Memphis basketball: How a visit with Penny Hardaway earned Cody Toppert the assistant coaching job

Penny Hardaway and Cody Toppert stood on the practice floor inside the Laurie-Walton Family Basketball Center and passed a basketball back and forth.

It was Memorial Day, and the Tigers' $20 million practice facility didn't have another soul in it. No assistant coaches. No trainers. No secretary. Just a former NBA superstar eager to give a Cornell graduate some schooling in Memphis hoops.

"I talked to him on the phone for maybe three weeks before I even made the decision," Hardaway said Wednesday. "I put him through all kind of tests, from knowledge to understanding of the game, to situations and he passed every test."

But Hardaway's exam that day wasn't anything Toppert hadn't already prepared for. He passed similar tests given by NBA front office executives such as Daryl Morey and Ryan McDonough that landed him coaching jobs in the G-League and the NBA. 

Still, after cutting his vacation short to meet the potential assistant, Hardaway wanted to make sure it was worth his time. 

"You name the scenario, and we walked through it," Toppert said. "To me, it was very apparent right then that he knew his stuff, and whoever was going to fill the position had better know their stuff, too."

From on-court work, to film study, to a formal interview process, Toppert estimated he and Hardaway spent nearly five hours inside the facility together on Memorial Day mapping out the future of the program.

"The minute Penny started talking about his vision for the team — opening driving lanes for athletes, dynamic roles, James Wiseman, how to play conceptual basketball at a high pace — I was like, 'Wow, this is exactly how I see the game,'" Toppert said. "Then I left asking where I could sign up."

That Cody Toppert?

After Toppert returned to Arizona, where he was an assistant for the Suns, Hardaway had assistant Mike Miller call the potential candidate the next day one more time to assure he was the right fit. 

Toppert impressed once again, and his connections with the Tigers coaching staff had a foundation.

"Oddly enough, I already knew Tony Madlock," Toppert said. "But Tony didn't realize the Cody that Penny was talking about was me."

While operating ELEV8 Sports Institute in Florida, Toppert had two of his former players move on to play for Madlock at Ole Miss. 

After Hardaway had already offered him the job, Toppert received a call from Madlock. He had no idea Toppert still had his phone number saved.  

"So I said, 'Tony, what's up man?'" Toppert said. "(Madlock) was like, 'Cody, are you kidding me? Penny kept talking about Cody, but is this the same Cody from ELEV8? Are you freakin' kidding me?'"

Between his NBA background and prior connections, Toppert already feels at home with the Memphis coaching staff and knows his specialty will be development and shortening the learning curve for incoming players. 

He coached in the Tigers' first practice last week and is already impressed by the team's top recruiting class.

"I didn't catch a whole lot of basketball last year because for every game (in the NBA) we're playing, we are scouting five," Toppert said. "... Once I talked to Penny on the phone, I did a lot more research and said, 'Wow, this is very intriguing.' If you like to develop players and you like to have the talent — and that's where it starts — then there's no better place to be."

Not just a developer

But Toppert doesn't want to be pigeonholed as only a developer. He's confident he'll be able to recruit, too.

"I know people are going to say, 'Hey, he hasn't been a college coach and he hasn't recruited,'" Toppert said. "But if you dig back to my time when I was at ELEV8, you can see how many guys I've sent to the Division I level. I was able to recruit players to prep school in Florida.

"It's funny because I already had relationships in the game of basketball, which is a small community. And since it's been announced, I can't get my phone to stop buzzing. It's not just congratulatory stuff. It's that and people wanting me to take a look at some talented guys they might have."

Toppert also believes there's a completely different realm of recruiting that he will be able to use to his advantage away from AAU and high school basketball.

"There's a new community that people fail to realize impacts these kids' lives, and it's their player development guy," Toppert said. "All these top-level players have trainers now. ... A lot of those guys in that industry are good friends of mine."

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