Jeff Potrykus

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Lamont Paris, an integral member of the Wisconsin men's basketball coaching staff the past seven seasons, has been hired as head coach at Tennessee-Chattanooga.

"I'm excited for this new chapter of my career, but I am so thankful and grateful for the opportunity I had at the University of Wisconsin," Paris, 43, said Sunday in a UW release. "The city of Madison, the people, the players and staff of the Badgers' program and the University are all very special to me and will be a place that I will always think of as home."

Paris joined Bo Ryan's staff at UW in 2010 after spending six seasons at Akron. He was named associate head coach last spring after Greg Gard was promoted to full-time coach.

Paris was a finalist two years ago for the job at Tennessee-Chattanooga, but the school hired Matt McCall, who led the Mocs to a 48-18 record in two seasons and recently left to take over the UMass program.

Paris last year explored the opening at Stonybrook but pulled out of the running and Jeff Boals was hired as head coach. Boals guided Stonybrook to an 18-14 record this season, including 12-4 in the America East.

"We are all very proud and excited for Lamont as he begins this new opportunity," Gard said in the release. "I have no doubt he'll make a terrific head coach and this is a tremendous hire for Chattanooga. On a personal level, it's bittersweet to see one of your best friends move away, but I'm so happy for him and so proud of him. He's more than paid his dues and climbed the professional ladder the right way."

With Paris leaving, the remaining assistants have ties to UW.

Howard Moore and Joe Krabbenhoft both played at UW. Moore coached at UW from 2005-'09 and returned in 2015-'16 after Ryan retired and Gard was named interim head coach. Krabbenhoft, who played at UW from 2005-'09, joined the staff last April.

Gard has several options if he intends to replace Paris with an assistant who has UW ties.

That group includes Rob Jeter, who worked with Gard and under Ryan at three stops — UW-Platteville (1994-’98), UW-Milwaukee (1999-2001) and then at UW (2001-’05).

Jeter was the head coach at UWM (2005-’16) before being fired. He was an assistant last season at Nevada-Las Vegas. The Rebels struggled finished 11-21 last season, setting a program mark for losses in a season. Guards Jalen Poyser and Zion Morgan and forward Troy Baxter Jr. recently were released from their scholarships.

Poyser was the Rebels' fourth-leading scorer last season at 10.4 points per game. Baxter Jr. and Morgan were reserves who averaged 4.3 and 2.8 points per game, respectively.

A return to UW and the stability that likely would provide no doubt would be attractive to Jeter.

Two other former UW players are assistants.

Freddie Owens, who played at UW from 2000-’04, recently finished his second season as an assistant at Holy Cross. He was at Utah Valley State in 2014-’15, at Oregon State in 2013-’14 and at Montana from 2009-’13.

Sharif Chambliss, who played at UW in 2004-’05 after transferring from Penn State, recently completed his first season at Wright State. Chambliss was an assistant at UWM from 2012-’16.