The Memphis Tiger basketball program has undergone many transitions during the last month. Tubby Smith and the university parted ways, and in came Penny Hardaway, a new staff and new recruits.
Memphis junior forward Mike Parks, Jr. saw everything unfold first-hand and thought of the coaching change as an opportunity to continue to grow as a player, as he will enter his senior year this upcoming season.
“I really wasn’t that surprised,” Parks said about the hiring of Hardaway. “Just to have a former player like that to be our coach is a blessing.”
Parks said he initially just sat back, watched what was going on and did not really think too much of the coaching change. Then, once he saw the additions Hardaway made to his coaching staff and the recruits he brought in, Parks knew the coming season was going to be a positive situation.
“I had a great mindset, like this is going to be a great year,” Parks said. “And with the incoming recruits, that’s going to make it better.”
Playing for a new coach means expectations and the style of play will be different. Players will have to adjust and get used to the new coaching styles. Parks said he met with his new coach and already knows the differences between playing under Smith and playing under Hardaway.
“He wants me to be a better rebounder,” Parks said. “He wants me to go after every rebound that I can, and he wants me to expand my game. He had seen that I was just a post player (last season), but he’s seen that I can shoot and I can dribble. So he wants me to showcase that.”
In addition to the personal expectations, the team as a whole will have to adjust to playing under a new coach. Parks said Hardaway’s style of coaching is far different than Smith’s.
“We get a little bit more freedom to do our thing” Parks said. “Penny wants us to run. He wants us to be an up-and-down team. We are going to be in very good condition. Not saying we weren’t last season, but we are really going to go up and down (the court).”
Parks is looking forward to next season and said with all of the excitement of having local recruits, plus having a local legend as a coach, he knows the entire city of Memphis will be supporting the Tigers.
“FedExForum is going to be crazy. I know it is,” Parks said. “Just having a coach as a former player and the players that grew up here, everybody is behind our backs. So we are going to have a very good crowd every game, no doubt about it.”
Of the new recruits, a few of them are from Memphis and even played under Hardaway, such as Alex Lomax from Memphis East High School. Parks has met some of the new guys coming in and said he thinks they will all have immediate impacts.
“It seems like they are ready to play,” Parks said. “They are ready to win. I think everybody is ready to work.”
Even though he is a Cleveland native, Park said he thinks the addition of local talent is good for the program, and he is familiar with a few of the new recruits’ games.
“I’ve seen a couple of highlights of them, and they are good scorers, like Tyler Harris,” Parks said. “They can pass the ball, and we are getting a good point guard. We are all going to fit in. We just have to play together and see how it all works out.”
Mike Parks, Jr. goes up for a layup against Wichita State. Parks averaged 8.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in the 2017-18 season.
