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

18IsTheMan

Heisman
Oct 1, 2014
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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.
 
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Piscis

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Nov 30, 2001
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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.
 
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18IsTheMan

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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.
 

adcoop

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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.
 
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Uscg1984

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Mar 9, 2006
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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.
 
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RL09

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Dec 29, 2025
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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.
 
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