Memphis Tigers basketball coach Penny Hardaway gives an update on the program.


Former NBA coach Sam Mitchell had his children over for lunch at his Atlanta area home Tuesday afternoon and joked it was so they could "ask dad for a few more bucks before I leave.” 

But they all knew this was a chance to say goodbye. Not forever, but for now. 

Mitchell was about to pack up "a bunch of clothes and a majority of my things"  and make the 400-mile trip to Memphis for a new job. 

More: Penny Hardaway: Sam Mitchell is 'top candidate' for final Memphis assistant coach position

"They understand and they're excited about it," Mitchell said in a telephone interview. "I'm excited to start a new chapter in my life and do something different."  

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Mitchell confirmed he is scheduled to meet with Memphis men's basketball coach Penny Hardaway on Wednesday and expects to finalize his position as an assistant coach on Hardaway's initial coaching staff at that time. 

Hardaway said last week Mitchell was the "top candidate" to fill the final spot on his assistant coaching staff. Mitchell added that he already met with Hardaway once before at the Laurie-Walton Family Basketball Center. 

Hardaway has hired former NBA player Mike Miller and former Memphis teammate Tony Madlock as assistant coaches. But Mitchell, 54, would bring credentials few in the college ranks possess, even though he has never coached at the college level.

What's Mitchell's coaching style?

A star at Mercer who enjoyed a 13-year career in the NBA, Mitchell served as the head coach of the Toronto Raptors (2004-09) and Minnesota Timberwolves (2015-16). He was named the NBA's coach of the year in 2007.  

Over the past two years, Mitchell became involved with grassroots basketball as part of the Adidas Gauntlet series. In recent months, he was the head coach of the Elite Basketball Organization's 17-and-under team. It features top 2020 recruit Jalen Green, who recently received a scholarship offer from Memphis.

More: Memphis Tigers men's basketball APR score worst in AAC; Tennessee Vols, Vanderbilt OK

Mitchell was also the head coach of the U.S. Virgin Islands national team and he estimated "90 percent" of the roster was made up of college players. 

"It’s not something new. It’s not something I woke up one morning and decided to pursue," Mitchell said of becoming a college coach. "It’s something that I’ve been doing quite regularly anyway. For the last two years, I've been coaching college kids and not really thinking about it. And so when the opportunity presented itself with Penny, it just made sense to me. I feel it's a great match of two guys who have a lot of the same thoughts as far as basketball."

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Hardaway has indicated he wanted to have his final assistant coach in place by the time University of Memphis began its summer school session on June 4.

But, Mitchell noted, the two have not yet talked about what exactly his role will be as an assistant coach.

Mitchell is known for his straightforward, no-nonsense approach as an NBA player and coach. Kevin Garnett considers him a key mentor in his development as a young player.

More: How will Penny Hardaway, Mike Miller coaching at Memphis change local AAU basketball?

It's also an old-school identity that sometimes wore thin on NBA players over time. But Mitchell expects to embrace the same philosophy at Memphis.

“From my initial conversations with Coach Hardaway, he knows who I am," Mitchell said. "He’s seen me coach. He’s seen me play. He knows who and what I am, so I feel very comfortable that he wouldn’t want me there if he wanted me to change. People may not always like the truth initially ... but everybody wants to know where they stand."

How Mitchell will approach being an assistant

Mitchell said he and Hardaway first began discussing an assistant coach position for him at Memphis once Mitchell sent Hardaway a congratulatory text message following his hiring in March.

Mitchell's relationship with Hardaway began when both played in the NBA at the same time and grew during rounds of golf in recent years. He's already got a plan in mind for how to sell Hardaway's vision on the recruiting trail, especially after his experiences outside the NBA limelight. 

“You hear college coaches talk about I love coaching college, but I hate recruiting," Mitchell said. "Well, then you don’t love coaching college. I don’t understand why would you hate going out selling your program?

"Penny and I are going to be offering young men a chance to get an education, to grow develop, and if their work ethic and talent is to play at a higher level, guess what? All those things can be accomplished. I feel very confident that Coach Hardaway is going to have a system and put an environment in place that these players not only will enjoy, but thrive in and get better in and hopefully we win a lot of basketball games and some conference championships and so forth and so on.”

As Mitchell explains it, his mindset about coaching was a lot like the one Hardaway had after retirement from the NBA. Though he began his post-playing career as an NBA assistant, Mitchell didn't initially think coaching would be his future.

"It was just something that kind of found me," he said, and now he can't imagine life any other way. 

So Mitchell is moving at full speed already, trying to line up a temporary apartment and search for a home in Memphis. There are just "t's to cross and i's to dot" at this point, he said, seemingly one signature away from joining a college basketball staff for the first time. 

But as he drives through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and finally crosses the border into Tennessee on Wednesday, Mitchell will once again reflect on the steps that preceded Tueday's goodbye lunch and led him to the precipice of a new journey.

"It doesn’t matter if it’s high school kids, college kids or NBA guys," Mitchell said. "The one common denominator is that you enjoy being in the gym with players that want to get better. That’s just who I am and what I enjoy.”