Report: South Carolina 'zeroed in' on next men's basketball head coach

According to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, the South Carolina Gamecocks have “zeroed in” on Lamont Paris to be their next men’s basketball head coach. Spending the past five seasons with the Chattanooga Mocs as his first-ever head coaching job, Paris will now have his first one inside of a Power Six conference with South Carolina.

Paris took over at Chattanooga during the 2017-2018 season, going to the NCAA Tournament for the first time this past season. The Mocs won the Southern Conference regular-season and tournament championship before facing off against the Illinois Fighting Illini in the Round of 64. Even with an early exit, it was the program’s first appearance in March Madness since 2016.

Before then, Paris spent seven seasons with the Wisconsin Badgers as an assistant coach under head coaches Bo Ryan and Greg Gard. Paris also spent time as an assistant coach at Akron and three non-Division I programs.

Earlier on Monday, Jeff Goodman of Stadium reported there were three candidates for the South Carolina job. Paris was one of them, with the Gamecocks now looking to make him the official head coach.

“South Carolina 3 leading candidates, per source: Murray State’s Matt McMahon, Chattanooga’s Lamont Paris, former SC star and Wake assistant BJ McKie,” tweeted Goodman.

McMahon ended up taking a job with the LSU Tigers, reportedly preferring to coach in Baton Rouge. CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander said despite the punishments coming down on the Tigers in the near future, they were the option over South Carolina.

“McMahon was able to negotiate a seven-year deal with LSU,” detailed Norlander. “South Carolina tried to push, but it speaks to the allure of each job that, despite NCAA punishments sure to come, McMahon still preferred to head to Baton Rouge.”

The punishments that Norlander is referring to are the expected penalties imposed by the NCAA for violations committed by former head coach Will Wade and LSU. Although the school acted quickly once the investigation turned up evidence and they received a formal statement of allegations, the severity of any punishments handed down to them is expected to be notable.

South Carolina will be moving on from Frank Martin, who was first hired in 2012-2013. They only made the NCAA Tournament once under the head coach, making the Final Four in 2017. Paris will be looking to bring some more consistency with the Gamecocks.

On3’s Austin Brezina contributed to this report