How Penny Hardaway rediscovered himself in a trying offseason
University of Memphis head basketball coach Penny Hardaway (in a file photo) talked about his offseason isolation Sunday during the American Athletic Conference Media Days at Texas’ Westin Irving Convention Center. “It was some self-reflecting on what I need to do better.” (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)
IRVING, Texas — When the dust settled on a season that had gone off the rails, Penny Hardaway isolated himself.
The Memphis Tigers men’s basketball coach who’s lived in the spotlight for the vast majority of his 53 years of life was now actively avoiding it.
In the months following a 2023-24 season that saw the Tigers go 22-10 and miss the NCAA Tournament, Hardaway rarely made himself available to reporters. He kept his comments brief. He even at one point, according to a media liaison at a charity golf event, refused to answer “basketball questions.”
This is the same person who’s arguably Memphis’ favorite son — the same person the city just about threw a parade for when he took over as the Tigers’ coach in March 2018. But, this offseason, Hardaway had no interest in speaking or appearing publicly.
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Parth Upadhyaya
Parth Upadhyaya covers the Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team. A Raleigh, N.C., native and a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Media and Journalism, Upadhyaya is a longtime college hoops junkie. Prior to joining The Daily Memphian in 2022, he covered high school sports in western Pennsylvania for the Beaver County Times and Penn State football for the Centre Daily Times.
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