Aside from the buyout, what saves Lamont's job this season?

[18IsTheMan]

At this point he's worse than Darrin Horn, who is utterly loathed by our fan base. I'm sure he would have been fired last year if not for the buyout.

Obviously, I think no postseason play dooms him this time around.

NCAAT and he's obviously safe.

Gray area: NIT. We all agree the NIT is totally meaningless. And now, with such a large amount of roster overhaul every year, you can't even use the old "extra practice and development for next year" argument. BUT I've guess you've got the "it does show progress" argument. I'd still say it's NCAAT or he's gone, but there will probably be some who think the NIT actually means something.

 

[Rhode Island Dork]

A simple word: postseason

 

[18IsTheMan]

A simple word: postseason

So you think NIT and he's safe

 

[Piscis]

NIT and/or a winning record.

 

[Rhode Island Dork]

So you think NIT and he's safe

Afraid so.

 

[18IsTheMan]

NIT and/or a winning record.

So you think a winning record with no postseason play saves him. Do you think it SHOULD save him?

 

[18IsTheMan]

Afraid so.

Do you think it SHOULD save him?

 

[Piscis]

So you think a winning record with no postseason play saves him. Do you think it SHOULD save him?

I think as long as he manages a winning record, he gets another year, postseason or not. The ridiculous buyout he has will make the bar pretty low for him.

Donati is, first and foremost, a business manager. Firing major sport head coaches and paying huge buyouts hurts the bottom line.

 

[18IsTheMan]

I think as long as he manages a winning record, he gets another year, postseason or not. The ridiculous buyout he has will make the bar pretty low for him.

Donati is, first and foremost, a business manager. Firing major sport head coaches and paying huge buyouts hurts the bottom line.

His buyout is only $9.2 million by the end of this season. Even we can swing that.

I don't know enough about Donati to know how he's gonna manage. If he retains Paris without us making the NCAAT, then I would agree he's a bottom line financial guy.

I think he was wise to pause on firing Lamont or Beamer last year b/c the buyouts were just too steep and you really had no idea if you were going to eventually have to part with both. I think if one of the programs was in a strong position, the other coach would have been dismissed. Both being in a tenuous position makes it tricky, though.

 

[muscleknight]

Forfeits

 

[adcoop]

So you think a winning record with no postseason play saves him. Do you think it SHOULD save him?

It shouldn't. Beyond the losses, Paris' ability to recruit the high schools and retain players has been very poor. There doesn't appear to be much on the horizon that makes you think something will change. I will at least give the team a chance and check out a few games, but it won't take much for me to check out on them this season.

 

[Rhode Island Dork]

Do you think it SHOULD save him?

Only way I think his job should be saved is if the eye test improves drastically. What I've seen the last 2 years is pure $h!+.

 

[Uscg1984]

Do you think it SHOULD save him?

It depends on if Donati has some master plan. If Paris has a winning record this season but with no postseason appearance, I would call that yet another year in which we did not meet expectations and would be grounds to part ways. But that's looking at basketball purely in a vacuum. If hanging on to Paris another year, however, is part of some broader scheme that makes it more likely for us to succeed in football, then I'm totally fine with keeping him. If saving us a $9m buyout means we can direct $9m more to a football roster, go for it.

 

[RL09]

So you think a winning record with no postseason play saves him. Do you think it SHOULD save him?

I don't mean any disrespect/rudeness to anyone who enjoys following the men's basketball program at South Carolina. Purely my perspective, but I think the overall lack of popularity/interest of the men's basketball program is an asset to Paris retaining his position. I think if he can scrape out a .500 season he will retain his position.

 

[will110]

NCAA tournament or he's done.

If he can't get into a 76 team tournament in year 5 he's got no business coaching here.

Just look at his record...he's got 3 of the worst seasons in Carolina basketball history to go with his single tournament year.

 

[Lurker123]

It depends on if Donati has some master plan. If Paris has a winning record this season but with no postseason appearance, I would call that yet another year in which we did not meet expectations and would be grounds to part ways. But that's looking at basketball purely in a vacuum. If hanging on to Paris another year, however, is part of some broader scheme that makes it more likely for us to succeed in football, then I'm totally fine with keeping him. If saving us a $9m buyout means we can direct $9m more to a football roster, go for it.

This was my thought. Donati was faced with three buyouts, and has to juggle those. Can he do more than one a year?

 

[Legal_fowl]

It depends on if Donati has some master plan. If Paris has a winning record this season but with no postseason appearance, I would call that yet another year in which we did not meet expectations and would be grounds to part ways. But that's looking at basketball purely in a vacuum. If hanging on to Paris another year, however, is part of some broader scheme that makes it more likely for us to succeed in football, then I'm totally fine with keeping him. If saving us a $9m buyout means we can direct $9m more to a football roster, go for it.

