Lamont Paris hires final coach for his South Carolina basketball staff

Earlier this offseason, South Carolina basketball coach Lamont Paris found himself in a position in which he had to replace one of his assistant coaches. Veteran assistant Tim Buckley left the Gamecocks to take a similar position with the Cincinnati Bearcats, leaving USC with an on-court coaching vacancy.

Coach Paris has taken his time in his search for Buckley's replacement, and thanks to the luxury of having three players committed to the program already in the class of 2025, the normally crucial recruiting period of the summer months wasn't as pressing for the Gamecocks.

The delay in hiring a new assistant came to an end on Monday, though, as Paris found his man.

According to a report from CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein, South Carolina basketball is hiring Will Bailey, a former assistant coach in Columbia, to return to the staff as an assistant. Bailey is the final on-court assistant coach on the staff.

Bailey, now with over 20 years of experience on his resume, coached for the Gamecocks for two seasons under previous head coach Frank Martin and also has had stops with Loyola Chicago, St. Louis, UAB, Chicago State, La Salle, East Tennessee State, and Maine. If his previous stops are any indication, Bailey likely will help out coaching the guards. He played for (and captained) the UAB Blazers in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Bailey joins Eddie Shannon and Tanner Bronson as the Gamecocks' full-time, on-court assistants.

Bailey and the 2024-2025 version of the South Carolina basketball team will be looking to make their first set of back-to-back NCAA Tournaments since the '90s. Last year, the upstart Gamecocks tied a school record for wins with a 26-8 overall record and tied for 2nd place in the SEC en route to a 6-seed in the Big Dance.

USC opens its season on November 4th with a home game at Colonial Life Arena against the North Florida Ospreys.