Hard to imagine Penny ever being fired, but anything can happen, I guess. If he were let go, or walked on his own, it would be interesting. How about Stansbury?

I'll throw a name out that I mentioned years ago when JP was on the hot seat...Dan Majerle. I love how he played, has great NBA cred, he's only 58, and did well at Grand Canyon. He was fired after his first losing season in 6-7 years.

(02-16-2024 09:41 PM)gotigers1 Wrote:  Tom Crean

Only if the goal is to make a worse hire than Tubby Smith

He’s not getting fired unless he misses the tournament 2 straight seasons. Thats what happened with Pastner and Tubby. If you think they’d give him less rope than those two after all he’s done for the university then you are out of your ******* mind.

And yes I’m extremely disappointed in what has happened, but this is all nonsense

Too early to make a change. Penny will get a pass this year if he doesn't make the tournament. No way he'd get fired. Miss it next year? Maybe but I'm still not sure. He may walk away after 2 years of not making it or it may be the lure of the NBA that does it. I really think Penny leaves without an ugly scene from either side, however that's done. I don't think we can afford another way than that.

(02-17-2024 09:29 AM)oldmangrizz Wrote:  Too early to make a change. Penny will get a pass this year if he doesn't make the tournament. No way he'd get fired. Miss it next year? Maybe but I'm still not sure. He may walk away after 2 years of not making it or it may be the lure of the NBA that does it. I really think Penny leaves without an ugly scene from either side, however that's done. I don't think we can afford another way than that.

Well said. I agree with all of that.

It really has little to do with making the tourney or not. It all has to do with donations and season tickets. If that starts dropping their hands will be tied.
Not sure if I’m renewing after this year. Can’t find people that want free tickets and a pass to venture into downtown to watch a team lose to Rice.

Andy Kennedy

(02-17-2024 10:08 AM)Rodney Carney Wrote:  Andy Kennedy

Making 900k a year at UAB. Wade is making 700k w/ a $1m buyout at McNeese. Both would have this Memphis team in the top 10

(02-16-2024 07:30 PM)Titans3775 Wrote:  

(02-16-2024 05:07 PM)Tiger87 Wrote:  

(02-16-2024 03:42 PM)Titans3775 Wrote:  

(02-16-2024 03:16 PM)Tiger65 Wrote:  For this cesspool of negativity; come clean and speak out!

1 tournament win in 6 years with nearly unlimited resources? Just about anyone could do better.

4 seasons. COVID took one and this season ain't over yet. No need to exaggerate to make a point.
Tubby couldn't do better and neither could Pastner.
Don't forget the state of the program he inherited either. He lost 2 years just in roster building.

Sorry forgot Covid only affected Memphis. You don't like it then tell your godking to stop sucking.

Where did I say it affected only Memphis?
What it did was cancel the post-season for all of basketball.
So to say 1 tourney win in 6 seasons - when 1 tourney was canceled and 1 hasn't been played yet - is either a mistake, exaggeration, or dishonest statement.

(02-16-2024 05:16 PM)former guest Wrote:  

(02-16-2024 04:44 PM)ncrdbl1 Wrote:  

(02-16-2024 04:26 PM)mapdude Wrote:  The way things have changed and are still changing in College sports, I would just sit tight for a while and see where the sports go.

Gonna be a really tough situation if it comes down to replacing Penny. It will probably not be as easy as running Josh out of town. I think we still owe Georgia Tech some draft picks in the future for agreeing to take him off our hands. Getting rid of Tubby was deemed worth the expense. I agreed.

So the real question is, how many more years does Penny have to get it right and can he do it at all? Every year has been a different experiment and he has had to try and figure out the solutions on the fly.

We tried the mass of young one and done's, the young superstars, the mass of local heroes, the mass of veteran out of towner's that were gunners with multiple years of being the alpha dog on their teams, the mixture of the different groups. 6 years of experimentation.

Penny has this idea of how to play the game using players of his own calibre, but can't seem to adapt his coaching to what his players can actually do. Is that because he is a bad judgment of the players capabilities or not a good teacher? I don't have the answer.

People used to complain the Cal was unable to adjust his coaching to his players capabilities. So, nothing new here...

So, what is the consensus on how long is enough time for Penny to succeed? At what point do we say, fish or cut bait?

Unless he pulls a Tic Price with a CoEd then he is here until he wants to leave.

Have a feeling he could even get a pass with a CoEd.

Unless he burns out he will be here until he has the most wins in Tigers history.

I figure he is just half way through his career as Tigers coach.

I think he will be the last Tigers coach of my lifetime.

I have a different thought: I think he coaches until Ashton is out of eligibility. When that happens, he will have completed his task of seeing his kids play D1 basketball and being their coach for the journey. I don't honestly know - does he have another kid he has to get through the process? I don't think he would know how to coach if he didn't have to find PT for his kids and their friends.

