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| Wofford head coach Dwight Perry (Photo courtesy of NCAA.com) |
If you have followed Wofford Basketball over the past six years, then you know things haven't been normal when it comes to basketball culture.
Wofford has named former player and current assistant Drew Gibson (Wofford '08) as the interim head coach effective immediately. Gibson played point guard for the Terriers and was a standout performer as a part of some of those foundational teams, which former legendary head coach Mike Young helped build the program into a SoCon and a regional mid-major power.
No reason for the firing was originally provided by the school, however, wide the news dam of news would ultimately break less than a week later, as sources close to the program spoke about the circumstances surrounding Perry's untimely dismissal. All echoing some version of the same story--that it had to do with misuse of NIL funds for off-campus housing for players, as well as having an on-campus meal plan, while living on-campus.
It was also alleged to have been brought to the attention to the administration by another athletic program's head coach, which put the Wofford compliance and athletic brass into crisis management mode.
After an alleged Board of Trustees Meeting, it was determined by both for Perry and top assistant Tysor Anderson be terminated. They had been on one week suspension from the program for an investigation into the situation
The news of Perry and Anderson's firings, however, would turn out to be just the tip of the iceberg, as more news would emerge six days later, when it was reported that six players had been ruled ineligible by Wofford for the 2025-26 season due to misuse of student-athlete benefits as well as the on-campus only meal plan and on-campus/off-campus housing and how rent was paid and allocated.
The players moved off campus according to the reports, which was paid for with NIL money, however, they kept an on-campus meal plan, which was against Wofford's bylaws. No NCAA infractions were incurred due to any misuse of NIL money and if there was any misuse of the revenue share, it was an athletic department law and not an NCAA bylaw.
No NCAA eligibility issues are at stake, as the central issue is a Wofford bylaw about student-athletes being required to live on campus to partake in the meal plan. Below is the originally reported story by Jeff Goodman of On3 and Field of 68.
Wofford Players Suspended by NCAA for Benefits as Low as $84 - On3
According to a tweet released by NCAA__PR later in the day, however, in contrast to the story on On3Sports, the players were not suspended by the NCAA. The pot is getting more bizarre.
It's one of the more unusual things you will ever see, however, Wofford is in jeopardy of not having a team in 2025-26. The SoCon's defending tournament champion and NCAA Tournament participant! The financial loss of not having a team, and perhaps even more the image of a program, could do irreparable damage for the future with the way things are trending currently in the two major sports in intercollegiate athletics.
The Terriers are the reigning Southern Conference Tournament champions, having qualified for the NCAA Tournament by virtue of becoming the first No. 6 seed to ever claim the Southern Conference title, when Wofford knocked off Furman, 92-85, in the Southern Conference Tournament Championship game last March to cut down the nets for a sixth time in program history and for the sixth time in the past 15 years.
Prior to knocking off Furman to win the title game, Wofford also posted an upset win over No. 3 East Tennessee State (W, 72-60) in the SoCon Quarterfinals before knocking off an upstart and No. 7 seeded VMI (W, 81-62) team that had become the Cinderella team of the 2025 SoCon Tournament in Asheville.
In the NCAA Tournament, the Terriers were competitive but overmatched against the No. 2 Volunteers, as Tennessee went on to a 77-62 opening round win in the NCAA Tournament in Lexington, KY. The game against the Vols provided a unique type of homecoming for Perry, as he returned to Rupp Arena as a coach.
Wofford and Perry in 2024-25
Perry has had to deal with some key departures ever since his first season as head coach, with much of that having to do with the fallout from the Jay McCauley era as the head coach, in which must have seemed more like a dictatorship rather than a coaching tenure under McCauley. Among the main issues was practice time, or too much practice time put in a different way.
Because of such a tumultuous situation, Perry lost two top performers, in forward All-SoCon forward BJ Mack and guard and SoCon Freshman of the Year Jackson Paveletzke heading into the 2023-24 season, and despite the tough situation, Perry was able to lead Wofford to a sixth-place finish.
