Lamont Paris shares what it means to win SEC Coach of the Year
As Lamont Paris raised his right arm in the air to break the team huddle at the end of Monday’s practice, Meechie Johnson had something to say.
Johnson had heard Paris had won the SEC Coach of the Year and so he shared that the team had a special surprise for him.
Johnson stepped out of the way and a staff member came out to present Paris with a brown box. Inside was a chocolate cake with a big Cocky logo in the middle and script letters reading, “SEC Coach of the Year Lamont Paris!”
“Oh man, that was awesome. Complete surprise,” Paris said. “I don’t do anything just for the cameras or anything like that. It was a complete surprise, I was taken aback by it. We’ve got a good group of guys, have a great connection. Just the fact they would even do that ahead of time, it’s crazy.”
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Even some of the players had no idea what the team had planned for Paris after winning the award.
“I’m going to be 100 percent real with you, I don’t even know where that came from. It just came out of nowhere,” Ta’Lon Cooper said.
For Paris, it’s an award that culminates a season of triumph. South Carolina went from winning just 11 games in his first year to a 14-win improvement this year. With 25 regular season wins, the Gamecocks set a new record for the most in program history.
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While the honor is for Paris, he likes to think of it as a team accomplishment. He knows none of this would have been possible if it weren’t for the players and coaching staff around him.
“Honestly, that’s what it’s for. It’s going to have my name on it, but really, it has all of their sweat, equity in it,” Paris said. “That’s my staff included but all the players and all the things they have done to allow us to even be considered for an award like that. So it’s humbling, but at the same time, I have a lot of gratitude for the guys that I have and the accomplishments they’ve made this year.”
For someone like Johnson, who has experienced many highs and lows in his two years with Paris, knows just how impactful this award is.
“I was one of Lamont’s first players to commit to him. When I came to South Carolina, people thought I was stupid,” Johnson said. “I believed in him as a coach and it shows, man. He’s a basketball genius, professor and a doctor, whatever you want to call it. He studies the game, like he really does. Everything he’s gotten from a team standpoint, from a culture standpoint, he deserves it. And I think he’s going to get a lot more.”
