Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway has not had any formal discussions with athletic director Ed Scott about a contract extension, Scott said during a June 3 radio interview.
Hardaway, who is entering his ninth season at the helm of the Tigers’ program and has a career record of 168-87, has two years remaining on his current deal, which will expire following the 2027-28 season. He is set to make $2.7 million for 2026-27, and $2.8 million for 2027-28. Those figures do not include potential bonus money.
Coming off a 13-19 season, amid widespread conversation and speculation about Hardaway’s future as coach, Scott announced in March he was retaining the legendary former Tigers player.
Appearing on 92.9 ESPN-FM’s “Jason and John Show” — where he also announced that Memphis will be at full revenue share for fiscal year 2026-27, and that Hardaway’s Tigers will receive $9 million in guaranteed revenue share for the upcoming season — Scott was asked by co-host Jason Smith whether there has been any communications with Hardaway about a contract extension.
“No, and I haven’t because I want him to focus on what he’s doing,” he said.
Scott reiterated during the interview that the goal for the Memphis men’s basketball program is winning the American Conference and advancing to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers are two years removed from accomplishing both. However, Memphis also has missed the Big Dance in two of the past three seasons.
Scott said he is confident Hardaway will finally be afforded all of the resources and institutional support he needs — perhaps for the first time since being hired — to reach those goals. Included is access to Profile, a company that specializes in behavioral assessment. On June 1, Hardaway said he and his staff took personality tests and administered them to prospective transfers throughout the recruiting process. The goal was to get a better understanding of “who these young men are” before the program commits to them.
Scott also pointed out that two of Memphis’ primary objectives when it hired Hardaway in 2018 was for him to rejuvenate the fan base from both fundraising and ticket sales standpoints.
” . . . He had never coached college basketball. He finally gets into that groove, right, he has his best year ever (in 2024-25) . . . Then, the game shifted to rev share,” Scott said. “Then, Penny had to adjust again as he was just learning how to do what he was brought here to do.”
Now, though, Scott added he believes he can fully evaluate Hardaway on his coaching and program management merits.
“I thought, if we put these things around him, we can really assess how good Penny Hardaway is as a coach,” he said. “I think this year will be a much better barometer of how good a coach Penny is from building a roster to managing that roster on the court.”
Hardaway’s new team began summer workouts June 2. The roster includes 14 players (nine Division I transfers, three incoming freshmen and two returners from last season). The coaching staff also has been overhauled. Hardaway replaced all three assistant coaches, added an associate head coach and brought in a new strength and conditioning coach. He also incorporated a general manager to handle the business end of roster construction.
Scott publicly provided a vote of confidence in what Hardaway has assembled.
“I do think we constructed this roster in a much more strategic approach that will give us a better chance to win games,” said Scott. “In two ways, we have guys that do certain things on the roster that we might not have had last year. (Last season), we had too many generalists and not enough specialists.
“And, then, with this profile assessment, a new staff, a new strength and conditioning coach — they’re bringing outside input and experiences into our program which hadn’t been there in a while, from a pretty high level.”
Scott also credited Hardaway for his role in getting Memphis athletics to full revenue share for the upcoming fiscal year.
“The athletic department is up to what we can give him. The university has stepped in. And I can tell you in the almost two years I’ve been here, Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway has never worked harder probably in his career as a coach to garner support,” said Scott. “And he’s done a really good job partnering with me to help me get that money to where it is.”
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com, follow him @munzly on X.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis AD wants Penny Hardaway to ‘focus’ on basketball, not contract