For the first time in his short time as the head coach at Wofford, Perry was able to retain nearly all of his talent that he had from a previous season, and though the regular-season might have only shown a near-identical finish to last year’s finish, the patience paid off for guys like guards Corey Tripp (14.3 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 3.2 APG), Jackson Sivills (9.3 PPG, 3.8 RPG), guard Dillon Bailey (11.3 PPG, 2.5 RPG), forward Jeremy Lorenz (7.9 PPG, 3.8 RPG) and center Kyler Filewich (11.9 PPG, 9.4 RPG), who have stayed loyal to Perry and the Terrier program, despite opportunities to leave and go explore other options.
In an era when it would have been easy to just hop into the transfer portal to make a change, Wofford would return all but eight points from a year ago heading into the 2024-25 season. The eight returnees marked the most to return for Wofford from one season to the next since the 2021-22 campaign. The Terriers
As big as it was to retain nearly all that talent from last season, Wofford and Perry even had some adversity to deal with entering the 2024-25 season, with Wofford’s top sixth man—guard Chase Cormier (7.1 PPG, 1.8 RPG in 2023-24)—deciding to step away from the program and redshirt just prior to the season to enter the transfer portal, as well as a season-ending injury to Egyptian big man Belal El-Shakery (3.3 PPG, 4.1 RPG), who was lost just eight games into the season and was a player set to be one of the most improved big men in the league this season and was set to make a jump similar to that of Samford’s Achor Achor had he not has season end prematurely due to an injury.
So even though Wofford has turned its retention into ultimate success in Asheville, it’s been a team affected depth-wise in both the backcourt and frontcourt this season without those two key pieces, which could have really helped Wofford reach an even higher level this season should one or both been with the team this season.
The trio of Filewich, Tripp and Sivills have been with Perry every step of the way during his short time as the Wofford head coach, while he added Dillon Bailey prior to the start of last season after he transferred in from Division II Northeastern State in Arkansas. Bailey was added prior to the start of the 2023-24 season, while the Terriers and staff added one significant player from the transfer portal prior to this season, with Justin Bailey (9.6 PPG, 3.5 RPG) making the short transition from nearby USC Upstate to Wofford prior to this season. Justin Bailey, along with freshmen guard additions Kahmare Holmes (4.1 PPG, 2.0 RPG) and Luke Flynn (4.2 PPG, 2.9 RPG), have proven to be key cogs in the wheel for Wofford and a big reason they were able to break through and win the 2025 SoCon Tournament title.
By and large, though, it’s been loyalty and patience that offered their notable payoff over the course of three days in March, as Wofford was able to knock No. 3 off East Tennessee State (W, 72-60), No. 7 VMI (85-65), and No. 5 Furman (W, 92-85) en route to helping Wofford get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years. The Terriers became just the first No. 6 seed in the 105-year history of the SoCon Tournament to make the tournament title game as well as win it.
Wofford took on an extremely tough non-conference slate, which featured trips to NCAA Tournament teams Duke and Lipscomb, as well as games at CAA members Elon and College of Charleston and Atlantic 10 member Saint Louis, as well as a tricky home game against vastly improved North Alabama. Elon (CBI), Saint Louis (NIT), and North Alabama (NIT) will also be a part of the March festivities, with that trio set to take part in March Madness as a part of either the NIT or the CBI.
It could be argued that there was a significant shift to Wofford’s season after it went on the road and captured a 68-63 win at Saint Louis, and though Wofford seemed to get lost in the mix in the regular-season in what was a tough Southern Conference, they were never an opponent that could be counted out in Asheville, proving what many prognosticators of the league had said prior to the 2025 tournament, and that is any of six teams could win the title. Wofford entered the 105th SoCon Tournament as the No. 6 seed. The Terriers ended a streak of eight-straight SoCon regular-season champions to cut down the nets at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center.
Wofford Basketball 2019-2025/Tracing the Roots of Declining Culture
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| Former Wofford head coach Jay McAuley (2019-22) |
Knowing exactly where things went off the rails for Wofford is hard to put a finger on. Some might point back even to that magical run in 2018-19, which saw Wofford win 30 games and make an unprecedented run through a SoCon that, during that particular season, had as strong of a top four as it had ever had in the modern history of the league.
