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Pete Thamel, ESPN
In the wake of an historic season, South Carolina is ensuring coach Lamont Paris stays in Columbia.
According to ESPN sources, South Carolina has agreed to a new six-year contract with Paris, who won the SEC’s Coach of the Year award in 2023-24.
The deal will extend him through the 2029-30 season and average more than $4 million annually, per ESPN sources. The deal is pending board of trustees approval that’s set for tomorrow, per sources.
Paris’ name emerged in the Ohio State search and likely would have in others, and the deal ensures he’ll be off the market as the coaching carousel heats up in the upcoming weeks.
The decisive move by athletic director Ray Tanner marks a strong commitment to men’s basketball at South Carolina, which has made just one men’s NCAA basketball tournament since 2004.
This year, Paris has South Carolina on the cusp of its first NCAA appearance since 2017. South Carolina has gone 25-6 this season and a projected No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament.
That came after South Carolina was picked last in the SEC in the preseason. The Gamecocks finished one-game behind outright regular-season champion Tennessee among four teams tied with a 13-5 SEC record. Paris entered this season as the lowest-paid coach in the SEC, making $2.3 million this year.
Paris became the first South Carolina coach to win the league’s coach of the year, as the 25 wins were the most in a regular season in school history at South Carolina.
With that success came some outside interest. Paris’ experience in the Big Ten as an assistant coach led to interest from Ohio State in its open job. It was expected as jobs open around the country that he’d receive more calls.
Paris came to South Carolina after five seasons at Chattanooga, which included an NCAA tournament appearance in his final year there. South Carolina went 11-21 in his first season there last year, and this year advanced to as high as No. 11 in the Associated Press poll.