Originally Posted by Medford
The biggest difference is that Penny is super connected to the AAU and HS scene in and around Memphis. Heck, it was only a year ago that I surmised that CAG should be hitting Memphis hard in the coming years as it appeared from the outside that Tubby was all but ignoring the rich recruiting area right in his backyard. Reports since then seem to indicate that Penny may have been playing a huge role in hometown kids staying away from the Memphis program while Tubby was there (no idea why, other than perhaps he wanted to be their head coach and figured that was the easiest path).
Anyhoo, I think Penny will do a better job at Memphis than Ewing and Mullen have done at G'Town and St Johns. Both Ewing and Mullins have spent their entire post NBA careers in and around the NBA game, they really don't have much of a connection to the AAU or high school scene (though perhaps Ewing did at one point when his son went thru it, but that's been a while). Penny is dripping in AAU/HS connections, especially in the talent rich area of Memphis.
Time will tell of course.
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A little early to say Ewing hasn't done well. His team was very competitive in the Big East this year in his first year. I was actually impressed with some of the things they were doing on the court in comparison to JT III. It's too early to say he'll be successful for sure but I think his first year was promising.
