CSNbbs

Truth hurts

Hard to believe the 1946 John Wooden reference. The odds were definitely not "ever in our favor".

It’s hard to argue with the main conclusion of the article, that Penny was just not prepared to be a high-major D1 BB coach. What is truly perplexing, however, is how our level of play has seemingly deteriorated since last year’s NIT tourney, and with Larry Brown on the sideline, to boot. I think most believed that Penny had it figured out after the NIT run.

He's simply saying the things many here have been saying since day one. I was not among them. I hoped that Penny was going to save Tiger hoops from the dustbin of history and was fully onboard with his hire. I defended him the first three really weird seasons and have defended him at times in this season. I can't do it any longer. IMO it's turn this season around or hit the road. How a man can know so much about the game yet be ineffective at coaching or teaching the game is a curiosity.

EDIT: After pausing to reflect on this statement I have to amend it. I am fully on board with giving Penny one last year to right the ship irredamngardless how this season turns out. However, all the rest stands.

I have read numerous articles that want to make it seem like his response was to the question if "he ever questions his ability to get it done"... and they leave out the "arent you embarrassed" part.

Just another fine example of media setting an agenda. Penny blasted the "media" now the media is going to make it seem like something it wasnt.

I honestly don't think Hardaway in game coaching is terrible.

He is just not a good leader.

I feel like the decision to fire Tubby Smith and hire Penny after the 2018 season was largely based on waning attendance. The 2018 average attendance dropped to 6,225 after an average of 9,622 in 2017 and 12,028 in 2016. In just 2 seasons, our home attendance had dropped nearly 50% and everyone knew something major had to happen to build attendance back up quickly. The easy solution: hire a high school coach who was a favorite son and a legend.

And it worked.

In 2019, Memphis jumped to #17 in the country in home attendance, averaging 14,065. We went 22-14 that year losing in the 2nd round of the NIT.

In 2020, we moved up to #9 in attendance with an average of 16,312. We went 22-10 but the post-season was cancelled due to Covid, so we have no idea what might have been.

Last year (2021) was an anomaly due to the pandemic, resulting in zero or limited capacity attendance, and really shouldn't be considered. But, we did finish 20-8 and won the NIT.

This season, with the uncertainty of Covid still lingering, we are averaging over 13,500 per game.

If the thinking was to get butts back in the seats, it was and still is a brilliant hire.

Today, the expectations have shifted. Attendance issues have been fixed. Now the pressure to win is first and foremost. That pressure, as Penny is discovering, is much heavier and more difficult than selling tickets. We saw the result of that pressure Thursday night during his post-game press conference.

And, now, because of what happened during that press conference, an entire country of basketball fans and sports media will be watching to see what happens next...only adding the pressure.

(01-22-2022 09:31 AM)memtigbb Wrote: [ -> ]I have read numerous articles that want to make it seem like his response was to the question if "he ever questions his ability to get it done"... and they leave out the "arent you embarrassed" part.

Just another fine example of media setting an agenda. Penny blasted the "media" now the media is going to make it seem like something it wasnt.

I thought it was an excellent question. His response should have been along the lines of "Yes Goof, I am embarrassed but no more so than you should be over some of your past articles. Have you ever coached any sports at any level? No? Then stick to writing and I'll stick to basketball".

(01-22-2022 09:31 AM)memtigbb Wrote: [ -> ]I have read numerous articles that want to make it seem like his response was to the question if "he ever questions his ability to get it done"... and they leave out the "arent you embarrassed" part.

Just another fine example of media setting an agenda. Penny blasted the "media" now the media is going to make it seem like something it wasnt.

He is a public figure...

He is going to get asked insulting questions...You handle it proffessionaly.

Secondly, you don't trot out a bunch of excuses...You own what is happening and admit you have to play better.

It very much feels like all the questions and frustrations of the last 4 years are coming to a head. Short of winning the AAC tournament and getting to the sweet 16 I just do not see how Penny is back next year. It is just past the point of repair barring something dramatic happening to save this.

(01-22-2022 06:57 AM)450bench Wrote: [ -> ]Truth hurts

Yep.

He also captured some aspects that I have had rolling around in my head but couldn’t flesh out to myself about the whole lacking college coaching experience issue. I think he doesn’t fully understand what the specific “hard work” he needs to be putting in is, and ends up spinning his wheels on other, less critical things. JMHO….

(01-22-2022 10:04 AM)SeñorTiger Wrote: [ -> ]It very much feels like all the questions and frustrations of the last 4 years are coming to a head. Short of winning the AAC tournament and getting to the sweet 16 I just do not see how Penny is back next year. It is just past the point of repair barring something dramatic happening to save this.

