Chattanooga Mocs men’s basketball coach Lamont Paris announced Eddie Shannon is joining his coaching staff Wednesday morning. Shannon replaces Walter Offutt who departed after two seasons to the same position at Toledo.
It’s Shannon’s second stint in Gig City. He originally served as director of basketball operations for Matt McCall in 2015-16 and full-time assistant a year later, his first coaching assignment at the DI level.
According to Paris, Shannon checked off all the boxes when he began the search.
“One thing I was looking for specifically, if I could, was hire someone I knew for a long time or had worked with guys I knew for a long time,” Paris began. “That, in conjunction with real familiarity with our region in recruiting. I felt like it was important to get someone with some real roots in the south.
“Eddie fit the bill on both of those ends. Above all else, he’s a high character, hard-working person. An added bonus is he knows Chattanooga and the Southern Conference and the challenges we face here.”
Shannon spent the last two season as assistant to former Mocs assistant coach Reggie Witherspoon at Canisius. Witherspoon and Paris have a long-standing relationship. It was a strong memory from April 2017 that cemented the decision.
“My own personal interactions with him were as professional as I could ever imagine; particularly in the circumstances,” Paris added. “I interviewed Eddie for a job when I first got the job here (in 2017). The way he handled that was extremely professional.
“He played at a high level and that will resonate with our guys, especially the point guards with whom I’ll give him a lot of responsibility.”
Shannon was a four-year starter at Florida scoring 1,168 points helping usher in the Billy Donovan era in Gainesville. Shannon earned the 1999 Frontier Most Courageous Player award from the NCAA. A childhood injury led to him playing his entire career with only one eye. It did not limit his impact as he averaged 10.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.7 steals per game over his four years culminating in the 1999 NCAA Sweet 16 appearance.
His collegiate career was followed by a 10-year professional run that saw stops in Australia, Croatia, Cypress, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Russia and Sweden. In 2002, he earned Swedish League Guard of the Year and finals MVP leading the league in scoring. Another scoring title came a year later in the Russian Superleague nabbing all-league first team honors.
He starred at Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach. He was a three-time Sun-Sentinel Player of the Year, two-time Palm Beach Post Player of the Year in the that area, while earning Class 3A State Player of the Year in 1994 and 1995.
Shannon was the Florida representative in the 2015 class of SEC Basketball Legends. The West Palm Beach, Fla., native spent the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at Palm Beach Atlantic prior to coming to Chattanooga the first time in 2015.
https://gomocs.com/news/2019/6/12/mens-basketball-adds-shannon-to-coach-staff.aspx
