Penny Hardaway: New Job. old Stomping Grounds
When I hear the name Penny Hardaway many things come to my mind. I remember the All-Star and All-NBA performer with the Orlando Magic. I remember his extremely popular Nike campaign featuring “Lil Penny” that came on damn near everyday during my teenage years. The one thing I think about with Penny is the “what if” factor… What if he never got hurt? Would he have fulfilled his enormous potential and eventually become the second coming of Magic Johnson that everyone saw him as? If he never got hurt would he have won a championship at some point in his career? With all of the doubt that surrounds his career, he still left us with a lot of memories and in retirement he has been doing more of the same.
Penny retired from the NBA in 2007 after a fifteen year career (with four teams) and like many former players he figured he would go the TV route and talk basketball but that did not materialize. He decided to kick back and enjoy life, travel and do the things that you’re not able to do when you are an NBA Player. He enjoyed doing nothing for four years or so and then he received an unexpected phone call from childhood friend Desmond Merriweather who asked him about getting involved in an alumni game at their old middle school Lester Middle School. According to Hardaway- “I went in two days later and after that the rest is history”.
AUBURN HILLS, MI – JUNE 30: In a draft night deal, Orlando acquired Penny Hardaway and three future first round picks (1996, 1998, 2000) from Golden State in exchange for Chris Webber. Copyright 1993 NBAE (Photo by Lou Capozzola/NBAE via Getty Images)
Penny became an assistant coach under Merriweather at the middle school the following fall. After a handful of games into the season he took over the program as the head coach was battling colon cancer. The chemo weakened him and of course he couldn’t sit on the bench anymore because he was zapped of all of his energy, which is why Hardaway took over. He had a successful stint at Lester coaching with his friend and they had success winning three consecutive titles. After their time was done at the school, Hardaway stepped away to spend more time with his children and Desmond Merriweather moved on to take over the reigns at Memphis East High School.
Penny Hardaway enjoying good times with childhood friend Desmond Merriweather. Meriweather lost his battle with Cancer in 2015 and Hardaway has been coaching in his memory ever since. Photo TheUndefeated.com
Things changed on February 8, 2015 when Desmond Merriweather passed away after his battle with Colon Cancer. The following fall Penny stepped in full time to coach the Memphis East team. He picked up the torch and agreed to carry on his friends vision. To say he was successful as a head coach is an understatement. He had one goal in mind from the start and that goal was to win a State Championship. Not only did he do that, he ended up winning three consecutive championships. All three of his teams were ranked nationally with his 2016-2017 finishing #2 in the USA Today poll. This years team finished 4th in the nation. In his six seasons as a head coach (three at Lester Middle School and three at Memphis East) Hardaway has won six state titles and has lifted Memphis East into one of the best High School teams in all of America.
Hardaway has found a passion for coaching. He loves to pass on knowledge of the game and absolutely loved teaching kids. Photo slamonline
Penny is now moving on to his biggest coaching challenge to date; turning the University of Memphis back into a National Power and getting the fan base excited about what is to come. He is replacing veteran coach Tubby Smith who failed to make the tournament in his two years at the school. The fan base started to decline. Many people have expressed some doubt as to whether or not he can withstand the grind as a college coach (and if he even deserves the job in the first place) but this isn’t a move that was made because of who he is, this man can actually coach the game. He not only built his high school team into a national power but he also started a Team Penny AAU team and built it up to be one of the strongest on the Nike EYBL circuit, so he has put in the work and can really coach. The collegiate te level is very different than high school so of course there will be some obstacles that get in the way. He will surround himself with top level assistants, which will help his transition. He is supposedly going after Hall of Famer Larry Brown, Kentucky Assistant Coach Tony Barbee and former Memphis Teammate Tony Madlock to join his staff.
Hardaway was named the new head coach replacing veteran coach Tubby Smith. He looks to hit the ground running and should be a great fit for the Tigers. Photo WKM.com
Seeing Penny on the sidelines will be different for me because I am so used to him running up and down the court as a point guard but there is no doubt in my mind that he will be just as successful at the University of Memphis as he was at Memphis East. There will be a lot of work that needs to get put into this in order to build the program back up to where it once was, but if there is one thing that I have learned about Penny is that he will put in the necessary work and he will get the job done. I know recruiting will be different but he can definitely score a few big recruits who will want to learn under his tutelage. Once that occurs the sky is the limit for Coach Hardaway and his Memphis program.