Even the likes of guys like Fletcher Magee, Cameron Jackson, and Nathan Hoover couldn't keep some of the news that there might be a few chinks in the armor upon the program that Mike Young had built within the SoCon, which was teflon tough and built to last.
However, the leadership at Wofford is a different story entirely. For starters, it was Young, which at the time as widely regarded as one of the top mid-major programs in the country, as well as being having one of the top mid-major coaches in the country, in Mike Young. His salary of a little over 150K per year certainly didn't match the prestige.
Something obviously seemed off about that alleged pay for Young, and that he was among the lowest paid coaches in the SoCon. After winning 30 games and taking the Terriers to their first-ever national ranking and NCAA Tournament, he was hired away by Virginia Tech where he makes a cool $3,000,000 per year. A far cry from the 150K was making at Wofford.
The man given the keys to the program after Young's departure would be Jay McAuley and he would end up leading the program for a little over three years before being fired on New Year's Eve of the 2022-23 season.
In McAuley's first season as the head coach, which was the 2019-20 season, things would go a little like this past season, although the Terriers wouldn't find themselves in the NCAA Tournament like the 2024-25 Terriers did.
Wofford ended up being disappointing in the regular-season with a 17-15 record, which included an 8-10 mark in Southern Conference play, which saw the Terriers lose their final seven games entering the Southern Conference Tournament. That pushed Wofford into seventh place in the league standings, which meant it would be forced to take on The Citadel in the play-in round of the tournament before facing off against arch-rival and No. 2 Furman in the quarterfinals.
The one advantage the game against The Citadel offered Wofford was the chance to have played a game, and the ability to rest some of their stars like Chevez Goodwin and Storm Murphy after building what was a healthy lead. The Terriers brushed aside The Citadel 93-76 for the opening round win.
In the following round against Furman, there was tension. This was not only a rivalry, but one that both Wofford head coach and top assistant--McAuley and Perry--had previously been assistants at Furman.
Meanwhile, Furman had hired former Terrier legend Tim Johnson, who was part of that well-built foundation established by Young and then spent several seasons on the sidelines as Young's assistant before moving on to James Madison for a season before being Perry's replacement at Furman.
McAuley and Perry won the night, as the Terriers dominated the paint and the glass en route to ending a good Furman team's season, knocking off the Paladins 77-68. After squeezing by Chattanooga, with a, 72-70, semifinal win, the Terriers finally met their match in the title game against another generational team, in Steve Forbes' East Tennessee State team, who won its 30th game of the season with a 72-58 title triumph.
McAuley's season, for all he had to replace and the legend he followed was considered a success. Although Wofford did not win the title, getting back to the championship game where they ran into a Bucs team that was just better could have been considered a success. Wofford finished 19-16, which equaled the record of the team from 2024-25.
Like almost every program in the league, the COVID-19 pandemic set Wofford back and with that, there were some players that decided to move on. Chevez Goodwin was the biggest loss, as he moved on to Southern Cal following McAuley's first season. No one really thought much of it at the time, however. That would be the one major loss for the Terriers moving into the 2020-21 season, with the only other one being Trevor Stumpe, who graduated.
High expectations were the order of the day coming into the 2020-21 season, with guys like Messiah Jones, Isaiah Bigelow, Storm Murphy and Ryan Larson back, and newcomers like BJ Mack, Max Klesmit and Sam Godwin expected to make an immediate impact.
The season would be shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and games were never a certainty. Still on percentage points, the McAuley-led Terriers would finish second in the standings with a 15-8 overall mark and a 12-5 league mark heading into the SoCon Tournament in Asheville.
The Terriers, however, would be snakebitten by being the No. 2 seed much like Furman had been the previous year. Mercer had a similar situation as Wofford had the previous season as the No. 7 seed, and the Bears would breeze past a struggling Samford team by 30 in their opening tournament game, and came into the tournament quarterfinal matchup with Wofford the crisper of the two teams.
In what was a defensive battle, the Terriers would find themselves trailing by as much as 19 points in the opening half, including facing a 17-point climb to overcome at the half, however, the Terriers would battle all the way back to take a 61-59 lead with 1:08 remaining on a pair of BJ Mack foul shots.
