New University of Memphis basketball Coach Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway has wasted no time in working to rekindle some of the program's former rivalries with SEC schools.
On Monday, Hardaway said he wanted Memphis and Kentucky to play a home-and-home series. He added the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville to his schedule wish list Wednesday when he went on statewide radio as a guest on Sports Talk with Bo Mattingly.
"I wanna play all the teams that we used to play back in the day to get the rivalries going again," Hardaway said. "I would love to play Arkansas."
Arkansas and Memphis have not played since 2003. When they played during Hardaway's career with the Tigers in the early 1990s, he said the rivalry had a special touch.
"What I do remember about Arkansas was they always had three or four Memphis guys on the team," Hardaway said. "That's what made the rivalry so special. They'd come back home or we'd go there and we'd play against the guys that we grew up playing against since we were young, and that kind of sparked the rivalry. Those games were always very intense."
Hardaway also hinted that former Memphis high school star and Razorbacks great Todd Day, who's currently the head coach at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, could join his coaching staff.
"I've known him for years and have a lot of respect for him. That's something I'll have to talk to him about," Hardaway said.
Moving on
The NFL has tabled a proposal by the league's competition committee that might have prevented situations similar to Josh McDaniels backing out of his deal with the Indianapolis Colts last month.
Proposal G-4 was tabled Tuesday morning at the NFL's annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. There will be no vote on the issue.
The rule was seen as necessary by some after what unfolded between McDaniels -- the New England Patriots' offensive coordinator -- and the Colts in February. McDaniels agreed to terms with the team after weeks of waiting for the Patriots to play in the Super Bowl, only to back out on the eve of his introductory news conference. The proposed rule would allow teams to "negotiate and sign a head coach candidate during the postseason prior to the conclusion of the employer club's season."
But in a surprise twist, Colts General Manager Chris Ballard, who was on the wrong end of the McDaniels fiasco, said he was not a proponent of the new rule.
"When you're a playoff team, you're trying to eliminate all the distractions that you can. And we're going to be a playoff team and we're going to have these issues," Ballard told Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star. "It become a slippery slope. We have rules in place for a reason. I think they're good rules. It gives you a chance to interview and then, after the season, whatever happens, happens. In our case, he changed his mind and we moved on."
Ballard said he saw the Colts' outcome with McDaniels as something that would not occur frequently. While it's unclear how owner Jim Irsay feels about the issue, Ballard was undoubtedly clear about his own personal stance.
"What if you hire a guy and he's halfway in?" Ballard said. "Even though it was painful, and everybody reacted, I kind of don't see what the big deal is. You move to the next scenario. That's just what we did."
Sports on 03/30/2018