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You should have seen him after the news conference. You should have seen Penny Hardaway posing for dozens of photographs, and signing dozens of autographs and hugging dozens of old friends.
There were kids in Orlando Magic jerseys. There were kids in Memphis State jerseys, too. There were construction workers who ducked over on a break. There were fans who had driven over from Little Rock to soak it all in.
Someone tried to tell Hardaway it was time to knock out some interviews. “Two more people,” Hardaway said. But it wasn’t just two more people. It might have been closer to 200 more people. It was an unending
Tuesday morning news conference introduces Penny Hardaway as Tigers new coach.
Hardaway’s hiring has Memphis fans buzzing, ticket sales humming.
receiving line of joy.
“It’s a family reunion,” Hardaway said. “We’re back to being family.”
For the dwindling Memphis Tigers family, it wasn’t a moment too soon.
Hardaway was introduced as the Memphis basketball coach Tuesday before a giddy throng of fans at the LaurieWalton Family Basketball Center. To say he won the press conference does not begin to capture the spirit of the event.
Hardaway stepped to the lectern at 11:01 a.m. He spoke for exactly three minutes, 22 seconds. But there was more passion, more emotion and more hope in that three minutes, 22 seconds than in the program’s previous two years.
“It was emotional and passionate because I feel the city’s pain; I feel the school’s pain; and I feel like I can do something about it and I want to do something about it,” Hardaway said.
Winning a press conference is meaningless, of course. Coaches are hired to win games.
But it’s impossible to win at Memphis without connecting with Memphis, without understanding the things that make the Memphis job different — and then reveling in those things.
The last coach spent his entire tenure explaining why Memphis is just like every other place he’d ever coached. Hardaway spent the first morning of his tenure explaining why Memphis is not like any other place on Earth.
He talked about games at The Pyramid and practices at the fieldhouse. He talked about the days when Memphis State flags flew on every car.
As he talked, he reminded fans why they had fallen in love with Memphis basketball in the first place, and why they should allow themselves to fall in love again.
Indeed, isn’t that why the Hardaway hire has been so emotional for so many in this city? Because it has reconnected fans to memories and times that had started to slip away. Because it has reconnected fans to a civic institution — and Memphis basketball is nothing if not a civic institution — that seemed in danger of fading into sad irrelevance.
So it meant something to see this massive family reunion. It meant something to see John Wilfong and Elliot Perry and Kenneth Moody and Vickie Finch.
Finch, Larry’s widow, said her husband would “be incredibly proud” of his former player. “Oh, Larry would smiling,” she said. Just like everyone else in the place. The job will get harder quickly, of course. But that was the other reassuring part of the day. Hardaway seems to know exactly what he is up against, including all the things he doesn’t know.
He said he wants a staff of experienced assistants. He said he likes his chances to recruit the high school players he coached at East High School and on his AAU team.
He said he is aware there are skeptics out there, and understands the skepticism.
“That’s their opinion,” he said. “It’s not just going to happen because I’m Anfernee Hardaway and I’m going to go be a college coach and kids are going to fall into my lap. I have to grind. I have to go work. But I’m willing to put that all in, put the work in and prove the critics wrong.”
With that, he headed back out into the massive entryway, where lingering fans waited for more. “Can I get a picture?” “Of course,” said Hardaway, who is bringing them back, one fan at a time.