I think that's pretty cynical. I really believe Penny when he talks about the dream he and Dez had about coaching the Tigers and bringing them back to prominence. I truly believes he's in this (mostly) for the city and for the players.

(02-16-2024 11:52 PM)tiger1016 Wrote:  We could have hired better coaches if the administration didn’t make the lazy hires since Cal left. Hire a search farm, do a proper interview process and go from there. We settled on Pastner, settled on Tubby and then settled on Penny without a proper search done.

Pretty sure Tubby was the result of a national search with a firm. And Penny was the only option - to replace Tubby after only 2 years, to pay a coach a lower salary while paying off Tubby, and to re-energize the fanbase.

(02-17-2024 09:16 AM)Eagleonpar Wrote:  He’s not getting fired unless he misses the tournament 2 straight seasons. Thats what happened with Pastner and Tubby. If you think they’d give him less rope than those two after all he’s done for the university then you are out of your ******* mind.

And yes I’m extremely disappointed in what has happened, but this is all nonsense

100%
This discussion is at least 1 year premature - maybe 2 years.

(02-17-2024 10:44 AM)Tiger87 Wrote:  

(02-16-2024 05:16 PM)former guest Wrote:  

(02-16-2024 04:44 PM)ncrdbl1 Wrote:  

(02-16-2024 04:26 PM)mapdude Wrote:  The way things have changed and are still changing in College sports, I would just sit tight for a while and see where the sports go.

Gonna be a really tough situation if it comes down to replacing Penny. It will probably not be as easy as running Josh out of town. I think we still owe Georgia Tech some draft picks in the future for agreeing to take him off our hands. Getting rid of Tubby was deemed worth the expense. I agreed.

So the real question is, how many more years does Penny have to get it right and can he do it at all? Every year has been a different experiment and he has had to try and figure out the solutions on the fly.

We tried the mass of young one and done's, the young superstars, the mass of local heroes, the mass of veteran out of towner's that were gunners with multiple years of being the alpha dog on their teams, the mixture of the different groups. 6 years of experimentation.

Penny has this idea of how to play the game using players of his own calibre, but can't seem to adapt his coaching to what his players can actually do. Is that because he is a bad judgment of the players capabilities or not a good teacher? I don't have the answer.

People used to complain the Cal was unable to adjust his coaching to his players capabilities. So, nothing new here...

So, what is the consensus on how long is enough time for Penny to succeed? At what point do we say, fish or cut bait?

Unless he pulls a Tic Price with a CoEd then he is here until he wants to leave.

Have a feeling he could even get a pass with a CoEd.

Unless he burns out he will be here until he has the most wins in Tigers history.

I figure he is just half way through his career as Tigers coach.

I think he will be the last Tigers coach of my lifetime.

I have a different thought: I think he coaches until Ashton is out of eligibility. When that happens, he will have completed his task of seeing his kids play D1 basketball and being their coach for the journey. I don't honestly know - does he have another kid he has to get through the process? I don't think he would know how to coach if he didn't have to find PT for his kids and their friends.

I think that's pretty cynical. I really believe Penny when he talks about the dream he and Dez had about coaching the Tigers and bringing them back to prominence. I truly believes he's in this (mostly) for the city and for the players.

I agree with you in that Penny has genuine intentions and that is to bring Memphis a national title. He does not need this job at all and honestly would probably enjoy just sitting in a suite watching his kid's play much more than the stress of coaching...

(02-16-2024 11:52 PM)tiger1016 Wrote:  We could have hired better coaches if the administration didn’t make the lazy hires since Cal left. Hire a search farm, do a proper interview process and go from there. We settled on Pastner, settled on Tubby and then settled on Penny without a proper search done. The football program hit on gems going the proper route with Fuente and Norvell who were lesser known names. We need a basketball coach that knows how to build a program for longevity and is actually a coach of young men. Penny is not it and at this point I highly doubt he’ll ever be. He’s a basketball savant and savants don’t always make for good coaches. We had a good run of Sweet 16s or more in the 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s. There’s a good chance we’ll go two decades before we make the next sweet 16 unless a change is made. That’s a completely new generation and hopefully the program still has enough relevance for the new generation to become Tiger fans. I never thought apathy would set in with Penny at the helm but it’s happening. I’m not sure Penny has the coaching acumen to turn this program around.

They see the game differently and just instinctually react in a way that most basketball players will never be able to do. He is one of the best to ever grace a basketball court. There are a ton of things he sees that simply cannot be translated or taught or understood by the players he is coaching. Not because they are not good but because they are not the elite of the elite. Penny was able to play ahead because of instincts and knowing what was going to happen before it happened. That allowed him to play at a different pace. He is trying to teach these guys but they do not have the instincts (very few do) so instead of being proactive and dictating they are forced to waiting on cues and then reacting. It is why very few great players are able to coach effectively.

