By the time you read this, odds are that University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball coach Lamont Paris will be on his way to Columbia, South Carolina, to be introduced sometime Tuesday as the new basketball coach of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.
Such is life these days for mid-major coaches who do impressive work in the NCAA Tournament.
Not that Paris was able to guide the 13th-seeded Mocs to victory against fourth-seeded Illinois last Friday night in the opening round of the South Regional in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
But the Mocs made such an impression in that defeat that the South Carolina administration apparently seems willing to pay Paris somewhere north of $2 million a year to return its men’s program to the NCAA tourney for the first time since 2017, and only its second appearance since 2004.
So Paris is about to earn the coin he deserves for running a program the right way, devoid of scandal or academic chicanery, and UTC is about to start over, almost from scratch, given the number of seniors on this year’s squad and the defections to the transfer portal that are sure to take place if Paris is indeed gone.
Welcome to Division I college hoops in 2022.
The question is, will the Mocs have to return to the woebegone level of Paris’s first squad – which finished 10-23 – in order to produce the same 27-8 record and NCAA berth these Mocs did by winning the Southern Conference Tournament for the first time since 2016?
My gut feeling is no. When Paris arrived in the spring of 2016 off a wildly successful stint as a Wisconsin assistant – the Badgers had reached the Final Four two of the three previous seasons due, at least in part, to his reported skills as a “shot doctor” – there was no transfer portal and the cupboard was pretty much bare.
There were academic issues to address. Attitude issues to address. Talent, or lack thereof, issues to address. Sadly, while academics and attitude are no longer a problem, finding players capable of winning in an ever-improving SoCon could be.
So even if the admirable culture Paris so painstakingly built remains, his successor will undoubtedly need Paris’s deft management of the transfer portal to avoid a losing season a year from now.
For that and more, whatever sadness Mocs Nation may understandably feel in losing the bright, principled, charming Paris (if he is indeed gone), that sadness should be tempered by the realization that his good work will make it easier for the next guy, as well as being happy for the financial security about to come his way.
The issue for UTC athletics director Mark Wharton moving forward is finding a capable replacement for Paris. Early names of interest will no doubt center on all-time playing great Johnny Taylor, whose son, John Jr., will be a redshirt freshman on next year’s team. Murray State assistant Casey Long – who starred on the Mocs’ 2005 NCAA tourney team – also deserves a serious look. Former UTC assistant Wes Long, now in a similar role at Middle Tennessee, may also earn an interview.
Yet whichever names Wharton ultimately focuses on, it appears all but certain that he’ll be conducting his first men’s basketball coaching search at UTC. That’s the price of success at the Mocs’ level. Fortunately, it’s also the reason there should be no shortage of qualified candidates for the job.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.