SEC Coach of the Year Lamont Paris ’96 to address The College of Wooster Class of 2024 at Commencement
The College of Wooster will celebrate the graduating Class of 2024 with its Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 11, 2024, at 1 p.m. in the Gault Recreation Center inside the Scot Center. Lamont Paris ’96, head men’s basketball coach at the University of South Carolina (USC), will deliver the keynote address. The ceremony will also feature two speakers from the graduating class, Tyler Hilbert ’24 and Sukriti Chiripal ’24.
In his third year as USC’s head coach, Paris was a 2024 finalist for the Werner Ladder Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year award and has been named Southeastern Conference (SEC) Coach of the Year. The recognition is fitting: Paris led his South Carolina team to a second-place SEC finish and a 13-5 conference record after seeing the team picked to finish last in the league in the preseason.
Inspired by his Wooster roots on the court, in the classroom, and within the campus community, Paris has coached at the collegiate level since 1997. Paris’ coaching career started at Wooster, and he had stops at DePauw University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Akron before joining the University of Wisconsin-Madison as an assistant coach. At Wisconsin, Paris helped the Badgers to the national championship game in 2015 and two Final Four appearances.
Having built up a reputation as a recruiter and developer of talent, Paris was promoted to lead assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Badgers averaged 27 wins per year during his seven-year tenure, headlined by playing in the 2015 national championship game, reaching the Final Four in 2014, and playing in four NCAA Sweet 16s.
Two years later, Paris earned his first head coaching job at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where the team went 87-72 in five seasons, including 65-29 during his final three. In his final season with the Mocs, Paris’ team finished 27-8, won the Southern Conference (SoCon) regular-season title, and secured a spot in the NCAA Tournament on a deep buzzer-beating 3-pointer in overtime of the SoCon Tournament championship.
The Fighting Scots 1996 business economics alumnus, whose Independent Study was titled, “Taxation of Sin: The Effects of Excise Taxes on the Demand Function of Cigarettes,” played on Wooster teams that went 84-25, advanced to three NCAA Div. III Championships, and won two North Coast Athletic Conference titles.
The 2024 Commencement Ceremony at the College also includes speakers Chiripal and Hilbert from the Class of 2024, selected based on academic performance and peer nominations.
Sukriti Chiripal ’24
Chiripal, a dual major in psychology and economics from Kolkata, India, has been engaged in the Wooster community throughout her college career, leading initiatives as president of Wooster Women and Gender Minorities in Economics, serving as an APEX Experiential Learning peer advisor and economics peer tutor, STEM Zone intern and teaching assistant for economics, and participating in the STEM Success Initiative Student Advisory Board. Beyond Wooster, Sukriti studied management economics and business psychology at the University of Oxford, completed an APEX Fellowship-supported internship in Financial Risk and Audit at Ernst & Young, and interned with the Capital Markets team at The World Bank. Sukriti’s I.S., “The Impact of Exchange Rate Volatility on International Trade,” focused on Indian agricultural trade in the post-liberalization, privatization, and globalization reform era. After graduation, Sukriti will return to The World Bank in Washington, D.C., to work in their Capital Markets and Investments department.
Tyler Hilbert ’24
Hilbert, a business economics major with dual minors in statistical and data sciences and physical education from Plain City, Ohio, has been committed to both academics and extracurricular activities throughout his time at Wooster. Hilbert has been an integral member of Wooster’s men’s golf team for four years, concurrently serving as a team representative for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). Beyond athletics, Hilbert’s involvement extended to serving as a trustee in the Jenny Investment Club and holding a leadership position in the Wooster Christian Fellowship. He is also a member of the Economics Honor Society, Omicron Delta Epsilon. Hilbert’s I.S., “Playground to Portfolio: Uncovering the Potential for Investment-Grade Returns in Collectible Sports and Pokémon Cards,” highlights an interdisciplinary approach to economics and finance. Post-graduation, Hilbert plans to explore opportunities in business, finance, data, or golf while continuing his pursuit of playing professional golf.
President Anne McCall will preside over the ceremony, an invocation will be shared by Rev. Walter Clark, minister at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Wayne County, and the benediction will be provided by Rev. David Rice, pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Wooster and College trustee. Families who cannot attend the event in person will be able to access a livestream of the ceremony. For more information on the full schedule of events visit the Commencement website at wooster.edu/commencement.
Featured photo: Lamont Paris ’96, head men’s basketball coach at the University of South Carolina, provided by USC.
Posted in News on April 29, 2024.
