Penny Hardaway didn’t sugarcoat where Memphis basketball stands right now.
On Oct. 20, with the Tigers’ 2026-27 season opener against Iowa State still less than two weeks away - Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. - Hardaway spoke to more than 50 people at a Memphis Rotary Club luncheon at the Pink Palace and addressed the kind of questions that follow a rough season and a long tenure.
“Along the way, we’ve kind of lost the luster,” said Hardaway, whose job security has been heavily scrutinized (internally and externally) in the wake of a miserable 13-19 season. “I don’t know if it’s me being here too long or whatever it may be.
“(But) people go, ‘Why do you still do it?’ Because I know we can turn it over. I really feel in my heart that we can turn it over.”
Hardaway said the modern college basketball landscape has changed the math for Memphis, and the gap is plain when roster money enters the conversation. Some programs are spending upward of $20 million - even $30 million - on players. Memphis, he said, put $9 million toward this season’s roster, with $2.6 million of that coming through a fundraising-slash-donation backstop deal he arranged with the athletic department.
“Louisville has two players worth my entire roster,” Hardaway said, noting the Cardinals will visit FedExForum on Nov. 15 at noon on ESPN. I just want people to understand, it doesn’t matter if they fire me after this year or not, the next person coming in needs to understand that.”
For Hardaway, the answer doesn’t stop with finances. He said Memphis can’t climb back on its own and will need the city’s full buy-in if the Tigers are going to get rolling again.
“It’s going to take all of us,” he told the Rotary Club. “For us to keep this going, for me to continue to go at a high level, there just has to be a shift somewhere outside of the university for people to understand what’s really going on.
“If everybody in this city wants to win and wants us to truly win, then we’ll all try to find a way to get back involved on whatever level. This is ‘The City’s Team,” and we need to get that back.”
Even with the changes around him - and the scrutiny that comes with them - Hardaway said he remains locked in on the job.
“I love my job,” he said. “I’m fighting all of that, less money and all of that and still trying to grind and fight and work for the city.
It’s why I came back home. I didn’t stay in Orlando.
I didn’t stay in (Los Angeles). I came back here for this reason.
“You’re gonna love this group (of players). We’re going to fight as hard as we’ve ever fought.
Not for any other reason than that’s what I do for the city. No matter what’s going on, I’m always going to fight for this city.”
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For Memphis, it is a chance to see how its top-end players mesh with the rest of the group in game speed, not just in practice settings. For Mississippi State, the value is in the details: which combinations work, who can defend and execute under pressure, and how close the team is to settling into something that resembles a real season plan. [Read more 🡒]
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What stands out for Memphis is that Huff is the only coach from the American Conference on the list, a reflection of how quickly his team has turned heads with a 5-2 record and strong offensive numbers. The award will be handed out at a ceremony in Houston on Jan. 27, 2027, and for now the bigger question is how far Huff can keep carrying this team into the national conversation. [Read more 🡒]