Carey Rich

Former Gamecock great Carey Rich was tabbed the first official staff member of new head coach Lamont Paris’ staff at South Carolina on Thursday, April 7, 2022. He enters his fourth season as a full-time staff member with the program in 2025-26 and serves as special assistant to the head coach.

In his role, Rich provides assistance on a variety of special projects, with heavy involvement in alumni relations, community outreach and recruiting efforts.

In his three full seasons on Paris’ staff, the team has had 12 different South Carolina natives on the roster in total highlighted by top local products Gregory “GG” Jackson II (2022-23), Collin Murray-Boyles (2023-25) and Cam Scott (2024-present). Jackson, an All-SEC Freshman selection in 2023, reclassified and signed with the Gamecocks in July of 2022 making history as the highest ranked incoming freshman in Gamecock men’s basketball history. He was drafted No. 45 overall by Memphis in the 2023 NBA Draft becoming the first South Carolina player picked in the NBA Draft since All-American Sindarius Thornwell in 2017.

In his first NBA season in 2023-24, Jackson appeared in 48 games for the Grizzles averaging 14.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game while shooting 42.8 percent from the floor and 35.7 percent from 3. He was named to the NBA’s All-Rookie Second Team, becoming the fourth Gamecock and first since Brian Winters in 1975 to be named to the NBA All-Rookie Team.

In 2024-25, Murray-Boyles put together one of the best individual seasons by a Gamecock in recent memory. The local product from Columbia averaged 16.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks per game en route to being named Second Team All-SEC. He became the first Gamecock since Jimmy Foster in 1983-84 to average at least 16.0 points and 8.0 rebounds, per contest. In Power Five leagues (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten & SEC), Murray-Boyles and Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson were the only players to average at least 16.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks per game while shooting above 50.0% from the floor. He was selected ninth overall by Toronto in the 2025 NBA Draft, becoming the first lottery pick (top-14 selection) in program history in the modern draft era (lottery started in 1985).

In 2023-24, Rich played an instrumental role in bringing in transfer guard Ta’Lon Cooper from Minnesota, a Roebuck, S.C. native and former standout at Dorman High School. Cooper engineered one of the best seasons in school history as the team went 26-8 and 13-5 in the SEC helping the Gamecocks return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. Cooper was named Second Team All-SEC in 2024 alongside guard Meechie Johnson, the duo touted as one of the best backcourts in the SEC. It marked the first time the Gamecocks had multiple All-SEC selections since 2009. Cooper finished eighth in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.51:1), while shooting a career-best 45.9 percent from 3 in his lone season at South Carolina. He currently plays overseas in Europe.

“I’m very excited to have Carey joining my staff here at South Carolina,” Paris said. “He is so connected and well-respected in our community and with basketball in the Palmetto State. This role is something that will evolve over time, but I’m excited to have him hit the ground running. Alumni engagement is something that I’m going to emphasize going forward and I expect Carey to play a very vital part in that.”

After playing one season at Western Carolina, Rich returned home and was a three-year letterwinner for the Gamecocks from 1993-95. He scored 784 career points and dished out 340 assists playing in 79 career games. Rich ranks sixth all-time in Carolina history with 4.30 assists per game, and his 5.16 assists per game during the 1994 season are seventh-most in a single season in program history. As a senior, he led the team in scoring averaging 13.4 points per game. Rich served as team captain his final two seasons in Garnet and Black.

“Everything happens for a reason, and I’m deeply honored the time has come for me to return to my alma mater with the opportunity to assist coach Paris as he assumes this new leadership role of the program,” Rich said. “My heart and soul will be in this assignment. I’m humbled and ecstatic about this journey and this next phase of basketball at the University of South Carolina.”

Born and raised in Columbia, Rich was a 2018 Allstate SEC Basketball Legend and was also inducted into the Richland One Hall of Fame in 2017. He returns to the Gamecocks after servingt seven years as recreation superintendent with the City of Columbia’s Parks and Recreation Department. Rich also served as a liaison to the Columbia Police Department. He’s been hugely impactful on youth in the Midlands community.

Rich has both a son and daughter in college, twins CJ and Kierra.