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Is Lamont the worst basketball coach we've had?

18IsTheMan

18IsTheMan

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I guess that nod usually goes to Newton for a lot of folks, but I'd say Lamont has at least made it a conversation. Horn was up there for some, but I'd say Lamont has surpassed him easily. He certainly has to be in the top 5, at a minimum.

In his 3 of his 4 seasons, he'll have put together conference records of 4-14, 2-16 and 4-14 (or likely worse...I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on 2 wins the rest of the way the season). Three of his 4 teams have been utterly non-competitive across the board. Not like "well, they suck but at least they rebound well". Some teams are pretty bad but gritty or have some endearing quality. Not Lamont's.

AND two of his worst teams had NBA draft picks. His worst team (so far) had a lottery pick, which is unheard of around here. How many coaches here have had two NBA draft picks?
 
1vagamecock

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18IsTheMan said:
I guess that nod usually goes to Newton for a lot of folks, but I'd say Lamont has at least made it a conversation. Horn was up there for some, but I'd say Lamont has surpassed him easily. He certainly has to be in the top 5, at a minimum.

In his 3 of his 4 seasons, he'll have put together conference records of 4-14, 2-16 and 4-14 (or likely worse...I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on 2 wins the rest of the way the season). Three of his 4 teams have been utterly non-competitive across the board. Not like "well, they suck but at least they rebound well". Some teams are pretty bad but gritty or have some endearing quality. Not Lamont's.

AND two of his worst teams had NBA draft picks. His worst team (so far) had a lottery pick, which is unheard of around here. How many coaches here have had two NBA draft picks?
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Two more losses and he equals Horns record exactly, 3 more and he is truly up for the award. However he is still more likeable than Horn who was egefull.
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Creek Snake

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Lamont at least showed he could coach when he had reasonable talent.His major problem is talent acquisition.Is that a reflection of being underfunded in the basketball sphere or poor talent evaluation?
A likely almost certainly coming but who will take the job?Saw recently on prominent SEC podcast that they had Carolina men’s basketball job rated as worst in SEC.
 
Fried Chicken

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Horn had a decent year in which we should’ve made the NCAA Tourney but got snubbed. Paris made it once. Newton was awful but we really don’t know if he could’ve turned it around or even how bad it really could’ve been.

All 3 are just really bad. 1a, 1b & 1c. But I do think the one advantage Paris has over the other 2 is that we can literally go out and buy players now and overhaul our roster. That played to his advantage in his one solid year. The fact we can’t put a decent team on the court in this new era of college athletics has me almost totally indifferent to SC Basketball, and even Baseball. I’ll watch when I just happen to see it on or if nothing else is on. There were days where I’d plan my calendar around these things.
 
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scottmitchellrose

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18IsTheMan said:
I guess that nod usually goes to Newton for a lot of folks, but I'd say Lamont has at least made it a conversation. Horn was up there for some, but I'd say Lamont has surpassed him easily. He certainly has to be in the top 5, at a minimum.

In his 3 of his 4 seasons, he'll have put together conference records of 4-14, 2-16 and 4-14 (or likely worse...I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on 2 wins the rest of the way the season). Three of his 4 teams have been utterly non-competitive across the board. Not like "well, they suck but at least they rebound well". Some teams are pretty bad but gritty or have some endearing quality. Not Lamont's.

AND two of his worst teams had NBA draft picks. His worst team (so far) had a lottery pick, which is unheard of around here. How many coaches here have had two NBA draft picks?
Click to expand...
he's up there and seems to be trying for it. I wonder - why is our basketball program (men's) so awful?
 
18IsTheMan

18IsTheMan

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Fried Chicken said:
Horn had a decent year in which we should’ve made the NCAA Tourney but got snubbed. Paris made it once. Newton was awful but we really don’t know if he could’ve turned it around or even how bad it really could’ve been.

All 3 are just really bad. 1a, 1b & 1c. But I do think the one advantage Paris has over the other 2 is that we can literally go out and buy players now and overhaul our roster. That played to his advantage in his one solid year. The fact we can’t put a decent team on the court in this new era of college athletics has me almost totally indifferent to SC Basketball, and even Baseball. I’ll watch when I just happen to see it on or if nothing else is on. There were days where I’d plan my calendar around these things.
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I agree it's a 1a 1b 1c situation. All were awful but with different circumstances. One thing neither Newton nor Horn had was a top 10 NBA draft pick.
 