Unless we have an agreement from a coach in waiting I just don't see us pulling the trigger.

(01-22-2022 09:53 AM)macgar32 Wrote: [ -> ]I honestly don't think Hardaway in game coaching is terrible.

He is just not a good leader.

Maybe but what about his herky jerky rotations? Keeping the right group of five on the floor based on the opponent and game situation is his most important job.

(01-22-2022 10:04 AM)SeñorTiger Wrote: [ -> ]It very much feels like all the questions and frustrations of the last 4 years are coming to a head. Short of winning the AAC tournament and getting to the sweet 16 I just do not see how Penny is back next year. It is just past the point of repair barring something dramatic happening to save this.

I think he gets another year. If he doesn't the program will implode. There won't be enough talent to win 12 games here if he gets the boot.

If he resigns and is helpful to the program in the transition to a new staff then Memphis might be able to field a .500 team next year.

(01-22-2022 09:56 AM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote: [ -> ]

(01-22-2022 09:31 AM)memtigbb Wrote: [ -> ]I have read numerous articles that want to make it seem like his response was to the question if "he ever questions his ability to get it done"... and they leave out the "arent you embarrassed" part.

Just another fine example of media setting an agenda. Penny blasted the "media" now the media is going to make it seem like something it wasnt.

I thought it was an excellent question. His response should have been along the lines of "Yes Goof, I am embarrassed but no more so than you should be over some of your past articles. Have you ever coached any sports at any level? No? Then stick to writing and I'll stick to basketball".

Yep. I wouldve gone with "Ive never read any of your articles, but someone the other day referred to me as the Geoff Calkins of basketball coaches, and thats when embarrassment really started setting in"

(01-22-2022 10:08 AM)bluebacker Wrote: [ -> ]

(01-22-2022 09:53 AM)macgar32 Wrote: [ -> ]I honestly don't think Hardaway in game coaching is terrible.

He is just not a good leader.

Maybe but what about his herky jerky rotations? Keeping the right group of five on the floor based on the opponent and game situation is his most important job.

And the one part of the game over which he as complete control.

(01-25-2022 03:16 AM)Alcalde2 Wrote: [ -> ]

(01-22-2022 09:56 AM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote: [ -> ]

(01-22-2022 09:31 AM)memtigbb Wrote: [ -> ]I have read numerous articles that want to make it seem like his response was to the question if "he ever questions his ability to get it done"... and they leave out the "arent you embarrassed" part.

Just another fine example of media setting an agenda. Penny blasted the "media" now the media is going to make it seem like something it wasnt.

I thought it was an excellent question. His response should have been along the lines of "Yes Goof, I am embarrassed but no more so than you should be over some of your past articles. Have you ever coached any sports at any level? No? Then stick to writing and I'll stick to basketball".

Yep. I wouldve gone with "Ive never read any of your articles, but someone the other day referred to me as the Geoff Calkins of basketball coaches, and thats when embarrassment really started setting in"

I like your response better

Don't click on this POS. Here's the entire article. Check out how Mike Deblahblah changes the question. So much for journalistic integrity (thought of the 20th Century):



If only college basketball consisted of an enduring series of offseasons, Penny Hardaway could be the undisputed king of Memphis.

OK, so maybe “King” is a poor word choice given that Elvis always is present in the Mid-South.

Penny would be some sort of monarch, regardless, if he never had to coach a game.

Speaking of poor choice of words, Hardaway dropped a barrage of F-bombs following the Tigers’ most recent loss, Thursday night at home to SMU, angry at a reporter’s question regarding whether he believed he could “get it done” as Tigers head coach.

“The one thing I can say to this media – because this media gets kind of f—ed up sometimes when it comes to me – we don’t have our full roster. Y’all know we don’t have our full roster. Stop asking me stupid f—ing questions about if I feel like I can do something.

“If I had my roster like they did, then I feel like I could do whatever I want to do. I’m coaching really hard, my boys are playing really hard. I’m not embarrassed about nothing. We have four freshmen starting. Y’all need to act like it. Act like we got 17- and 18- and 19-year-olds out here trying to learn how to play against 22-, 23- and 24-year-old guys. Come on, man. Stop disrespecting me, bro. Like, don’t do that. I work too f—ing hard. I work way too hard for that. Y’all write all these f—ing articles about me, and all I do is work.”

The loss dropped Memphis to 9-8 and 3-4 in the AAC, the nation's 9th-rated league based on RPI. The odds of him ending Memphis' seven-year NCAA tournament drought are growing longer and longer.

