Memphis Tigers’ basketball coach Josh Pastner understands whom he followed when he replaced John Calipari’s as coach of the Tigers in 2009.
Pastner said Memphis fans remember those Elite Eight runs, the Sweet Sixteen and, of course, the run to the National Championship game in 2008, the latter of which was later vacated, under Calipari.
While Pastner has won 163 games over his seven seasons, he’s failed to advance past the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. In addition, Pastner said he knows if there was a Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight appearance on his resume, the outlook on him – and his job security— could be different.
“The standard is very high here, and it should remain that way,” said Pastner, when asked about what the standards should be for Memphis basketball. “It should never be lowered. We’re going to fight like crazy to reach that standard by Tiger nation. We’re going to be the very best we can be day in and day out.”
Pastner and his Tigers have struggled to reach those “standards” over the past two seasons. And with a 15-12 record currently, Memphis is in danger of missing the postseason for the second consecutive season. Before the 2014-15 season, the Tigers had qualified for the postseason every year since 2000.
One ray of hope Memphis has of salvaging this season is the American conference remains extremely wide-open. Especially with No. 24 SMU being ineligible for the postseason following the Keith Frazier academic fraud scandal. The Tigers have shown they can beat the best the American has to offer (Cincinnati and Temple) and have also lost to the three worst teams in the conference (East Carolina, Tulane and South Florida).
“It’s going to be one (the AAC Tournament) everyone is interested to see around the country because I think it’s a wide open league,” Pastner said.
National support for Pastner has come from the coaches’ fraternity. Former Providence basketball coach Tim Welsh, now an ESPN broadcaster, defended Pastner during the Tigers’ loss to No. 24 SMU last month.
“He’s a bigger man than me, because I would’ve walked out in about a second listening to some of those delusional reporters and some of those questions he had to answer,” Welsh said. “He’s won 71 percent of his games. He’s Top 20 in the country in active coaches. Four out of the six years he went to the tournament, four out of five twenty win seasons. I mean, what do you want? I know he replaced the No. 3 guy on the list (Calipari), but people are delusional.”
Pastner, who publicly thanked Welsh for his support during a postgame interview after a home win against Cincinnati Feb. 6, said he is appreciative of all the support he has received from both current and former coaches.
“I think people who have been in that chair and/or coaching in any area understand the job,” he said. “I don’t take those things for granted. I feel the same way. I try to do that for others as well too.”
Pastner added Memphis hasn’t caught some breaks this season, but it has just enough time to turn around what’s been a poor season. One that sees Memphis with a 6-8 record in the American Athletic Conference, having dropped seven of its past 10 games and having failed to win back-to-back games since mid-January.
“The book on this season has not been officially closed for us,” Pastner said. “We’ll see how it all shakes out. We’ll stay upbeat and positive and continue to try and get the guys better and go from there.”
Josh Pastner became the University of Memphis men’s basketball coach in 2009 following John Calipari’s departure. He’s currently has the fourth most wins (163) in program history, despite recent struggles.