However, the next trip down would see Mercer's Neftali Alvarez convert a layup and foul shot to give the Bears the lead back, 62-61, and despite a couple of looks at the end for Tray Hollowell and Morgan Safford, the Bears held on for the one-point win, ending Wofford's season.
If the 2019-20 season had been a success, the 2020-21 season would have to have been considered a big disappointment. Despite the second-place finish, the opening-round loss was not up to Wofford's standard.
The major loss to the transfer portal was Storm Murphy, who transferred to Virginia Tech and ended up being a key cog in Mike Young's ACC Tournament title winning team in the 2021-22 campaign.
The 2021-22 season would see Wofford finish off a 19-13 season, which included a 10-8 mark in Southern Conference play, however, fell at the penultimate stage of the Southern Conference Tournament, with a 76-69 loss overall top seed and eventual champion Chattanooga. The Terriers would ultimately qualify for the postseason, making "The Basketball Classic" but the tournament plans were so wild that the Terriers ended up withdrawing from the "pay-your-own-way" tournament.
That should a bad omen or negative harbinger of things to come in the off-season, and it would ultimately end up being the beginning of the end for McAuley.
During the off-season, eight players would announce their desire to enter the transfer portal and vacate the program, with Max Klesmit (Wisconsin), Ryan Larson (College of Charleston), Isaiah Bigelow (Richmond), Morgan Safford (Miami OH), Sam Godwin (Oklahoma), Luke Turner (UC Riverside) and Austin Patterson (Sacramento State) all moving on.
True, the transfer portal era was just beginning to be a craze across college basketball, however, losing eight players like Wofford did during the off-season, including three in a matter of hours on the first day the portal opened signaled something bigger was going on rather than players looking to move for playing time or NIL etc.
Remember NIL was first put into place prior to the 2022-23 campaign. It actually had been true since the start of the 2021-22 season, as it was legalized to pay players on July 1, 2021. However, these eight Wofford players on the move were clearly not all in search of NIL.
Sticking around for the 2022-23 season would be a good core group, which featured BJ Mack, who would be entering his third season in the program since transferring in from South Florida. Others like Southern Illinois transfer Kyler Filewich, Virginia transfer guard Carson McCorkle, and Murray State transfer Jackson Sivills were brought in from the portal. Both Filewich and Sivills would end up forming the core of the most-recent Wofford championship run.
The Terriers also had a good, but young group in the backcourt, featuring another key cog of the most-recent tournament title team, in sophomore Corey Tripp, as well as a player, in Jackson Paveletzke, who would end up winning SoCon Freshman of the Year honors. Messiah Jones was potentially Wofford's best player but was coming back from a season-ending injury from a year earlier and ended up being more or less still being affected by that injury from the previous season.
Wofford's 2022-23 season saw it play a pair of SEC members--LSU and Vanderbilt--extremely well with chances to win both games, dropping a 78-75 contest at LSU and a 65-62 setback to Vanderbilt in Nashville. It's also alleged that after that Dec. 3 loss to Vanderbilt is where the problems started to surface. There were even rumors of practices having taken place after the late-night bus-trip home from Vanderbilt, although that cannot be confirmed. What can be confirmed is that there was something very wrong with Wofford basketball.
Following that game, McAuley would be suspended as the head coach and the Vanderbilt game would end up being his final game as the head coach of the Wofford basketball program.
Interim head coach Dwight Perry would be installed for Wofford's next game, which happened to be at home on Dec. 6, 2022, against Coastal Carolina. The Terriers, who got a combined 38 points from Paveletzke (20 pts) and BJ Mack (18 pts) held off the Sun Belt member, 71-61, at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
Following the big win over the Chanticleers at home, the Terriers would then get humbled with a 22-point loss on the road at Georgia Southern (L, 57-79) before breezing past non-Division I Montreat, 107-65 at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
The biggest moment early in Perry's short tenure as the head coach of Wofford would come when Wofford went on the road and into SEC country, where Wofford would end up garnering a huge 67-62 win over NCAA Tournament bound Texas A&M. Of his 48 wins in charge of the program, the win over the Aggies for obvious reasons would be one of the biggest of his 48 wins in charge of the Wofford basketball program.
