MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Memphis coach Penny Hardaway thrilled fans as an NBA player and showed his chops as a college recruiter in the early days of the transfer portal and name, image and likeness compensation for players.
His credentials as a basketball coach? Not among Hardaway's best qualities to be mentioned first for the rare coach still with his own shoe line.
This March Madness, that may finally be changing in his seventh year at his alma mater. Credit last season's disaster of a season.
“That fall that I took actually made me better,” Hardaway said. “It made the team better because I got better.”
As a result, Hardaway is the American Athletic Conference coach of the year. It's the latest and maybe biggest answer to critics questioning whether he could actually coach games as well as he draws in talent. His Tigers mobbed him at practice when told of Hardaway's win and joined the celebration with a big grin. The team followed it up by adding the AAC Tournament title on Sunday.
The Tigers go into the NCAA Tournament as the No. 5 seed in the West Region, playing 12 seed Colorado State on Friday in Seattle. It's the program's highest NCAA Tournament seeding since 2009, right before John Calipari bolted for Kentucky and a year after the Tigers lost in the national championship game.
“Growth as a coach, growth as a person, my faith, again, like I say,” Hardaway said after the tournament title win. “Through the storm, that was a huge storm last year, you know, losing this game, the first round at the tournament, my mother having throat cancer and just really just going through it. To be here now, happy, winning a regular season and the conference championship, man, I feel blessed and grateful.”
Hardaway hoisted the AAC regular-season hardware with Memphis — a team almost totally rebuilt from a disappointing season -– and cut down the nets on their home floor to celebrate.
“It means a lot because I’ve grown a lot,” Hardaway said winning that league title. “I didn’t feel like I had it all together at one point.”
When hired in March 2018, Hardaway was seen as the favorite son and savior of a program that had languished under predecessor Tubby Smith. Hardaway has won the NIT, been to the NCAA Tournament twice and finally has a conference championship. The accomplishments so far are more significant given what happendd a year ago.
Preseason promise and hopes of dominating the American Athletic Conference came crashing down. The Tigers finished tied for fifth, dealt with internal problems and were eliminated in a first-round loss to Wichita State in the conference tournament.
That left Memphis not playing somewhere in the postseason for the first time in four years.
“The bottom fell out,” Hardaway said, “and there was nothing I could do about it.”
So, Hardaway changed everything. Coaching staff, the roster, his own approach to coaching. He acknowledged that he was “relying on too many people.”
“I had to learn a lot, and that growth this year was what I needed,” Hardaway said. “It’s just a great feeling.”
He loaded up Memphis' non-conference schedule and recorded early victories over defending national champion UConn and then-No. 7 Michigan State. The Tigers beat then-No. 21 Missouri and No. 10 Clemson before going 16-2 in the American.
In some circles, Hardaway was considered a good AAU coach who won high school titles. There was question of whether Hardaway could transform from a great player to leading a team and take the Tigers back to the program's former glory, which features a trio of Final Four appearances.
“Penny’s a laid-back coach,” said senior guard Tyrese Hunter, who suffered a left foot injury in the conference tournament semifinal against Tulane. “I think him kind of stepping out of that, getting on us more, helped us throughout this whole season.”
Whether it was the growing experience or the shocks of last season, Hardaway seems to have grasped some of the nuances of the job. Center Moussa Cisse agreed with Hunter that Hardaway holds players more accountable now.
"He holds me to a higher standard, so I got to match that,” Cisse said. “So I would say that’s the difference. He really coaches everybody, like, the same and then he gives us, like -- what do you call it? Energy. So that’s probably the difference.”
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Memphis players and coaching staff pose for a photo after winning the championship of the American Athletic Conference tournament against UAB, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Memphis players and coaching staff celebrate after winning the championship of the American Athletic Conference tournament against UAB, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
