greensboro, now Cincinnati) and Mike Young (Wofford, now Virginia Tech) – who are with programs that are current or future members of a Power Five conference.
Perhaps an opportunity will arise for Paris after this season, but it’s not something he’s concerned about now. He has gone through the changing landscape of college basketball, with the NCAA transfer portal and the allowance of immediate eligibility one of the major shifts, along with athletes being able to capitalize on name, image and likeness deals.
For now, the only thing that matters to Paris is this season.
“You have to be willing to adapt,” he said. “That doesn’t mean you have to compromise your beliefs, but sometimes you have to do those things. Because of COVID, I cooked more than I’ve ever cooked. I learned that my cooking is better than what I thought it was, right? It’s completely edible.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of things that change, and I think you have to be flexible enough to evaluate and adapt.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.