Paveletzke would go on to make some clutch free throws down the stretch to clinch the win, as the emotional team and coach celebrated one of the bigger power conference regular season wins in recent memory. The star freshman guard Paveletzke would lead the Terriers with 22 points in 34 minutes of action, while BJ Mack added 10 points and four rebounds, as that duo was the only two Terriers to finish out the win over the Aggies in double figures.
The win had given Wofford heading into the Christmas Break, as the Terriers would improve to 8-5 overall on the season.
The conference season would see the Terriers involved in a slew of close games, and it would start with the SoCon opener at home against East Tennessee State, while the Terriers would drop by the narrow margin of 73-71. The loss to the Bucs would be part of an 0-2 start to league play, as Wofford lost the back half of that home double-header to open SoCon play, with a 73-64 setback to the UNC Greensboro Spartans.
Wofford would have to wait on its next outing against Mercer on the road at Hawkins Arena to come up with the first win of league play under the direction of Perry, and that win would come in rather dramatic fashion, as Jackson Paveletzke went on to connect on a baby jumper just inside the free throw stripe, as the Terriers would hold off the Bears, 53-52.
The win over the Mercer would be the first of what would turn out to be eight SoCon wins, as the Terriers would go on to an 8-10 finish in league play to match the record that Jay McAuley had during his first season as the head coach of the Terriers back during the 2019-20 season, however, instead of finishing seventh in the SoCon standings like McAuley's first team would when he was in charge, the Terriers would squeeze into that No. 6 spot in the league standings, as they set themselves to head to Asheville for the 2023 Southern Conference Tournament.
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| Wofford guard Jackson Paveletzke (photo courtesy of Wofford athletics) |
As the No. 6 seed, the Terriers would open the tournament against a UNC Greensboro team that had defeated the Terriers twice during the regular season, winning by nine in Spartanburg and then the Spartans held on for a 97-89 overtime win over Wofford in the meeting at the Greensboro Coliseum in early February.
In what was one of the most thrilling games of the 2023 Southern Conference Tournament, Wofford would knock off No. 3 seed UNC Greensboro, 67-66, on a BJ Mack layup at the buzzer on a beautifully-designed play by Perry off a timeout.
It was coaching that had played a key role down the stretch in getting the upset win in the SoCon Tournament over the Spartans, as a timeout taken at mid-court gave a more favorable court position to set up Mack's game-winning layup, which banked in high off the glass before coming down through the hoop for the one-point Wofford win.
The Terriers were led in scoring in the win by Mack’s 16 points, while Paveletzke and Messiah Jones added 14 points apiece. Wofford connected on 45.2% (28-of-62) from the field, which included a just a 19.0% (4 of-21) effort from three-point range.
In the semifinals, the Terriers squared off against defending champion Chattanooga, who Wofford beat twice during the regular-season.
The game, however, would see Chattanooga seemingly the fresher and more energetic team throughout the game, and the Mocs would end up holding off Wofford to get the 74-62 win to move on to the championship game to meet Furman.
While there would be some players that would exit for perceived broader horizons, one of the last hires that Director of Athletics Richard Johnson would be responsible for making was Perry, as the interim tag was removed shortly after the season and Perry was installed as Wofford's full-time head coach for the foreseeable future.
Johnson announced his retirement on Sept. 13, 2023, which was a couple of months prior to the start of the basketball season. It is almost a strange coincidence that almost two years to the day after Johnson's immediate retirement as Director of Athletics that Perry would be relieved of his duties originally given to him by Johnson, as Perry would be fired on Sept. 12, 2025.
With the end of the season, came another exodus for Wofford players. BJ Mack headed to South Carolina, while Jackson Paveletzke opted to move on to Iowa State.
Messiah Jones, who like Mack had another year eligibility, moved on to become a Towson Tiger. Also gone from the 2022-23 roster are guard Adam Silas and forward Amarri Trice. Forward Kyler Filewich, guard Jackson Sivills, guard Carson McCorkle, guard Corey Tripp, and guard Anthony Arrington Jr. are returned for the 2023-24 season.