92Pony

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1vagamecock said:
Two more losses and he equals Horns record exactly, 3 more and he is truly up for the award. However he is still more likeable than Horn who was egefull.
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Thanks for the footnote - I was trying to see on the keyboard how your fingers mistakenly hit 'ege' instead of 'awe'! :ROFLMAO:
 
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Fried Chicken

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18IsTheMan said:
I agree it's a 1a 1b 1c situation. All were awful but with different circumstances. One thing neither Newton nor Horn had was a top 10 NBA draft pick.
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Horn did have Downey though. He just wasn’t made for the NBA. But I’d say he was a better college player than CMB, at least for the short time we had him.
 
Rhode Island Dork

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18IsTheMan

18IsTheMan

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Fried Chicken said:
Horn did have Downey though. He just wasn’t made for the NBA. But I’d say he was a better college player than CMB, at least for the short time we had him.
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True. He was very good in college.

Just hard for me to wrap my ahead around how bad we were with a lottery pick on the roster.
 
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will110

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He's terrible, that's for sure. I guess he can't be called the worst coach ever since he does have 10% of the school's all-time tournament appearances.
 
18IsTheMan

18IsTheMan

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will110 said:
He's terrible, that's for sure. I guess he can't be called the worst coach ever since he does have 10% of the school's all-time tournament appearances.
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I think it highlights just how bad Paris is really been. He actually lucked
into having a tournament team and even with that year factored in, his record is down there with the worst.
 
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18IsTheMan

18IsTheMan

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Forkcock said:
He's not great, but not the worst.
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Record-wise, he's certainly in the conversation.

Throw in that he's been coaching in the NIL era, and there's a compelling argument for it.

Only comps are Newton and Horn. Horn's out b/c he never had anything as bad as Lamont's worst seasons. Fans mostly give the nod to Newton, but at least he had a 5-11 conference season in his last season. Lamont will have had 3 seasons much worse than that.

Without a doubt, the only thing keeping Lamont from being the unquestioned worst coach we ever had was his lucky NCAAT bid in his 2nd season.
 
will110

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18IsTheMan said:
I think it highlights just how bad Paris is really been. He actually lucked
into having a tournament team and even with that year factored in, his record is down there with the worst.
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It also highlights just how pathetic Carolina basketball history is.
 
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Fig Newton.

When he was being considered for the job, a friend of mine, whom I used to work with was his boss (Athletic Director) at Murray State. Mike told me that Newton was bad news. I won't go into detail what Mike told me. This was 35 years ago. I don't remember who was our AD at the time nor who I talked to. I remember telling them what Mike said and warned our people to stay away from Newton. And, of course, we hired Newton anyway. smh Newton lasted just 2 years as our Head Basketball coach. To me, that episode is emblematic as to why we have difficulty in athletics at USC.
 
18IsTheMan

18IsTheMan

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gamecock stock said:
Fig Newton.

When he was being considered for the job, a friend of mine, whom I used to work with was his boss (Athletic Director) at Murray State. Mike told me that Newton was bad news. I won't go into detail what Mike told me. This was 35 years ago. I don't remember who was our AD at the time nor who I talked to. I remember telling them what Mike said and warned our people to stay away from Newton. And, of course, we hired Newton anyway. smh Newton lasted just 2 years as our Head Basketball coach. To me, that episode is emblematic as to why we have difficulty in athletics at USC.
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I just dunno. I recall those teams. They were bad, no doubt. Lamont's teams are awfully reminiscent of them.

The basketball I've seen from Paris' teams is at least up there with the worst quality basketball I've seen.

Record-wise, Paris is pretty close with Newton. Indistinguishable, really. Newton's first season was 11-17 (3-13). Lamont's was 11-21 (4-14). Lamont actually was worse overall. Newton's second season was 9-18 (5-11). Lamont obviously got lucky with the NCAAT team, but then dramatically regressed to 12-20 (2-16), so basically a wash. By giving Lamont an extra 4th season to put together what will be another horrible record, he'll surpass Newton for record awfulness.

Record-wise, there's really no separation between the two. For on-court quality, I don't see much separation either.

And, Lamont has the HUGE edge of coaching in the NIL era, but still can't coach his way out of a wet paper sack.
 
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gamecock stock said:
Fig Newton.