I think he will do enough this year to justify keeping him around another year. I wouldn't say we are loaded, but we've got some good players. The roster has the flexibility to create some mismatches. No 7 footer unfortunately, but I don't think that matters as much as in the past.

 

[Piscis]

NCAA tournament or he's done.

If he can't get into a 76 team tournament in year 5 he's got no business coaching here.

Just look at his record...he's got 3 of the worst seasons in Carolina basketball history to go with his single tournament year.

You do realize this is SOUTH Carolina, not North Carolina. I don't think there is enough fan passion for MBB to put a lot of pressure on making the tournament. It isn't like South Carolina is some historically great MBB school.

Paris had a great run in '23-24. 2017 was a pretty long time ago, MBB has been pretty ugly since then.

 

[will110]

You do realize this is SOUTH Carolina, not North Carolina. I don't think there is enough fan passion for MBB to put a lot of pressure on making the tournament. It isn't like South Carolina is some historically great MBB school.

Paris had a great run in '23-24. 2017 was a pretty long time ago, MBB has been pretty ugly since then.

Perhaps, but the program is currently a disaster.

 

[RL09]

9 million is still a great deal of money to pay out for fire a losing coach.

 

[atl-cock]

I think as long as he manages a winning record, he gets another year, postseason or not. The ridiculous buyout he has will make the bar pretty low for him.

Donati is, first and foremost, a business manager. Firing major sport head coaches and paying huge buyouts hurts the bottom line.

And that's what I've been saying about athletic directors for a few years. It's not all about hiring and firing winning/losing coaches (that is a major responsibility, but not 100% of the duties), but business management and fiscal responsibility is critical. If you want to argue about the latter regarding Ray Tanner, I think that is fair game, e.g., massive contract extensions.

 

[atl-cock]

I don't mean any disrespect/rudeness to anyone who enjoys following the men's basketball program at South Carolina. Purely my perspective, but I think the overall lack of popularity/interest of the men's basketball program is an asset to Paris retaining his position. I think if he can scrape out a .500 season he will retain his position.

Now that is an interesting perspective.

 

[atl-cock]

You do realize this is SOUTH Carolina, not North Carolina. I don't think there is enough fan passion for MBB to put a lot of pressure on making the tournament. It isn't like South Carolina is some historically great MBB school.

Paris had a great run in '23-24. 2017 was a pretty long time ago, MBB has been pretty ugly since then.

We may likely have turned into a great MBB school had we not foolishly left the ACC. Like 2017, 1971 was a pretty long time ago.

 

[Forkcock]

Does Lamont even want to be here? I mean, I'm sure he likes cashing the checks, but he seems to be just going through the motions.

 

[rockingamecock]

Yet another coach that should have never been hired...........thanks for nothing Ray.

 

[Piscis]

We may likely have turned into a great MBB school had we not foolishly left the ACC. Like 2017, 1971 was a pretty long time ago.

I agree 100%. Leaving the ACC was the absolute stupidest decision ever made. We would have been a very good basketball school and a very competitive football school as well in the ACC. We also had two built in natural big rivals in the ACC, Clemson and UNC. We are a pure afterthought to every program in the SEC. There was a flash of rivalry with UGA when Spurrier came. That was because UGA absolutely hated Spurrier, so the rivalry was more about Spurrier than South Carolina. Now that Spurrier is gone, UGA only thinks about SC during game week. No other SEC team really thinks about us either.

 

[atl-cock]

I agree 100%. Leaving the ACC was the absolute stupidest decision ever made. We would have been a very good basketball school and a very competitive football school as well in the ACC. We also had two built in natural big rivals in the ACC, Clemson and UNC. We are a pure afterthought to every program in the SEC. There was a flash of rivalry with UGA when Spurrier came. That was because UGA absolutely hated Spurrier, so the rivalry was more about Spurrier than South Carolina. Now that Spurrier is gone, UGA only thinks about SC during game week. No other SEC team really thinks about us either.

There was some bad blood in WBB with Mizzou, but if there is a rivalry, it feels forced to me.

 

[Piscis]

There was some bad blood in WBB with Mizzou, but if there is a rivalry, it feels forced to me.

No one cares much about WBB outside of South Carolina. I think there is some rivalry between UGA and SC in equestrian, but, again, no one cares.

In the ACC, UNC would be a rival in every sport and the Clemson rivalry would be very intense since we would both be competing for the conference championship in every sport.