Penny Hardaway recalls how a friend ailing from a life-threatening disease influenced his coaching journey: "I didn't think I was going to do that"
Before Penny Hardaway took the Memphis Tigers' head coach role, he coached a middle school in his old neighborhood. However, he recently admitted he had other plans for his career post-retirement from the NBA.
Some personal revelations turned his focus toward coaching instead and on the latest episode of "Knuckleheads," Hardaway explained how he made such a pivot in his career:
“I had no idea I was going to go into coaching man. I went back ’08, I had just got cut by the Heat you know, they just wanted to release all the vets because they were trying to go get a top pick. And I think the top pick was Mike Beasley, D Rose and all them boys. (1:24:18)
"And I went back home and one of my homies, if you saw the ESPN special 30 for 30, he had gotten cancer. And he was from the hood and he was teaching a little middle school that was in our neighborhood. So while he was going through chemo he asked me could I and help him coach the neighborhood team and I did, and that's when I really got into coaching."
At that time, Penny Hardaway didn't think he would go into coaching at all, as he was looking to get on TV instead:
"But I didn't think I was going to do that. I was gonna be working for ESPN, TNT trying to get in TV and try to do some things. I went home and he asked me could I help him coach and I did, and that's where it all started.”
When you return to your old neighborhood where you grew up, you are likely to run into people you grew up with. For Penny Hardaway, that interaction came in the same middle school where he ended up coaching the kids of people he went to school with.
Penny Hardaway signed a $16.5 million extension in 2022
Over a decade after his retirement, Penny Hardaway is no longer coaching middle school. In 2018, he was hired by the University of Memphis to become the head coach of the Memphis Tigers men's basketball team.
Hardaway signed a six-year extension in 2022 that would run through the 2027-28 season. The contract is valued at $16.5 million and he is set to earn $2.7 million from that this season.
His Memphis Tigers pulled off a major upset at the Maui Invitational tournament in November, where they beat the reigning back-to-back champions the UConn Huskies. Subsequently, the Tigers were ranked 21st in the NCAA Division I basketball rankings, per AP News.