In some ways, Memphis’ meager performance as a program under Hardaway, in this season and the three that preceded it, might be less disconcerting if he were teeing it up every morning and playing poker with his buddies each night. If he truly is putting all the energy necessary into making the Tigers a successful college team -- and there’s no reason not to take him at his word – then the only reasonable conclusion is he’s not very good at being a high-major Division I head basketball coach.

If doing this job were only were about lining up elite recruiting classes, there might be no one to compete with him, especially if traditional program strength were factored into the equation. Three of the five highest-ranked players in the modern history of Memphis basketball were signed by Hardaway since 2019.

On National Signing Day, Hardaway lands great players and generates great enthusiasm and sees all of that reflected in a Memphis media that covers the Tigers like the New York papers cover the Yankees. On Selection Sunday, Hardaway watches as 68 other coaches see their teams chosen to compete in the NCAA Tournament.

MORE: SN Midseason All-America team

That’s how it’s been every year since he arrived, almost literally to the sound of trumpets, in March 2018. Enthusiasm for Tigers basketball had plummeted, from the extraordinary run under John Calipari to the 2008 Final Four and four consecutive trips to the tournament’s second weekend, to four straight appearances under successor Josh Pastner, to four consecutive empty Marches from 2015-18. Season ticket sales plunged to low-major levels.

The hiring of Hardaway – a city kid who became a Tigers All-American and NBA superstar – reinvigorated the program’s fan base. Capacity crowds became common. There were myriad articles on local and national web sites about how fantastic it was for Memphis to have Hardaway as its coach.

What does Memphis have to show for it? More curse words and NCAA investigations – the Tigers’ recruitment of Golden State Warriors center James Wiseman led to a case that’s in front of the Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP) – than NCAA Tournament appearances. The Tigers’ lone postseason success was the championship of the 2021 NIT.

With many of the players from that squad returning, and with top-five prospects Jalen Duren and Emoni Bates enrolling, the Tigers were widely projected as a top-20 team this season. They’ve been nowhere near it, because that involved games being played.

Hardaway’s lament about not having a full roster in Thursday’s loss is fair; the Tigers were missing dependable forward DeAndre Williams and top shooter Landers Nolley. But it's also misleading. Nolley appeared in the season’s first 15 games, during which the Tigers were 9-6 with losses to teams that now own a combined record of 62-40. Memphis was 8-4 in Williams’ dozen games, and that included losses to Georgia and Ole Miss, who own a composite record of 14-21.

It’s worth mentioning, as well, that when those players were healthy and active, Hardaway called out his group of veterans in a startling article with Seth Davis of The Athletic. Hardaway excoriated them for not being more welcoming to the program’s two new elite freshmen.

It was stunning to see Hardaway turn on the people who mostly prominently celebrated his selection as Tigers coach

The problem with the hiring always was this: Hardaway’s only preparation for the position was as a successful high school coach at Memphis East and as the operator of an eponymous club – Team Penny – in Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League. He wasn’t even that squad’s primary game coach; in every Team Penny game I observed in several years of Nike Peach Jam tournaments, it was former Arkansas star Todd Day who was at the head of the Team Penny bench.

Who’s the last success story who came directly from high school to a Division I head coaching position? John Wooden? In 1946?

I covered Tigers basketball in the 1990s when another of the team’s greatest players, Larry Finch, struggled to meet the standard expected of him – and that was with years of preparation as an assistant at UAB and with the Tigers, after coaching the Tigers to an Elite Eight appearance in 1992 and a Sweet 16 in 1995.

By the end of the 1997 season, because recruiting had collapsed and the fan base had soured, Finch was forced to resign. I worried when Hardaway was hired that another of the program’s icons would encounter the same result: disappointing the very people he once thrilled on a regular basis.

There is an old coaching axiom: Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.

And that appears to be what happened here.

(01-25-2022 10:26 AM)gusrob Wrote: [ -> ]Don't click on this POS. Here's the entire article. Check out how Mike Deblahblah changes the question. So much for journalistic integrity (thought of the 20th Century):



If only college basketball consisted of an enduring series of offseasons, Penny Hardaway could be the undisputed king of Memphis.

OK, so maybe “King” is a poor word choice given that Elvis always is present in the Mid-South.

Penny would be some sort of monarch, regardless, if he never had to coach a game.

Speaking of poor choice of words, Hardaway dropped a barrage of F-bombs following the Tigers’ most recent loss, Thursday night at home to SMU, angry at a reporter’s question regarding whether he believed he could “get it done” as Tigers head coach.

“The one thing I can say to this media – because this media gets kind of f—ed up sometimes when it comes to me – we don’t have our full roster. Y’all know we don’t have our full roster. Stop asking me stupid f—ing questions about if I feel like I can do something.

