For Memphis basketball, it’s time to move on from Penny Hardaway

Penny Hardaway has been an OK basketball coach through six seasons with the Memphis Tigers, but his program is nationally relevant only in its ability to generate embarrassing headlines.

The middling hoops product no longer justifies the off-court turmoil — the latest of which includes four members of Hardaway’s staff dismissed just before the start of preseason practice and the university confirming the existence of an anonymous letter alleging major violations, which has been turned over to the NCAA.

The next coach of this program may not be able to rally the fans, bring in top-notch players or reach 20 wins the way beloved Memphian and NBA legend Hardaway has. But it’s about time to find out. It’s not a Holy Grail quest to find a coach who can approximate Hardaway’s bottom line — two NCAA Tournament bids and one win in those six seasons — while also not keeping the lights on at NCAA Enforcement.

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Memphis submits letter alleging potential violations to NCAA

This program has a championship heritage with legendary players and teams in the not-so-distant past. Scandal is part of that heritage, too, but that was back when people cared about NCAA scandals. It sometimes feels like Hardaway is trying to create optimal conditions for a sequel to “Blue Chips,” the delightfully tacky 1994 movie featuring Nick Nolte as a compromised hoops coach, Hardaway as a bought recruit and Ed “Al Bundy” O’Neill as an investigative reporter.

It’s been a steady stream of investigations, eligibility questions and suspensions for Memphis since Hardaway replaced Tubby Smith, whose two-season average of 20.0 wins wasn’t far behind Hardaway’s (22.2), and whose integrity was never an issue in his 31-year head coaching career.

Academic improprieties are the worst of what has been alleged. In this era of player empowerment and investment, programs that try to shortcut education are declaring they see these “student-athletes” as nothing more than a means to an end.

Even with all the player movement going on, and with NIL giving them an approved financial cut, emphasizing and fostering academic pursuits should be as important as ever for college athletics programs. Those that don’t conduct business as such should be called on it.

Some will call that naïve. No one can argue NIL and professional sports money will be lifetime money for more than a fraction of college athletes.

Academic violations involving multiple Memphis players are alleged in the anonymous letter, which has been viewed by The Athletic. The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported in February that Malcolm Dandridge was withheld from five games because of academic circumstances. The paper reported in March that men’s basketball academic advisor Leslie Brooks was fired the day before the school announced Dandridge would miss games.

It’s always possible a situation like this, if true, happens independently of the people who oversee a program. But that doesn’t absolve them of all responsibility.

And this is just the latest of many issues for Hardaway’s program, dating back to an 18-month investigation into the recruitment of James Wiseman. There’s been nothing terribly damning outside of the academics allegations. But the pattern is pretty clear at this point for a program that has employed at least 41 people — 17 in coaching or operations — since Hardaway was hired in 2018, according to The Daily Memphian.

The allegations in the letter include two improper payments. One of those, for $60,000 to a prospect, was alleged to have happened in 2022. Is it possible Hardaway didn’t realize that at that point you could take a few simple steps and legally pay a prospect through a third party? The overall sloppiness here, regardless of the veracity of that particular allegation, brings another major Tennessee sports coach to mind.

Jeremy Pruitt presumably learned how to conduct under-the-table business discreetly and professionally at various elite college football programs, then got to Tennessee and did all but hand out hundreds with stickers of his face on them. Pruitt, who would have been defended at all costs by UT if he were winning big, was instead fired for cause in 2021. As Memphis starts a new era with Ed Scott as athletic director, Pruitt’s demise comes to mind.

Hardaway, whose contract runs through 2027-28, has been an OK coach. He’ll always be a Memphis legend. Maybe his seventh team, with a virtually all-new roster and coaching staff, could find the magic for a third NCAA bid.

But it would be better for Memphis if this is someone else’s first team, even if that means an interim someone. The Tennessee administration turned a mess into an opportunity, and it worked out pretty well for them.

(Photo: Aric Becker/ISI Photos/Getty Images)