Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway hires Nolan Smith as assistant coach

Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway has hired Nolan Smith as an assistant coach, the school announced Wednesday.

Smith spent the past two seasons in the same capacity at Louisville under former coach Kenny Payne. Payne was fired in March with a 12-52 record at Louisville. Prior to joining Payne’s staff, Smith worked for legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski for six seasons, the last of which as an assistant coach.

“Nolan is a grit and grind guy and is one of the brightest young coaches in college basketball,” Hardaway said in a school release. “He works hard and has a passion for the game that is unmatched.”

Memphis is set to host North Carolina in a preseason charity exhibition game on Oct. 15 (6 p.m., ESPNU) at FedExForum. The Tigers will also face Alabama in a preseason charity exhibition game on Oct. 28 in Huntsville, Alabama, before opening the regular season against Missouri on Nov. 4 at home.

Smith was also a star during his playing career. The Upper Marlboro, Maryland, native led Duke to a national championship in 2010, then became a first-team All-American and the ACC Player of the Year in 2011.

“He brings a championship mindset to our team after not only having won a national championship as a player, but also by learning from one of the all-time greats in Mike Krzyzewski,” Hardaway said.

Smith joins a Tigers coaching staff on the heels of a substantial shakeup. Two weeks ago − just two months before the team’s season opener − Hardaway fired four staff members: assistant coach Rick Stansbury, director of player development Jamie Rosser, special advisor to the head coach Faragi Phillips, and director of recruiting Demetrius Dyson. That news was announced the same day the University acknowledged the existence of an anonymous letter alleging the program had committed multiple potential major NCAA violations in recent years.

Smith is no stranger to Hardaway, who reportedly interviewed him for an assistant vacancy in 2020. Rather than leave, Smith remained at Duke and was promoted from director of basketball operations to assistant coach. A year later, he was hired by Louisville.

Smith is one of several new faces Hardaway has added to his coaching staff. Longtime coach Mike Davis (Indiana, UAB, Texas Southern and Detroit Mercy) will also be an assistant alongside Smith − a move that was made in June but officially announced Wednesday.

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“Mike has won at the highest level, achieved great success and is a proven leader of young men,” said Hardaway. “He will serve our program in the office, on campus and in the community. We are happy to have Mike and his family in Memphis.”

The rest of the coaching staff consists of director of basketball operations Jordan VerHulst, director of player relations Andre Turner, director of analytics Jermaine Johnson, scouting director Marcus Nunnally, equipment manager Cedric Prowell, strength coach Todd Forcier; and chief of staff Dwight Boyd. Only VerHulst and Boyd are holdovers from last season’s staff.

Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or follow him @munzly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway hires Nolan Smith as assistant