“If I had my roster like they did, then I feel like I could do whatever I want to do. I’m coaching really hard, my boys are playing really hard. I’m not embarrassed about nothing. We have four freshmen starting. Y’all need to act like it. Act like we got 17- and 18- and 19-year-olds out here trying to learn how to play against 22-, 23- and 24-year-old guys. Come on, man. Stop disrespecting me, bro. Like, don’t do that. I work too f—ing hard. I work way too hard for that. Y’all write all these f—ing articles about me, and all I do is work.”

The loss dropped Memphis to 9-8 and 3-4 in the AAC, the nation's 9th-rated league based on RPI. The odds of him ending Memphis' seven-year NCAA tournament drought are growing longer and longer.

In some ways, Memphis’ meager performance as a program under Hardaway, in this season and the three that preceded it, might be less disconcerting if he were teeing it up every morning and playing poker with his buddies each night. If he truly is putting all the energy necessary into making the Tigers a successful college team -- and there’s no reason not to take him at his word – then the only reasonable conclusion is he’s not very good at being a high-major Division I head basketball coach.

If doing this job were only were about lining up elite recruiting classes, there might be no one to compete with him, especially if traditional program strength were factored into the equation. Three of the five highest-ranked players in the modern history of Memphis basketball were signed by Hardaway since 2019.

On National Signing Day, Hardaway lands great players and generates great enthusiasm and sees all of that reflected in a Memphis media that covers the Tigers like the New York papers cover the Yankees. On Selection Sunday, Hardaway watches as 68 other coaches see their teams chosen to compete in the NCAA Tournament.

MORE: SN Midseason All-America team

That’s how it’s been every year since he arrived, almost literally to the sound of trumpets, in March 2018. Enthusiasm for Tigers basketball had plummeted, from the extraordinary run under John Calipari to the 2008 Final Four and four consecutive trips to the tournament’s second weekend, to four straight appearances under successor Josh Pastner, to four consecutive empty Marches from 2015-18. Season ticket sales plunged to low-major levels.

The hiring of Hardaway – a city kid who became a Tigers All-American and NBA superstar – reinvigorated the program’s fan base. Capacity crowds became common. There were myriad articles on local and national web sites about how fantastic it was for Memphis to have Hardaway as its coach.

What does Memphis have to show for it? More curse words and NCAA investigations – the Tigers’ recruitment of Golden State Warriors center James Wiseman led to a case that’s in front of the Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP) – than NCAA Tournament appearances. The Tigers’ lone postseason success was the championship of the 2021 NIT.

With many of the players from that squad returning, and with top-five prospects Jalen Duren and Emoni Bates enrolling, the Tigers were widely projected as a top-20 team this season. They’ve been nowhere near it, because that involved games being played.

Hardaway’s lament about not having a full roster in Thursday’s loss is fair; the Tigers were missing dependable forward DeAndre Williams and top shooter Landers Nolley. But it's also misleading. Nolley appeared in the season’s first 15 games, during which the Tigers were 9-6 with losses to teams that now own a combined record of 62-40. Memphis was 8-4 in Williams’ dozen games, and that included losses to Georgia and Ole Miss, who own a composite record of 14-21.

It’s worth mentioning, as well, that when those players were healthy and active, Hardaway called out his group of veterans in a startling article with Seth Davis of The Athletic. Hardaway excoriated them for not being more welcoming to the program’s two new elite freshmen.

It was stunning to see Hardaway turn on the people who mostly prominently celebrated his selection as Tigers coach

The problem with the hiring always was this: Hardaway’s only preparation for the position was as a successful high school coach at Memphis East and as the operator of an eponymous club – Team Penny – in Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League. He wasn’t even that squad’s primary game coach; in every Team Penny game I observed in several years of Nike Peach Jam tournaments, it was former Arkansas star Todd Day who was at the head of the Team Penny bench.

Who’s the last success story who came directly from high school to a Division I head coaching position? John Wooden? In 1946?

I covered Tigers basketball in the 1990s when another of the team’s greatest players, Larry Finch, struggled to meet the standard expected of him – and that was with years of preparation as an assistant at UAB and with the Tigers, after coaching the Tigers to an Elite Eight appearance in 1992 and a Sweet 16 in 1995.

By the end of the 1997 season, because recruiting had collapsed and the fan base had soured, Finch was forced to resign. I worried when Hardaway was hired that another of the program’s icons would encounter the same result: disappointing the very people he once thrilled on a regular basis.

There is an old coaching axiom: Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.

And that appears to be what happened here.

There is nothing in that article that is not true.