Buzz Williams offers high praise for Lamont Paris in year one, predicts future success

Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams and South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris have known each other for over a decade.

The two faced off as SEC foes for the first time this past weekend with the Aggies pulling away with a 94-53 blowout victory in Columbia, S.C.

The loss sent Paris to 8-9 in his first season with the Gamecocks. Despite the struggles, Williams is a believer in what Paris is building.

“I’ve known coach for a long time,” Williams said. “Obviously, when I was at Marquette, he was at Wisconsin. He’s one of the better human beings employed in college coaching of any sport. He’ll do a fabulous job here. I think the model of college athletics has changed — not because of men’s basketball, just in general. Because I’ve done it at four different places, and I don’t mean that arrogantly, I’m very empathetic to how lonely the job is, particularly the first 730 days.”

Paris took the job after five seasons at Chattanooga, where he led the Mocs to the NCAA tournament last season. Before that, Paris had spent his entire coaching career in the Midwest in Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin.

“It’s hard,” Williams said. “Just like what Coach Beamer has been through here. Well, I don’t know anybody. Well, I need to get to know the community. We need to upgrade our roster. Well, we need to establish how we’re gonna play. Well, I need to hire the right staff. I also need to get my family here and find a place to live. There’s a lot of adjustments emotionally with my children. There’s just so many factors that the public is probably aware of but because we’re judged based on the scoreboard it’s just hard.”

Buzz Williams likes the group Lamont Paris has built around him

Buzz Williams then talked about the importance of building a good staff and team around you when taking a new job. He had praise in that regard for Lamont Paris, too.

“I can talk about that — I can help you write a book about that,” Williams said. “It’s hard. Scott is one of the better strength coaches in the country, if not the best. I worked with Tim Buckley as an assistant for six months at Marquette. He may be one of the best strategist that fulfills an assistant coaching role in the country. I know Coach brought two guys with him, I think, from UTC. I think that it’s good that he has some continuity on his staff.”

Paris has some talent on his team, including former five-star talent GG Jackson.

Jackson leads the team in points and rebounds per game. But he also only shooting 39.8% from the field.

“Obviously, (Jackson) was the number one player in the country who bumped up a class who has a heavy burden every day. (Meechie Johnson) is a hard guard who’s played at a high level and is now probably counted on to do more than he’s ever done. (Hayden Brown) that’s why he’s so important to their team because I would say from a minute standpoint he has more Division I minute’s experience than anybody on their roster. It’s just so volatile, right, your roster and all of the changes. There’s so many factors that you don’t just see on game day.”