How Penny Hardaway is using last season’s failures to cultivate this season’s success

Penny Hardaway thought he had it all figured out when he became Memphis basketball’s head coach in March 2018.

He thought leading a Division I program was going to be easy—as if all he had to do was assemble as much talent as possible and win games. He could hire whoever he wanted to his staff, regardless of college basketball experience. He could say whatever he wanted, regardless of consequences. He could recruit any player as long as they had enough talent, even if they weren’t the best culture or scheme fit.

But he quickly found out that wasn’t the case.

Hardaway didn’t make the NCAA Tournament in his first three seasons, and has just two appearances in six years. He’s never made it to the second weekend in March Madness. He’s never even won a regular season championship in the lowly American Athletic Conference (AAC).

But the former NBA All-Star didn’t fully learn his lesson until last season. The 2023-24 Tigers had it all. They were No. 10 in the Associated Press (AP) Top 25 after a 15-2 start. They had multiple high-profile talents like David Jones, Jahvon Quinerly and Nae’Qwan Tomlin. They had the benefit of playing in one of the worst leagues in college basketball.

Memphis also had lethal problems behind the scenes, though. Some players on the team didn’t like each other to the point where they couldn’t coexist on the court, according to Hardaway after a home loss to South Florida in January. Most of them didn’t buy into the defensive culture Hardaway had curated throughout his tenure at Memphis. A few players were seen giving up during games later in the season. Hardaway even ruffled feathers himself after he brought back center Jordan Brown in January—against all but two players’ wishes—even though the 6-foot-11 senior quit the team a month prior.

These issues spiraled into a 7-8 collapse in Memphis’ last 15 games, and the Tigers missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2020-21.

“It just showed me that I needed to learn so much more,” Hardaway said during the season debut of the Penny Hardaway Radio Show at Brookhaven Pub & Grill Monday. “To not make the NCAA Tournament last year, man, it was some dark days for me.”

Hardaway realized he had to make serious changes across the board to get Memphis back on track this season. That included some hard decisions, like firing four staffers two months before the regular season or letting go of all but one scholarship player (Nick Jourdain) this offseason.

It finally dawned on him that being at the helm of a high-major program isn’t all about X’s and O’s. You aren’t just a coach. You’re essentially a general manager and a CEO too.

“The organizational side of it is where I’ve faltered,” Hardaway said. “No other coach in the country’s outworked me in six years. Nobody’s gonna stay up watching more film. Nobody’s gonna out X-and-O me or anything like that. It was the other side of it. It was the side of just running the program. That’s something I had to get better with, and I’ve gotten better with it.”

Hardaway also changed his roster-building approach in the transfer portal—prioritizing fit and character instead of talent.

“I was looking for more of a defensive-minded group—a group of high character that really had a care factor about this city and how the city works,” he said. “You just kinda do your research. Call the people that they know that have been in their lives and just talk about their character—how are they as a teammate, how are they being coached and you go from there.

“We were definitely strategic. We were talking about the fit—the fit of what really needs to be here. If I want to play a certain way, which I do, then the young man has to understand that and commit to that.”

It looks like Hardaway may have found the right bunch for 2024-25. The Tigers are out to a 6-1 start with two Quad 1 victories over No. 25 UConn (No. 2 at the time) and Michigan State in last week’s Maui Invitational. Memphis’ lone loss this season came against No. 1 Auburn in the tournament final last Wednesday.

Hardaway’s club—led by star guards PJ Haggerty (22.1 points per game) and Tyrese Hunter (16.1 points)—is No. 16 in this week’s AP Top 25. This is its first appearance in the poll since last season. But the seventh-year headman is determined to ensure Memphis achieves more than a hot start this time around.

It’s NCAA Tournament or bust for him.

“Twenty [wins] is not enough. That’s nothing. It used to be 20 games was like the holy grail. Every coach wins 20 games,” Hardaway said. “Now, you have to make the NCAA Tournament. You have to make some noise.”

Memphis hosts Louisiana Tech inside FedExForum Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPN+).