Bryant, South Shore looking ahead

Former Marshall boys basketball coach Lamont Bryant settled his wrongful-termination lawsuit against the Chicago Public Schools for $500,000 on Wednesday, but that doesn’t mean he’s going away to count his cash.

Today Bryant is head coach at South Shore and has guided the Tars to a 13-2 record, good enough to get his Blue Division team a place in the city championship tournament.

‘‘This is history here what I’m doing,’’ Bryant said Thursday. ‘‘Everywhere I go, nobody believes. It took a long time for these kids to get used to me. They were 14-15 last year. I’m kind of crazy, so it takes time to buy into my system.’’

In his suit, Bryant claimed he was wrongfully fired from Marshall before the 2007-2008 season after coaching the Commandos for four years. He sued Marshall principal Juan Gardner, athletic director Dorothy Gaters and the board of education. Gaters had no comment.

Bryant said the suit was never a distraction for his new team.

‘‘They were happy for me when they heard the result,’’ Bryant said. ‘‘They teased me a lot. But we never talked about it during the season.’’

South Shore is playing the same up-tempo, pressure style that became Bryant’s trademark at Young and Marshall. Leading the way for the Tars are three guards: seniors Akeem Nathaniel and Donte Oakley and sophomore Marcus Stevens.’’

‘‘I told them that the lawsuit isn’t about money,’’ Bryant said. ‘‘I would give up all the money in the world to win a city and a state title. I still have not won a state title. I have to do that before I hang up my hats and my boots.’’

It has been a different season for Bryant. His team hasn’t had a game covered by a newspaper all year.

‘‘It’s been about love,’’ Bryant said. ‘‘It’s not like at Young or Marshall. The media coverage wasn’t on us. We’ve been winning games that no one pays any attention to.’’