MOCS PICK PARIS
Former Wisconsin assistant takes charge of men’s hoops
“This was not a hasty decision, rather it was a decisive one. Our staff has followed Lamont’s progression over the last several years. We are excited he has chosen to join us.” — DAVID BLACKBURN, UTC ATHLETIC DIRECTOR
It was a quick yet thorough process.
But University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletic director David Blackburn ended his latest search for a new men’s basketball coach by getting his guy again.
Lamont Paris, most recently the associate head coach at the University of Wisconsin, is the successor to Matt McCall, who was 48-18 in two seasons with the Mocs before leaving last week to take the head coaching job at the University of Massachusetts. UTC announced the hire Sunday night.
“We are fortunate to get an elite-level person and coach in Lamont,” Blackburn said in a news release. “It was important to get someone before the signing period starts on April 12.
“This was not a hasty decision, rather it was a decisive one. Our staff has followed Lamont’s progression over the last several years. We are excited he has chosen to join us.”
Paris was in Glendale, Ariz., for the Final Four and had interviews with both the Mocs and Akron, where he spent six seasons as an assistant. UTC offered him a job; Akron didn’t.
A finalist for the UTC job in 2015, Paris is a native of Findlay, Ohio, with 20 years of coaching experience at the college level. He has spent the past seven seasons as a Wisconsin assistant, helping the program to six appearances in the Sweet 16, including this season, when the eighth-seeded Badgers knocked off 2016 national champion and tournament overall No. 1 seed Villanova in the round of 32. Wisconsin also made the Final Four twice with him on the staff.
Prior to his time at Wisconsin, Paris spent eight seasons as
an assistant at the Division III level before six years as an assistant at Akron. The Zips had an NCAA tournament appearance, two National Invitation Tournament bids and a trip to the College Basketball Invitational during his time.
Paris is a 1996 graduate of NCAA Division III Wooster University, where he played for four seasons and was the team’s MVP in his junior and senior seasons. He was twice named an All-North Coast Atlantic Conference pick, and his team made three trips to the national tournament during his career.
The team he takes over at UTC graduated its top five starters from last season, when the Mocs went 19-12, and will return only 25 percent of its scoring and 38 percent of its rebounding. But the program has set a bar for success, including under McCall predecessor Will Wade, who left after two seasons in Chattanooga to take over at Virginia Commonwealth and is now the head coach at LSU.
“We’re thankful for the work Will Wade and Matt McCall did over the past four years,” Blackburn said. “Their work, along with a special group of student-athletes, gave us the platform to attract a talent like Lamont.
“He has a proven track record which builds belief that he can direct us to an even higher level as a program. I’d also like to thank Dr. Steven Angle and our campus and athletic administration for making this addition possible.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.