Penny Hardaway to hire Frank Haith as Memphis basketball assistant

Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway is expected to hire Frank Haith to join his staff, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation. 

The source requested anonymity because no official announcement has been made.

The 2012 national Coach of the Year and former Tulsa coach will join the Tigers as an assistant. Hardaway said last week he had two vacant assistant coach spots. Haith's addition leaves one, provided Hall of Famer Larry Brown returns as an assistant for a second season. 

Haith most recently coached the Golden Hurricane for eight seasons, accumulating a 138-108 record. His head coaching career began at Miami in 2004. He coached the Hurricanes for seven seasons before leaving to become coach at Missouri. He led the Tigers to two NCAA Tournament appearances in three seasons and was named both national Coach of the Year and Big 12 Coach of the Year. 

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In the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season, Haith claimed AAC Coach of the Year honors after leading Tulsa to a 21-10 overall record and a share of the AAC regular-season championship. 

Haith's teams were 8-8 versus Memphis during his time at Tulsa. 

Haith also has assistant coaching experience at Texas, Texas A&M, Wake Forest and Penn State, among other stops. 

Haith has had multiple run-ins with the NCAA during his career. In 2013, long after he had already left Miami for Missouri, the NCAA held Haith responsible for recruiting violations and suspended him for the first five games of the 2013-14 season. Two years after he left Missouri for Tulsa, Missouri announced an internal investigation revealed violations during his tenure with the Tigers. As a result, Missouri vacated all of the program's 23 wins from 2013-14, Haith's final year as coach there. 

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