Calkins: Rick Stansbury is the latest to go — and the chaos is not ideal.
Three members of Tigers head basketball coach Penny Hardaway’s coaching staff have been let go from the program. (Michael Conroy/AP file)
Geoff Calkins
Geoff Calkins has been chronicling Memphis and Memphis sports for more than two decades. He is host of "The Geoff Calkins Show" from 9-11 a.m. M-F on 92.9 FM. Calkins has been named the best sports columnist in the country five times by the Associated Press sports editors, but still figures his best columns are about the people who make Memphis what it is.
The timing is not ideal?
Hahahaha.
That’s putting it nicely.
The timing is not ideal.
Multiple Memphis basketball staff members no longer with program
That’s what Penny Hardaway’s statement said about his decision to fire Rick Stansbury and three others ahead of the new basketball season.
The timing is not ideal.
Put it on a T-shirt. Make it a campus theme.
If a student is late for class, he or she can blame it on a passing train and say (altogether now!), “The timing was not ideal.”
But there’s no doubting the truth of the statement. It is certainly not ideal to survive a tumultuous offseason, to make sweeping changes in the staff, to bring back just a single scholarship player and then, just weeks before the season begins, to fire four MORE staff members, including your top assistant and recruiter.
That’s what Hardaway did Tuesday during one of the wildest days of his tenure at Memphis. This was right up there with getting an injunction so James Wiseman could play. This was right up there with telling Tennessee coach Rick Barnes to get the bleep out of here.
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Penny Hardaway Memphis basketball Memphis Tigers Ed Scott Subscriber OnlyThank you for supporting local journalism.
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