1993 penny Hardawaythe Pyramid Arena Memphistn Gold Coin Art
Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway wants to see fans back in the stands at basketball games to cheer on his alma mater, the Academy of Memphis. And that's ane of his goals as the new caput coach of the team, every bit he explained after addressing hundreds of attendees at Tuesday'due south news conference in Memphis, Tennessee.
"The urban center raised me," Hardaway told The Undefeated. "I've been very successful at basketball, and everything I practise, I do it for the urban center, and I'm just excited to exist in this position. I look forward to the fans coming back to the FedExForum, packing the house like we did in the Coliseum and in the Pyramid. I'm looking forrard to those days coming back. I'thou excited. I hope that everybody'southward riding the waves, and I promise that I can put Memphis back on the map."
The Mid-S Coliseum was home to the Tigers from 1966-91. The team moved to The Memphis Pyramid once it was congenital. It remained the home of Tigers basketball from 1991 until 2004, when the FedExForum opened.
Hardaway assumed the position vacated past Tubby Smith on the cusp of a three-peat victory with his East Loftier School Mustangs. As the high school's head coach, the NBA legend and local Memphis icon won his third directly state title (2016, 2017 and 2018) in Murfreesboro on March 17 at the Class AAA State Championship game. Hardaway focused on his squad's competition, never confirming plans to take on a new role until the school's announcement on Monday.
Memphis Tigers cheerleaders handed out souvenirs celebrating their new head coach at a news conference and rally announcing Penny Hardaway'due south new office for the University of Memphis men'southward basketball squad.
For many fans, Hardaway has returned domicile — a identify he holds dear to his centre. Information technology's the same place where his hoop dreams became a reality that thrust him into NBA stardom, a identify where fans cheered him on, teammates urged him to play harder and his former jitney, the late Larry Finch, who was also once a player at the then-Memphis State University, believed that he would do neat things in life.
For Hardaway, his task equally Memphis' new head passenger vehicle is divine intervention.
"God ordained this whole process into being what it is today …," Hardaway said. "I believe in all of that. The timing is perfect correct now. The city needs information technology, and the city is responding. I experience great."
Hardaway has a high level of respect for Smith and his coaching history. Smith's two-season stint ended in his firing afterwards endmost out the 2017-18 flavor with a declining omnipresence for the 6th straight yr, ultimately contributing to the need for a new program. The announced average was 6,211 fans through xviii home games toward the close of the 2017-18 flavor at the FedExForum, which holds eighteen,119.
According to The Commercial Entreatment, the school averaged more than than sixteen,000 fans and ranked among the top 10 in the country in average attendance only iv years ago. During sometime bus Josh Pastner's final flavor, the announced team average was 12,028 (2015-16).
Hardaway'due south success with Team Penny, his AAU programme, gives him exemplary knowledge of new recruits and their talents. Although he has no college coaching experience, his passion for basketball lends a level of confidence for a hopeful resurgence of the Memphis basketball programme.
Penny Hardaway hugs Vickie Finch, the widow of quondam University of Memphis actor and head bus Larry Finch, afterward a news conference and rally announcing Hardaway's new function equally head coach for the University of Memphis men's basketball game team.
Hardaway said the hardest role of his upcoming journey is learning the NCAA rules and regulations.
"I have to make sure I don't accept whatever infractions or break any rules," Hardaway said. "I accept my compliance people on speed dial to make certain. I remember that volition be the hardest office. I'grand focused, and there are so many rules and regulations."
Hardaway is the university'south 19th coach and the 3rd Tiger alum named head coach for the programme, subsequently Wayne Yates (1974-79) and Finch (1986-97).
Elliot Perry, Hardaway'due south friend and old Tigers player and director of thespian back up for the Memphis Grizzlies, thinks this is one of the biggest hires the programme has made in its history.
"I'1000 in dearest with the rent," Perry said. "I played for Coach Finch, one of the all-time players to e'er play there. And the touch that he made and how much he poured into my life he's poured into Penny'due south life too, and Penny volition exercise the aforementioned thing for his players. You lot're talking about a guy who played high school here and played in higher at Memphis. [He's] certainly ane of the best players to e'er play in our program, and at present he'southward the head omnibus. He will run the program, orchestrate the program, curate the programme like it's his own kid. That'south why it'due south so pregnant."
Hardaway told the crowd of more than than 100 at the news conference that his passion for Memphis basketball is what encouraged him to accept the position.
"Y'all know it wasn't easy to bring me hither because of my experience with college basketball," he said. "But I told everyone all I had to do was have the Memphis blood in me and the heart and the passion for winning basketball. As a omnibus, my fashion, nosotros're going to get afterward them. I know that's what we beloved. Nosotros're going to play difficult-nosed basketball game, running, jumping, pressing everywhere and winning games. Losing is not an option for us. I really want to hitting the basis running. I know people are saying to exist patient and to exercise this starting time and to practise that outset, but I'k not wired that way. I get all or goose egg."
Penny Hardaway speaks at a news conference and rally announcing his new role as head coach of the University of Memphis men's basketball team.
Andrea Morales for The Undefeated
The two-time All-American and four-time NBA All-Star inherits a 40-26 tape accumulated during the past two seasons under Smith. This season, the Tigers finished 21-13 later on a American Able-bodied Conference Championship semifinal loss to superlative-seeded Cincinnati.
"I'thou not only coming hither to exist a face," Hardaway said at the news conference. "I'm coming here to make a departure, with the help of getting the fans back in the stands like it was dorsum in the old-school days. I am defended to this squad that just finished this season. Like I told those kids in the locker room, it was kind of unfair a little bit to them that nobody actually showed up, but those days are gone. Too bringing some actually practiced talent here that the city of Memphis would love to meet on a nightly basis."
Hardaway'south ongoing support of the University of Memphis is evident in his $1 million donation in 2008 to the Penny Hardaway Hall of Fame Building, which opened in Baronial 2011. He graduated from college in May 2003 with a available's degree in professional studies.
Fans line the second-floor balcony at a news conference and rally announcing Penny Hardaway'south new role as head coach for the University of Memphis men's basketball team. Photos of Hardaway line the balustrade.
Hardaway was picked tertiary in the 1993 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors merely was traded to the Orlando Magic for the rights to Chris Webber, the draft'southward top overall pick.
The 6-pes-seven indicate guard played in the NBA from 1993 to 2008 with the Magic, Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks and Miami Heat.
Hardaway's notoriety goes back to his senior yr in 1990 at Treadwell High Schoolhouse in Memphis, where he averaged 36.6 points and x.one rebounds. His fourth dimension at Memphis Country Academy is in the books. He spent two seasons with the Tigers and led the team to two NCAA tournament appearances, including the Elite Eight in 1992. His achievements include 2 career triple-doubles, and he ranks 17th in scoring. Hardaway won a gold medal with the 1996 U.S. Olympic team in Atlanta.
Source: https://andscape.com/features/penny-hardaway-reveals-his-plans-for-the-team-as-university-of-memphis-head-coach/
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