The job coaching the Memphis Tigers pays well. Josh Pastner made more than $2.6 million recently though he’d won only two NCAA Tournament games in his tenure.
The team plays in a first-rate, NBA-level arena. However, the Tigers are the secondary tenant in the FedEx Forum, with the NBA’s Grizzlies now the dominant basketball team in the market. The city turns out numerous top basketball talents each year, including the great Penny Hardaway. But there also has been a history of underachievement and me-first play among many of those players that have been produced. The league in which the Tigers play, the American Athletic Conference, straddles the line between big-time and not.