Memphis vs Arkansas exhibition? John Calipari, Penny Hardaway weigh in

John Calipari and Penny Hardaway – Memphis basketball coaches past and present – have their eyes on the future.

Even though no official announcement has been made, the Tigers are expected to host a preseason charity exhibition game in October against Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks. Hardaway, however, hopes Calipari will agree to also schedule regular-season games against Memphis.

Hardaway had Calipari on “The Two Cents Podcast” the weekend of May 16, when they were both at the Memphis Sports & Events Center for Session II of the Nike EYBL season. They spent more than 30 minutes sharing stories about Michael Jordan, interviewing each other about the direction of college basketball, and showing mutual appreciation for one another.

Toward the end of the podcast episode, which dropped June 30, Hardaway brought up the prospect of rekindling what was once a strong regional rivalry.

“I look forward to future games, hopefully, with you guys,” Hardaway began.

Calipari interjected.

“Let’s start – I’ll say it here. St. Jude (Children’s Research Hospital), you know how I feel about St. Jude,” he said. “You start with this exhibition, but they got to have all my former players come back.”

Calipari coached the Tigers from 2000-09, taking them to the national championship game in 2008. Calipari told Hardaway how happy it made him to see several of his former Memphis players while he was in town for the AAU event, specifically mentioning Jeremy Hunt, Willie Kemp, Clyde Wade and Shawn Taggart.

But Calipari stressed that he wants to see more than just a handful of former Tigers incorporated into the festivities attached to the prospective exhibition.

“We want that (too),” Hardaway said.

“They said, ‘Well, one year.’ I coached 50-60 guys here – bring ‘em all back,” said Calipari. “That encourages me to do this. To bring that group back together and let them enjoy each other would be well worth us playing a game. (And) the money going to St. Jude and all that. So, people say, ‘Will you do it?’ Unless they’re not going to bring back my players, then I’m not going to do it.”

John Calipari, Penny Hardaway on the state of college basketball

The sport has undergone a series of enormous changes in recent years, from the relaxed transfer portal rules to the rapidly evolving name, image and likeness regulations.

Calipari and Hardaway advocated for more transparency when it comes to NIL.

“Let’s be transparent,” said Calipari. “Wouldn’t you like to know exactly what this other team is spending and let your people know what you’re spending? And let’s all be together in this – (university) president, AD and coach.”  

“I would rather be transparent,” Hardaway replied. “We’ve got to get some guardrails at some point, because you don’t know what – guys have told me, ‘Well, such and such is going to give me $2 (million), what are you going to do?’ I don’t know if that’s true or not.”

Calipari also expressed consternation over the lack of guardrails for the transfer portal and said the majority of issues facing college basketball now would be resolved if that was addressed.

“Forget about the money, how we pay a kid. It doesn’t matter,” he said. “But this transfer portal. The first sign of trouble, they leave. How do you transfer four times and then graduate? We’re still educational institutions. They have to get it in control.

“If they do that and a kid can leave one time, or two, without penalty – but you can’t leave after that – we’ll get all the other stuff in check.”

Penny Hardaway thanks John Calipari

Hardaway also used his platform to thank Calipari for all he did for the Tigers and for the city of Memphis during his time as coach.

“I never got a chance to tell you how much I appreciate what you do for the game, and what you did for our city is unbelievable,” said Hardaway, who has been coach at Memphis since 2018 and was an All-American for the Tigers in 1993. “Our city was in a position, you know, basketball is all we know, and what you brought here to this city is unbelievable. So, from me to you, thank you so much for that, because those were amazing years.”

Calipari thanked Hardaway for the support he got from him during his tenure at Memphis.

“You supported me,” Calipari said. “And other players supported me. But especially you. You’ve gotta have credibility in this city. Your support helped.”

Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com, follow him @munzly on X.