Parrish: Memphis looking at Penny Hardaway for next head coach

[tcf15]

Memphis officials seriously considering Penny Hardaway to replace Tubby Smith

Fire Tubby and bring in Penny and Larry Brown.

Also, this little note that kind of parallels UConn's current situation:

Smith is only in his second season at Memphis. So buying him out this quickly would be unusual and expensive. In fact, it would cost $9.75 million. But the administration has determined that keeping Smith might cost more in multiple ways, a source told CBS Sports.

 

[Stainmaster]

Gotta love that FedEx money.

 

[Robertelamin]

That seems incredibly risky.

 

[tykurez]

Still my favorite shoe of all time, followed by the Penny II and the Jordan 11. I remember getting these in 8th grade and sleeping with them next to me.

 

[Drew]

He coaches a TON of top high school kids in the area at Memphis East right now. There was a really nice article on him written on TheAthletic in February. I think he will do well. He’ll certainly recruit the players to do so

 

[Robertelamin]

He coaches a TON of top high school kids in the area at Memphis East right now. There was a really nice article on him written on TheAthletic in February. I think he will do well. He’ll certainly recruit the players to do so

I've always liked Penny but I can't remember a head coach coming directly from high school with no college coaching experience. I'm sure it happens occasionally at the low major level but not at a program like Memphis.

 

[Drew]

I've always liked Penny but I can't remember a head coach coming directly from high school with no college coaching experience. I'm sure it happens occasionally at the low major level but not at a program like Memphis.

He could do what Fred Hoiberg did at Iowa State and essentially just recruit while someone else (Larry Brown) does the in game coaching. With the amount of top 50 kids he’ll pull to Memphis he won’t even have to be a tremendous coach to be consistently in the NCAA tournament

 

[ZenConn]

New bench coach included.

 

[don356]

Larry Finch II.

 

[A10 fan]

I've always liked Penny but I can't remember a head coach coming directly from high school with no college coaching experience. I'm sure it happens occasionally at the low major level but not at a program like Memphis.

Bob Wade = FAIL
John Thompson = SUCCESS

 

[A10 fan]

He could do what Fred Hoiberg did at Iowa State and essentially just recruit while someone else (Larry Brown) does the in game coaching. With the amount of top 50 kids he’ll pull to Memphis he won’t even have to be a tremendous coach to be consistently in the NCAA tournament

Can they just demote Tubby to assistant, and let him coach the players Penny brings in? Just joking, Tubby's a very solid coach, but he can't recruit a lick.

 

[CL82]

Hmm would KO get a job on that staff?

 

[Robertelamin]

Bob Wade = FAIL
John Thompson = SUCCESS

So Maryland tried to copy Georgetown and failed? I find that pretty funny since the programs have have historically hated each other.

 

[Paesano]

How could they fire Tubby? Don't they know he won a national championship? Who are they going to get that can say the same thing?

 

[Robertelamin]

I just went to Tubby's wiki page and under his picture it says "perennial hard worker" haha

 

[A10 fan]

So Maryland tried to copy Georgetown and failed? I find that pretty funny since the programs have have historically hated each other.

The big difference was that Maryland was an established program, with lots of recent history when they hired Wade. Georgetown was a garbage program, and one who was not one of the Catholic powers during the independent era. Thus Georgetown could afford to gamble, they could hardly have become any more irrelevant than they were in the early 70s. Maryland, on the other hand, took a huge gamble. They would have had little trouble landing an experienced college coach, but basically took the same gamble that Notre Dame did with Gerry Faust.

 

[Kemba429]

Still my favorite shoe of all time, followed by the Penny II and the Jordan 11. I remember getting these in 8th grade and sleeping with them next to me.

11s my fav too, just snagged the win like 96

 

[Kemba429]

How could they fire Tubby? Don't they know he won a national championship? Who are they going to get that can say the same thing?

Kevin Ollie

 

[StunningSteve]

If there was ever a time for Memphis to hire Penny, its now... before the epitaph is written on Ewing and Mullins college coaching careers.

As if Drexler wasnt a big enough cautionary tale.

 

[Paesano]

Kevin Ollie

Nah, he will have offers from P5 schools.

 

[metsfan2323]

So Memphis, Temple, and UCONN might all have new coaches next year. Amazing how the three best "basketball schools" have stunk yet the league is still pretty good.

This becomes a great league if all three start winning.

 

[djct1999]

The new blaze strategy: KO head coach, Rick Pitino head assistant, Chill head of recruiting.

 

[Pudge]

This Memphis thinking stinks ... but they would go from 6000 attendance to 12,000 immediately + better booster giving.

That’s why it’ll happen.

 

[UofCT]

Derrick Rose would be lead recruiter

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Tubby only gets two seasons? At first glance, I was surprised but then again six players transferred out in April of last year and more could do the same this year.

Here's a Tubby quote re: the increase of transferring in the D1 level:

"Kids have a lot of options nowadays with the new NCAA regulations, guys can transfer whenever they want," Smith said on Sunday after his team's win over East Carolina. "I've been in this business a long time, never seen anything like it. We had over 800 Division I players transfer last year. We're teaching them how to quit. That's what we're doing. Things not going well, let's quit."

Well, things must not be going well, because there is a lot of "quitting" in that program.

Memphis coach Tubby Smith: Allowing transfers teaches players 'how to quit'