Perry and staff also went out and signed some decent additions to help supplement the returning talent, bringing in Northeastern transfer Chase Cormier in the backcourt. At Northeastern, Cormier saw action in 24 games, making four starts and scored 104 points, averaging 3.6 PPG during his freshman campaign with the Huskies.
Also, the Terriers added Dillion Bailey from Northeastern State in the backcourt. The NCAA Division II transfer would end up playing a major role in Wofford's sixth SoCon championship-winning team in the 2024-25 season. Rounding out the newcomers that Perry brought in as a part of his first recruiting class were 6-8 forward Belal El Shakery and 6-0 guard Quentin Meza.
The pieces appeared to be in place for another solid season in 2023-24, despite losing both Mack and 2023 SoCon Freshman of the Year Jackson Paveletzke, and then losing guard Carson McCorkle unexpectedly late in the summer due to a personal decision.
The 2023-24 season would see Wofford start to build a new identity of toughness under Perry and new assistant coach Tysor Anderson, who had been added to the staff during the off-season.
Anderson had a great link to basketball greatness, as he was the grandson of former Davidson and Maryland coaching legend, in Charles "Lefty" Driesell. Anderson had spent time working his way up the coaching ladder, with his most recent position prior to Wofford he held as an assistant at Jacksonville State.
Wofford would show minimal improvement in Perry's first official season as the head coach of the Terriers, matching the win total of the 2022-23 team, with 17 victories, however, the Terriers would fare better in conference play, improving by two games in the win column, garnering a No. 6 seed once again in the tournament. The Terriers would bomb out in the Southern Conference Tournament, losing their opening game in the quarterfinals with a 72-58 loss to the Chattanooga Mocs.
The 2024-25 season saw the Terriers entered the campaign with the second-highest KenPom ranking coming into the season, coming into the campaign at 110. Wofford would end up finishing out the season at 114.
Just prior to the season, it was announced there would be several minor level violations involving practice time that Wofford would be penalized from the short stint under Jay McAuley, however, there was no postseason ban or scholarship reductions. It certainly wasn't enough to derail any championship aspirations.
It could be said that the Terriers underachieved during the 2024-25 regular-season, however, as you know in a league like the SoCon, which has somehow never garnered more than one bid to the NCAA Tournament, the regular-season doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, especially if you break through and win the tournament.
Towards the end of non-conference play, the Terriers went on the road and were able to get a 74-71 win over Atlantic 10 member Saint Louis, which would turn out to be one of the best wins of the season for Wofford and would end up giving the team the type of confidence they could lean on as the season moved forward.
In one way, it was apparent the Terriers had the most experience in the Southern Conference, and that was because the Terriers almost played better on the road during the 2024-25 season than it did at home. The Terriers went 8-8 on the road, while posting a 7-6 record in home games.
Wofford had played well early in SoCon play, getting road wins at both East Tennessee State (W, 81-78) and at arch-rival Furman (W, 81-62), as the Terriers handed the Paladins one of their worst home losses in recent memory. The Terriers also posted what was a 77-69 home win over Western Carolina at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
While it was a strong start to league play by winning three of their first four league games, which included a three-game winning streak, it would be the last time the Terriers would string three-straight wins together until the Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville.
With a 78-75 home loss on Senior Day to close out the regular-season to Furman, it meant the Terriers would head to the postseason as the No. 6 seed, and despite not being in great form entering the postseason tournament, the Terriers knew they had the talent and experience to win the tournament when they arrived in Asheville. Plus, it was arguably the most competitive league season in its tradition-rich history.
In the opening game, the Terriers took down No. 3 East Tennessee State, 72-60, before meeting up with No. 7 seed VMI in the SoCon semifinals. Like Wofford, VMI had been a bit of a surprise package in the 2025 tournament, as the Keydets took down No. 10 The Citadel (W, 73-62) and No. 2 UNC Greensboro (W, 64-57) to reach the semifinal clash against Wofford.
The Terriers and Keydets had split the two regular-season meetings, but Wofford got the better of VMI in Asheville, posting their second-straight win over the Keydets, with an 85-65 win over VMI to reach the championship game for the first time since the 2020 Tournament.
