bobinator said:
I wouldn't like handing my program over to someone with no experience, and bringing Larry Brown on seems like a recruiting violation waiting to happen, but whatever, it's Memphis, go nuts.
I just generally assume that Memphis won't hire someone that doesn't cheat unless they're desperate. Otherwise you're UNLV reminiscing about Tark.
People think that Calipari started the infamous tradition at Memphis, but Dana Kirk was a hugely successful coach at Memphis in the 80s who went dancing 7 times, reached a final four, and after a criminal investigation and many NCAA violations was forced out, with Memphis forfeiting all games between '82-86. Vandy wishes they had a Kirk period.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Tigers_men%27s_basketball#1970sPastner was a cut rate Calipari (who also had a second Memphis Final Four vacated for cheating) or Kirk, but couldn't even get to a Final Four through cheating and then have it vacated.
Brown probably could pull it off. Still hopefully Penny continues the proud tradition, and maybe mitigates costs more than Pastner whose best feature was how he paid AAU kids at Arizona. Admittedly he seemed like the most obvious inheritor of Memphis' tradition at the time of his hire.