Memphis Standard

University of Memphis Men's Basketball Head Coach Penny Hardaway was named a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award, Monday afternoon. The award is presented annually to the top NCAA Division I minority coach.
 
Hardaway, who is in his fifth season at the helm of the Tigers, is one of 25 finalists and is joined by Houston's Kelvin Sampson as the only two representatives from the American Athletic Conference.
 
Under his guidance the Tigers have posted 23 wins this season, which are the most since 2013-14. Hardaway also became only the third coach in program history to win at least 20 games in each of their first five seasons.
 
Memphis ended the regular season 23-8 overall and 13-5 in league play, earning the program's highest finish ever in the AAC Championship (No. 2).
 
The award is named in honor of Coach Jobe, long considered an icon of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is best known as the head coach of Southern University, a position he held for 12 seasons. He was also head coach at Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Talladega, Tuskegee and South Carolina State.

Jobe won 209 games at Southern and made four NCAA Tournament appearances. He also coached the Jaguars to one NIT appearance, five SIAC championships, 11 SWAC titles and two NAIA Tournament Championships. Perhaps his most memorable moment as a coach was leading No. 15 seed Southern to a 93-78 win over No. 2 Georgia Tech in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. It still stands as one of the great upsets in the history of the Big Dance.

Former winners of the award include Leonard Hamilton and Ed Cooley.
 
The recipient of the award will be announced in March in Houston, site of the 2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. 

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