They posted the photo on social media, a photo to set Memphis hearts aflame.

It was a shot of Penny Hardaway and Mike Miller on a private jet, heading off to the 2018 Peach Jam basketball tournament, where together they would conquer the basketball world.

Mike Miller steps down as Memphis assistant coach

What high school kid could resist the combination? Two charismatic players with 34 years of NBA experience between them and a shared desire to teach the next generation everything they had learned.

They would revolutionize college recruiting. They would lead Memphis back to the Final Four.

Or, at least, that was the idea.

Two years later, Miller announced Wednesday he was resigning his job as a Memphis Tiger assistant to spend more time with his family and to try his hand at something else. 

That Final Four trip is up to Hardaway alone.

OK, not alone, not exactly. Hardaway still has Tony Madlock and Cody Toppert on his staff. And he’ll now have the chance to go out and hire a killer recruiter, which is the program’s clearest need.

Calkins: Lance Thomas may choose to sit for the national anthem — and it’s not hard to understand why

Miller brought a lot of things to the job as an assistant. He’s a gifted tactician and a beloved civic ambassador. But his biggest impact at Memphis was as a recruiter, a guy who would team with Hardaway to give players something they couldn’t find anywhere else.

“The way we want to play, the things we want to do, the players we want to recruit, there is no better place in the world to go and learn than Memphis,” Miller told me, not long after he was hired. “I honestly don’t think there is a better place in the country to go if the NBA is your actual goal.”

That pitch produced the No. 1 recruiting class in the country. Miller was a big part of it. Although the Memphis staff doesn’t identify which coaches worked with which recruits — preferring to say it’s all a team effort — it’s common knowledge that Miller was the lead recruiter on Precious Achiuwa, Lester Quinones and Boogie Ellis.

High school sports unite our community, and we’re here to tell you about it

Miller didn’t get every big-time recruit he targeted during his time at Memphis. R.J. Hampton, Trendon Watford, Jalen Green and Greg Brown all wound up going someplace else. But Miller is the reason Memphis was involved with all four players to the disappointing end.

So it’s a blow that Miller is leaving the program, if entirely understandable. Who hasn’t reevaluated his or her life during the COVID-19 pandemic? It’s remarkable Miller — who made $93 million during his NBA career — ever chose to live the grinding life of an assistant coach in the first place. 

But that doesn’t make things any easier for Hardaway, whose challenges keep stacking up.

He is losing his best player (Achiuwa) to the NBA and another (Tyler Harris) to Iowa State.

His recruiting class consists of exactly one junior college player (Ahmad Rand) and two transfers (Landers Nolley and DeAndre Williams) who may have to sit out a year before they play.

Coach Penny Hardaway’s NBA experience has Tigers involved with Mac McClung

The program is facing possible major sanctions under the NCAA’s new Independent Resolution Process.

And now Hardaway has to replace his best recruiter and most recognizable assistant.

In the midst of a pandemic when money is going to be tight. 

So knock yourself out, Coach!

The good news is that Hardaway is not the sort to give in to any of this. If anything, he’ll likely want to prove he can succeed despite it all. The man has never lacked for fire or determination. And it’s not like Hardaway depended on Miller’s charisma or celebrity to connect with players. He has plenty of his own.

But it won’t be Hardaway and Miller flying off to conquer the basketball universe. That photo was but a summertime dream. 

Miller has decided to do something else with his life.

Penny, it’s all up to you.