Meet Memphis Tigers’ new ‘game-changer’ baseball coach Kerrick Jackson
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Welcome back to the Memphis Sports newsletter. It’s Ray Padilla, The Commercial Appeal’s digital producer, with the latest summer headlines in Bluff City Sports.
Memphis’ athletics director Laird Veatch recognized the X factor almost immediately in Kerrick Jackson, who was recently named the school’s new baseball coach, our Jason Munz reports.
“I knew the first time we met with him in person, I knew it sure felt really good,” said Veatch. “It was kind of one of those, ‘Oooh, that’s (going to be) really hard to beat.’ You’re looking back and trying to find excuses for why it wouldn’t work, and you just can’t find ‘em.”
Jackson was officially announced as Daron Schoenrock’s successor on May 29. Schoenrock retired last month after 17 seasons.
Briarcrest coach impacts bowling team while battling cancer
Briarcrest girls bowling coach Rick Orr is authentic and raw when he speaks as a cancer survivor, our Wynston Wilcox reports. And the strength Orr shows in the class and at the bowling alley, even on his worst days, is the courage it takes to leave a lasting impact.
Orr was named this year's recipient of the Courage Award at the annual Memphis Area High School Sports Awards presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans held at Orpheum Theatre Monday.
“I love the kids so much and it gives a lot of meaning to my life so I just want to be there,” Orr said. “And be a positive influence and want to tell them about Jesus Christ.”
To see a list of all the winners from Monday night’s sports awards, read Wynston’s latest story.
5 Memphis football transfers who should make an impact
Memphis is still two months away from preseason practice, but players have begun informal summer workouts on campus, our Evan Barnes reports. It also means the Tigers' remaining signees have enrolled. So Evan re-evaluated which transfers could have an immediate impact.
Evan provides us with five non-JUCO transfers who fans should keep in mind before the Tigers resume practice in August including Jeyvon Ducker, Tyler Murray and Geoffrey Cantin-Arku.
What Penny Hardaway has vs what he wants
“Good, not great,” is how Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway described his feelings should the Tigers enter the season with the players currently signed or committed.
Yet Hardaway is not deterred any of it. Not by unexpected decisions by players and staff members, nor by the impending decision in the program’s IARP investigation, our Mark Giannotto writes in his latest column for subscribers.
Here’s an excerpt:
Penny Hardaway was talking about Jay Wright, about Wright’s decision to step down as the Villanova basketball coach this offseason despite being just 60 years old and, perhaps intentionally, it felt like he was talking about himself in some ways.
About what drove him to become the Memphis basketball coach more than four years ago, and what’s still driving him today, as he navigates through the seismic changes coursing through the college sports landscape right now.
“It didn’t shock me,” Hardaway said Monday from a golf cart at TPC Southwind during his round at the AutoZone Liberty Bowl charity golf event. “When you’ve won two championships, made all the money you can make in college basketball – he’s helped a ton of kids – it’s almost like, what’s next? I can see him get past a point of 20, 30 years coaching college basketball, like it’s time to do something new.”
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The Memphis Sports newsletter was written by Ray Padilla, the digital producer for The Commercial Appeal, and features stories written by Jason Munz, Wynston Wilcox, Evan Barnes and Mark Giannotto. Ray can be reached at raymond.padilla@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @Ray_Padilla_.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis Sports: Tigers' new baseball coach; look at football transfers
