In his first few months as Memphis football coach, Charles Huff has had a few former college coaches around the Tigers' practices. Former Texas coach Charlie Strong and former Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher were at practice in the spring, while former LSU coach Brian Kelly will be a consultant later this season. But Huff had a coach of another sport at practice at the beginning of the preseason period: Penny Hardaway. Huff and Hardaway built a relationship shortly after Huff arrived in Memphis from Southern Miss in December 2025, and they've spoken highly of each other since then. “Coach Huff is my guy," Hardaway said after playing in the FedEx St. Jude Championship pro-am Aug. 12. "I have his back 1,000 percent. Love everything about him, man. I’m marveling watching his press conferences, just how knowledgeable he is. Not that I’d expect anything less, because he’s turned programs around everywhere he’s been. But he’s the guy. He’s the right guy for the job. And whatever he needs from me, I’m going to be here for him."
Huff has talked throughout the year about how he wants Hardaway to be a part of the Memphis football program and how Hardaway can help in recruiting. "I can't give the message of, 'Hey, when you're 9 years old and you're walking around this city, you're looking up to guys like Penny Hardaway,' " Huff said in the spring. "When you're 48, 50 years old and you've played in the league for X amount of years and you come back to this city, how it'll embrace you. So we want to be able to create that narrative for these young men, especially in the city and the state, and he's been a big help for that." Hardaway said he's still planning to sit down with Huff at some point and talk about how he can help the football program. Memphis begins its season on the road against UNLV on Aug. 29, while Hardaway's team will begin its season on Nov. 2 against Iowa State in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. There's plenty of excitement around Memphis athletics as the Tigers prepare for critical seasons in several sports. Memphis also has a new women's basketball coach in Hana Haden, and she visited a Tigers football practice in one of her first days at Memphis. That connection matters, Hardaway said. “To me, it’s important to have that synergy because it just makes it easy for all of us," he said. "We’re all getting along, nobody hates each other. We’re all rooting for one another and we all talk. So it definitely helps the entire group when that’s going that way.” Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan. This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Why Penny Hardaway is 'marveling' watching Charles Huff ahead of Memphis football season