Penny Hardaway hires Faragi Phillips as Memphis basketball assistant coach

Faragi Phillips is a Tiger again.

Phillips – who won multiple state titles as head coach of both the Whitehaven and Mitchell Tigers programs – is set to join Penny Hardaway's revamped coaching staff at Memphis as an assistant coach, an athletic department spokesperson confirmed to The Commercial Appeal Monday.

Former Tigers running back and Local 24 sports director Doc Holliday reported the news first. Holliday interviewed Hardaway Monday on his YouTube series, "The Doc Holliday Show."

Phillips spent the past three seasons as a member of Jerry Stackhouse's staff at Vanderbilt (two as an assistant coach and one as director of player personnel).

Last season, Hardaway's assistant coaching staff was comprised of Hall of Famer Larry Brown, former NBA All-Star Rasheed Wallace and Cody Toppert. Wallace left the Tigers in December 2021 and finished the season "in more of a consultant's role" due to health and safety protocols related to COVID-19, according to Hardaway. Earlier this month, Hardaway told The Commercial Appeal that Wallace "might be going to (the Los Angeles Lakers) with (new head coach) Darvin Ham."

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Toppert left Memphis after three seasons to be an assistant at LSU.

Hardaway said last month he expects the 81-year-old Brown to be back for a second season "in some capacity."

"He's (an) assistant now. We just have to talk things out and go from there," Hardaway said last week.

Earlier this month, Hardaway hired former Tulsa coach Frank Haith as an assistant.

Phillips is no stranger to Memphis, having been the head coach at both Whitehaven and Mitchell for four seasons each. He led both Tiger programs to two state championships apiece and won a total of 199 games in eight seasons. Following back-to-back titles in his first two seasons at Whitehaven, Phillips lost in the Class AAA championship game to Hardaway's Memphis East squad (in what was Hardaway's final game as a high school coach) and fell in the state tournament semifinals to eventual state champion Bearden in 2019.

Phillips has also been a successful coach at the grassroots level, having coached both Team Thad and Team Penny (the AAU program Hardaway once sponsored that is now known as Bluff City Legends). Current Memphis Tigers Alex Lomax and Chandler Lawson played for Phillips with Team Penny during the 2016-17 campaign. Phillips also helped develop former Memphis star Jeremiah Martin, who played for both Mitchell and Team Thad.

In Phillips' two seasons as an assistant at Vanderbilt, the Commodores were 20-37. Stackhouse shook things up after last season, reassigning Phillips to the role of director of player personnel where he was in charge of individual skill development and assisted with scouting opponents, planning practices, player behavior, recruiting and academics.

Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Penny Hardaway hires Faragi Phillips as Memphis basketball assistant