Tigers Talk: What the future holds for Penny Hardaway at Memphis
Memphis coach Penny Hardaway reacts against Wichita State during the second half at FedExForum on Feb. 26. (Wes Hale/Special to The Daily Memphian)
Welcome to this edition of Tigers Talk with The Daily Memphian’s Tigers basketball beat writer Parth Upadhyaya and college sports columnist John Martin.
Periodically throughout Memphis’ season and into the offseason, Upadhyaya and Martin will answer the most pressing questions surrounding the Tigers’ upcoming matchups, season-long storylines and more.
Whether it’s based on conversations you’ve had with those in and around the Memphis program or your gut feeling, do you believe Penny Hardaway will be the Tigers’ coach next year? Should he be?
Parth Upadhyaya: From a combination of observing while being around the team, chatting with people behind the scenes and my own read on the situation, it seems as if the only way Penny Hardaway wouldn’t be back next season is he didn’t want to be. And from seeing Hardaway’s display of emotion after a game against South Florida in Tampa earlier this month to listening to the comments he’s made on his weekly radio show, he’s shown every indication he’s still as invested as ever.
I don’t think Ed Scott wants to be the athletic director to fire Hardaway, one of the most beloved and famous Memphians of all time, only a season after he won 29 games and clinched a No. 5 NCAA Tournament seed. Sure, other storied programs have fired legendary alums, like Michigan with Juwan Howard or Patrick Ewing at Georgetown. But we all know it’s different with Memphis and Hardaway. What he means to this city and university is impossible to quantify. It makes sense Scott would want to give Hardaway one more chance to get it right.
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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.
John Martin
John Martin is a contributing college sports columnist for The Daily Memphian. Martin is a lifelong Memphian who’s covered the Memphis Tigers’ basketball program for more than a decade. Before joining The Daily Memphian team, he was the Memphis beat writer for The Athletic. Currently, he is the co-host of the Jason and John Show on 92.9 FM ESPN, weekdays at 11 a.m. Martin is a graduate of White Station High School and the University of Memphis.
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