Wofford, which was 5-1 in championship games, with all five title wins notched by former legendary head coach and current Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young. In the championship game, head coach Dwight Perry's men would face an old rival, in No. 5 seed Furman, which had reached the championship game by virtue of wins over No. 4 Samford (W, 95-78) and No. 1 Chattanooga (W, 80-77 OT).
The Paladins, which had snapped a 43-year NCAA Tournament drought with an 88-79 win over Chattanooga a couple of years earlier, were playing in the championship for the third time in four years and entered with 25 wins for the season.
The Terriers and Paladins would play an epic, with the basketball of the highest quality, but at the end of it, Wofford's experience would matter when it went up against a pretty veteran Furman team, although the Paladins lacked the experienced depth in some areas, and that's where Wofford would make it the advantage it entered the 2024-25 season when compared to the rest of the league count the most, out-scoring Furman 13-2 in the final 2:43 of the game to capture the program's sixth Southern Conference title with a 92-85 win over Furman, as the Terriers overturned a late four-point lead by the Paladins (83-79) to emphatically rip the title out of the grasp of the Paladins.
It would mark the first time in SoCon Tournament history that the No. 5 and No. 6 seeds have met in the championship game, and it would mark the first time in the history of college basketball's oldest postseason conference tournament would have a No. 6 seed lift the championship trophy.
In the NCAA Tournament, Perry's Terriers would end up garnering a No. 15 seed and would have to face off against Tennessee in Lexington in the opening round, and though the Terriers were pesky, they would end up being overpowered by the bigger and more powerful Volunteers, who finished off the Terriers, 77-62.
Jackson Sivills, Corey Tripp, Kyler Filewich, Anthony Arrington Jr., Dillion Bailey, Justin Bailey, and Jeremy Lorenz added the kind of experience and talent that would ultimately allow the Terriers to have the type off success in the championship game and especially down the stretch in that win. It was the ultimately collection of winning talent, which helped Wofford finish the season in its desired destination.
All the players mentioned above have now departed the Wofford program, however, and that's what made this off-season in particular especially important for head coach Dwight Perry and staff, as they look to go about replacing that talent lost to either graduation or the transfer portal.
Both Jeremy Lorenz and Justin Bailey moved on after the season, as did forward Belal El-Shakery, who spent most of the season injured and opted to transfer out at season's end, even after the Terriers were able to achieve the ultimate goal of winning the tournament title. Anthony Arrington Jr. and Don Douglass were two others that decided to enter the portal.
Lorenz, a 6-9 forward, ended up transferring out to join Depaul's basketball program for the 2025-26 season, while Justin Bailey will be suiting up for the Georgia Bulldogs next season.
All told, Wofford was already going to have to replace five of its six top scorers from last season's championship run. Now, with so much in flux, it remains even a question as to whether the Terriers will even be able to have a team.
Concluding Thoughts
To me, Wofford is a great example of what can happen when the communication levels aren't clearly established all the way down the chain of command. Do I think this is a bit harsh by the Wofford administration and the NCAA? Absolutely!
However, I do know that there was a breakdown somewhere. I think a suspension to the coaches would have sufficed more than a firing. Also, the players are the ones that end up being the ones left out in the cold and that is the most unfortunate aspect of the entire situation.
Since Mike Young left following the 2018-19 season, Wofford has posted a 106-98 overall record, including a 58-49 record in Southern Conference play and one SoCon Tournament title. In the six seasons prior under Mike Young, the Terriers posted a 130-72 overall record, including a 77-29 record in league play and three conference tournament titles.
The equation for Wofford is a rather simple one. Changing the culture may require doing more than just firing basketball coaches. It may require a complete overhaul of the athletic leadership, which is seemingly something that has happened far too often lately.
If I might make a suggestion to Wofford's current administration. I think bringing Mike Young back in the future is the right call if things should not go well at Virginia Tech. It just so happens as fate would have it, the Terriers and Virginia Tech Hokies do battle on the football gridiron in less than 48 hours. It would be a good time to potentially broach some hypotheticals if possible.
I think Young's leadership would be valued as the Director of Athletics and installing a Wofford guy as head coach, whether it be Drew Gibson, Kevin Giltner, or Tim Johnson--all of which were part of Wofford's foundational success.