When one door closes, another one opens. In the case of Hardaway, retirement from the NBA opened a door that allowed him to stay connected with basketball and help uplift kids in his basketball-crazed hometown. When one of his close friends, Desmond Merriweather fell ill, Hardaway stepped in as the head coach at Lester Middle School and led the team to a state title. During this time, it was Merriweather, who planted the seed in Hardaway’s head about one day becoming the Tigers’ bench boss. “[Merriweather] would always talk and joke about Penny becoming the coach at Memphis,” said Wayne Dash who wrote the book, “On These Courts” about Hardaway’s experience at Lester Middle. “As he became sicker, he was really adamant that it was going to happen. He felt it was preordained that Hardaway would bring Memphis its first national championship.”