Lamont Paris fills out Gamecocks basketball staff with familiar face

South Carolina has filled out its men’s basketball opening with a familiar face.

Will Bailey is returning to USC and will be a part of Lamont Paris’ staff as an assistant coach, a source with knowledge of the hire told The State. CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein was the first to report the news on Monday. Bailey replaces Tim Buckley, who left to join Cincinnati’s coaching staff earlier in the offseason.

Paris spoke during an offseason news conference earlier Monday at Colonial Life Arena and said that morning he was close to announcing the new assistant.

“I anticipate making an announcement here pretty soon on the direction that we are going to go with that,” Paris said. “I was really interested in familiarity with me and what we do. I like guys that can teach. That’s a big part in what we do is teach. Guys that work hard. Guys that are loyal. I am excited about making this addition and it should happen sometime in the really near future.”

Paris said he wasn’t urgency to name a new assistant because the Gamecocks had already three commits for the 2025 class and he wanted to spend time with guys already committed and on campus.

This will be Bailey’s second stint as Gamecock assistant coach. Bailey was an assistant coach under Frank Martin from 2020-22.

After Martin was fired, Bailey appeared headed to Martin to UMass but went to St Louis for one season and then was an assistant coach at Loyola (Chicago) last season.

Bailey has more than 20 years of experience as an assistant coach. Other coaching stops include East Tennessee State, Maine, Chicago State and UAB. He finished his playing career at UAB where he was named the school’s defensive player of the year in 1997.

Bailey joins Tanner Bronson and Eddie Shannon as lead assistants for Paris. Bronson and Shannon both worked for Paris at Chattanooga and have been with him since he joined South Carolina in April 2022.

The Gamecocks are coming off a 26-8 in Paris’ second year and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. South Carolina returns eight players from last year’s team and brought in three transfers including in-state players Jordan Butler (Missouri) and Nick Pringle (Alabama).

Incoming freshman Cam Scott, who led Lexington to the state championship and was the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year, also joins USC after flipping from Texas this spring.