When he was being considered for the job, a friend of mine, whom I used to work with was his boss (Athletic Director) at Murray State. Mike told me that Newton was bad news. I won't go into detail what Mike told me. This was 35 years ago. I don't remember who was our AD at the time nor who I talked to. I remember telling them what Mike said and warned our people to stay away from Newton. And, of course, we hired Newton anyway. smh Newton lasted just 2 years as our Head Basketball coach. To me, that episode is emblematic as to why we have difficulty in athletics at USC.
Click to expand...

I believe it was the same fellow who gave us Sparky Woods - King Dixon.
 
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18IsTheMan said:
I just dunno. I recall those teams. They were bad, no doubt. Lamont's teams are awfully reminiscent of them.

The basketball I've seen from Paris' teams is at least up there with the worst quality basketball I've seen.

Record-wise, Paris is pretty close with Newton. Indistinguishable, really. Newton's first season was 11-17 (3-13). Lamont's was 11-21 (4-14). Lamont actually was worse overall. Newton's second season was 9-18 (5-11). Lamont obviously got lucky with the NCAAT team, but then dramatically regressed to 12-20 (2-16), so basically a wash. By giving Lamont an extra 4th season to put together what will be another horrible record, he'll surpass Newton for record awfulness.

Record-wise, there's really no separation between the two. For on-court quality, I don't see much separation either.

And, Lamont has the HUGE edge of coaching in the NIL era, but still can't coach his way out of a wet paper sack.
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Looking through the thread, seems like a lot of us have less than fond memories of Newton.
 
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18IsTheMan

18IsTheMan

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gamecock stock said:
Looking through the thread, seems like a lot of us have less than fond memories of Newton.
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Oh, ha, for sure! He was awful. Certainly no fond memories here. Of course I worded the title the way I did on purpose...as a question. I'm not saying Lamont is the worst. But he's certainly put himself in the conversation.

Let's put it this way, if there were a Heisman-type ceremony for worst Gamecocks basketball coach ever, Lamont would be on the stage along with Newton.
 
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I do like the name Lamont though. Maybe it's from fond childhood memories of watching Sanford and Son.

I can still hear the theme song. Maybe we should play that song at the games as a reminder of what kind of teams he has fielded.
 
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Skuddy said:
I do like the name Lamont though. Maybe it's from fond childhood memories of watching Sanford and Son.

I can still hear the theme song. Maybe we should play that song at the games as a reminder of what kind of teams he has fielded.
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You know the actor who played Lamont in Sanford and Son passed away a couple of weeks ago.

It's remarkable to me the famous actors who have passed away within the last half year: Robert Redford, Diane Keaton., Rob Reiner and Catherine O'Hara. Those were not just actors in the entertainment industry. They were heavyweights.

By the way, for anyone who is terrified out of their mind about dying, I strongly recommend, if you ever get the chance, to see an episode of the old "Twilight Zone" TV series, "Nothing in the Dark". It aired in early 1962, starring Robert Redford before he made it big in the movies. It may not erase all your fears about dying. But, it should give you some comfort or, at least, something to think about.
 
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Dabo's Weenie

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Skuddy said:
I do like the name Lamont though. Maybe it's from fond childhood memories of watching Sanford and Son.

I can still hear the theme song. Maybe we should play that song at the games as a reminder of what kind of teams he has fielded.
Click to expand...

Or maybe when he makes a questionable decision, the sound crew could play the Redd Foxx, "Lamont, ya big dummy" sound clip. 😁
 
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RL09

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Something to consider, if our current AD decides to dismiss our current basketball coach, whether he is 1A, 1B or 1C as the worst coach. He is going to walk away with a very large buyout, where the other two really bad coaches did not. I am old enough to barely remember Newton, but thinking to myself what a goof ball. Was it Kind Dixon who hired him?
 
atlanta cock#

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18IsTheMan said:
I guess that nod usually goes to Newton for a lot of folks, but I'd say Lamont has at least made it a conversation. Horn was up there for some, but I'd say Lamont has surpassed him easily. He certainly has to be in the top 5, at a minimum.

In his 3 of his 4 seasons, he'll have put together conference records of 4-14, 2-16 and 4-14 (or likely worse...I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on 2 wins the rest of the way the season). Three of his 4 teams have been utterly non-competitive across the board. Not like "well, they suck but at least they rebound well". Some teams are pretty bad but gritty or have some endearing quality. Not Lamont's.

AND two of his worst teams had NBA draft picks. His worst team (so far) had a lottery pick, which is unheard of around here. How many coaches here have had two NBA draft picks?
Click to expand...
Yes he's the worst.
 
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