Lamont Paris’ new deal is official, takes Gamecocks coach salary over $4 million a year

Lamont Paris was all smiles, as he should be.

Coming off an SEC Tournament second round win over Arkansas, the Gamecocks’ second-year head coach strolled over toward the tunnels of Bridgestone Stadium in Nashville where director of athletics Ray Tanner was waiting. The two laughed and embraced, knowing something the rest of the country was just finding out.

Paris and his rotating collection of quarter-zips are staying in South Carolina for a long time. And with a big pay raise.

On Friday, the University of South Carolina board of trustees’ governance committee approved a new contract for Paris, extending the 49-year-old head coach until the 2029-30 season. He’ll make an average of $4,375,000 annually for the new deal that’s for six years and totals $26,250,000..

“This is where I am supposed to be,” Paris said on the SEC Network broadcast Thursday following USC’s win over the Razorbacks. “Had a great conversation with Ray Tanner, our athletic director. We are really happy with where the program is. People talk about opportunities that are out there or might be out there. This is where I am supposed to be.”

Paris’ original USC contract, signed in March 2022, averaged $2.4 million annually over five years and made him one of the lowest-paid coaches in the SEC. Previous head coach Frank Martin was making $3.2 million at the time of his departure.

Paris has received postseason awards left and right over the last week, picking up the SEC Coach of the Year both by the SEC and The Associated Press. He’s also on the Naismith College Coach of the Year Midseason Watch List for the most outstanding coach in the country.

His one-year turnaround from an 11-win season to a 26 victories in 2023-24 made USC one of the darlings of college basketball this year, and it meant his name was floated for some of the big-time coaching vacancies — Louisville and Ohio State, just to name some.

But Paris has been focused on South Carolina’s season, and chose to go for a new deal now to stake his claim on where he stands.

And those connections to coaching hot board lists were all just imaginary thoughts, he said.

“I didn’t float my name around — a lot of people were floating my name around,” Paris said in his postgame press conference against Arkansas. “I guess that’s what happens this time of year. It’s fun, exciting, a lot of things that are going on. It makes the number of text messages I get out of control.”

So rest assured, South Carolina. Paris isn’t going anywhere, and he’s expecting to grow on what he’s already started. He was smiling thanks to a good start to postseason basketball, and fans can smile, too.

But Paris is getting right back into the swing of his SEC Tournament schedule.

“It’s a real thrill for me to be able to coach these guys,” he said with a grin. “I love where I am. And they like me, too. What else was there to do but to make a good deal?”