(02-17-2024 10:41 AM)Tiger87 Wrote:  

(02-16-2024 07:30 PM)Titans3775 Wrote:  

(02-16-2024 05:07 PM)Tiger87 Wrote:  

(02-16-2024 03:42 PM)Titans3775 Wrote:  

(02-16-2024 03:16 PM)Tiger65 Wrote:  For this cesspool of negativity; come clean and speak out!

1 tournament win in 6 years with nearly unlimited resources? Just about anyone could do better.

4 seasons. COVID took one and this season ain't over yet. No need to exaggerate to make a point.
Tubby couldn't do better and neither could Pastner.
Don't forget the state of the program he inherited either. He lost 2 years just in roster building.

Sorry forgot Covid only affected Memphis. You don't like it then tell your godking to stop sucking.

Where did I say it affected only Memphis?
What it did was cancel the post-season for all of basketball.
So to say 1 tourney win in 6 seasons - when 1 tourney was canceled and 1 hasn't been played yet - is either a mistake, exaggeration, or dishonest statement.

The covid season, Memphis was 21-10 overall… finished 6th in the conference @ 10-8…& had lost 5 of their last 9.
Had there been an NCAA tournament, Memphis wasn’t getting an invite. It f anything, the season cancellation was a gift for that team.

(02-17-2024 10:58 AM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  

(02-16-2024 11:52 PM)tiger1016 Wrote:  We could have hired better coaches if the administration didn’t make the lazy hires since Cal left. Hire a search farm, do a proper interview process and go from there. We settled on Pastner, settled on Tubby and then settled on Penny without a proper search done. The football program hit on gems going the proper route with Fuente and Norvell who were lesser known names. We need a basketball coach that knows how to build a program for longevity and is actually a coach of young men. Penny is not it and at this point I highly doubt he’ll ever be. He’s a basketball savant and savants don’t always make for good coaches. We had a good run of Sweet 16s or more in the 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s. There’s a good chance we’ll go two decades before we make the next sweet 16 unless a change is made. That’s a completely new generation and hopefully the program still has enough relevance for the new generation to become Tiger fans. I never thought apathy would set in with Penny at the helm but it’s happening. I’m not sure Penny has the coaching acumen to turn this program around.

They see the game differently and just instinctually react in a way that most basketball players will never be able to do. He is one of the best to ever grace a basketball court. There are a ton of things he sees that simply cannot be translated or taught or understood by the players he is coaching. Not because they are not good but because they are not the elite of the elite. Penny was able to play ahead because of instincts and knowing what was going to happen before it happened. That allowed him to play at a different pace. He is trying to teach these guys but they do not have the instincts (very few do) so instead of being proactive and dictating they are forced to waiting on cues and then reacting. It is why very few great players are able to coach effectively.

I agree. I’ve tried to state that thought several times in the past but not as well as you did. I loved Penny the player but I am not seeing his playing prowess converting into a good coaching process/results.

If yall want to take a chance go after Chris Mack or Holtman who just got fired at Ohio State. Maybe Mack can bring Bill Murray’s son in as assistant and we can gain an ambassador

So the jest of the names listed

No black coach

(02-17-2024 01:37 PM)Unionman76 Wrote:  So the jest of the names listed

No black coach

Absolutely. No black coach.

(02-17-2024 01:05 PM)Marc Mensa Wrote:  

(02-17-2024 10:41 AM)Tiger87 Wrote:  

(02-16-2024 07:30 PM)Titans3775 Wrote:  

(02-16-2024 05:07 PM)Tiger87 Wrote:  

(02-16-2024 03:42 PM)Titans3775 Wrote:  1 tournament win in 6 years with nearly unlimited resources? Just about anyone could do better.

4 seasons. COVID took one and this season ain't over yet. No need to exaggerate to make a point.
Tubby couldn't do better and neither could Pastner.
Don't forget the state of the program he inherited either. He lost 2 years just in roster building.

Sorry forgot Covid only affected Memphis. You don't like it then tell your godking to stop sucking.

Where did I say it affected only Memphis?
What it did was cancel the post-season for all of basketball.
So to say 1 tourney win in 6 seasons - when 1 tourney was canceled and 1 hasn't been played yet - is either a mistake, exaggeration, or dishonest statement.

The covid season, Memphis was 21-10 overall… finished 6th in the conference @ 10-8…& had lost 5 of their last 9.
Had there been an NCAA tournament, Memphis wasn’t getting an invite. It f anything, the season cancellation was a gift for that team.

Bingo