How Hunt earned a spot on Hardaway’s coaching staff
Jeremy Hunt is back.
Back where he became a household name around these parts. Back involved with high-level basketball. But, most importantly, back from rock bottom.
And all it took was a text message, the right timing and the willingness to change. Hunt, who turned 38 in August, recently joined Memphis coach Penny Hardaway’s staff – which includes Hall of Famer Larry Brown and four-time NBA All-star Rasheed Wallace – as a graduate assistant. The former Tiger, who starred at Craigmont back when he was dubbed “Skinny Penny,” is 36th on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,145 points. As a senior in 2006-07, Hunt garnered Conference USA Sixth Man of the Year honors and was the second-leading scorer on a team that reached the Elite Eight.
Hunt will be part of a coaching staff trying to get the Tigers there again. Hardaway has made great strides this off-season to position his program for a run like that. After establishing a foundation that includes returning standouts Landers Nolley II, Deandre Williams and Lester Quinones, and signing the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, Memphis is ranked as high as 7th on multiple preseason Top 25 lists.
“I’m here for Penny. Whatever he needs me to do, I’m going to do it,” Hunt said. “I reached out to him after the (2020-21) season and just told him I’d love to be part of it. He told me, ‘Yeah, we’d love to have you. Guys like you and (fellow grad assistant Willie Kemp), y’all played for Memphis. You guys know what it means to put the jersey on.’
“What better situation to go into and learn from.”
Hunt’s attitude toward the opportunity to break into Division I coaching is reflective of the one he adopted that helped him overcome the demons that nearly derailed his life. Hunt’s personal struggles began during his collegiate career. He sat out the 2005-06 season after John Calipari dismissed him from the team after he was accused of being linked to two alleged assaults. Calipari reinstated him in August 2006.
In July 2012, Hunt pleaded guilty to reckless aggravated assault and DUI after his car struck a disabled vehicle
and a man who was helping the motorist. Hunt was given two years of probation after the incident. In May 2015, Hunt began serving two years’ probation stemming from a guilty plea for domestic assault. In Sept. 2017, his second DUI conviction that resulted in a 43day jail sentence.
It was then, Hunt said, that he decided it was time to make some changes.
“When you’re young, man, you just do things without thinking. That was what it was, for the most part, with these situations I went through – just me not thinking,” he said. “But, as you get older, you get wiser and you start listening to the people that love you (and) that’s trying to help you.”
Hunt’s mother, Gloria, is one of those people for him.
“All the stuff he went through, all the bad decisions he made, he made them on his own and it almost cost him his career,” said Gloria, a die-hard Tigers fan who has remained a member of the Rebounders Club since Hunt graduated. “(But) that grew him up. We’ve all done something. But you grow up and you learn. It’s called life.
“If it’s not basketball related, he’s not going there (anymore).”
Hunt is not proud of the issues that plagued him in the past. But he is proud of how he handled the adversity.
“I’ve never pointed the finger,” he said. “I’ve always been like, ‘I did this, now I’ve got to face the consequences.’ Whenever I made mistakes, I looked in the mirror and said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to change.’ That’s what I did, by the grace of God.”
In the aftermath of his run-ins with the law, Hunt went to work. He has spent the past several years coaching youth basketball for both Hoop City BC and Memphis Athletic Ministries. Jonathan Torres, CEO of Memphis Athletic Ministries, said Hunt’s perspective has made him a valuable member of his organization.
“One of the cool things in my line of work is watching people mature,” said Torres. “We’ve been lucky enough to see it happen in front of us. (Hunt’s) private life is somewhat public, so we’ve gotten to see him at his lowest and have watched him come out on the other side.”
For Hunt, he is embracing the latest chapter of his life – one that he hopes will be another springboard away from the struggles of his past.
“I bleed blue,” he said. “I love the city. It’s a great opportunity and I’m very thankful for it.”
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.