College Basketball

NBA Assistant Roy Rogers Joins Memphis Coaching Staff

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James Foglio
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James Foglio Sports Editor

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Updated32 minutes ago on October 24, 2025

NBA Assistant Roy Rogers Joins Memphis Coaching Staff

Memphis men’s basketball head coach Penny Hardaway has added longtime NBA assistant Roy Rogers as an assistant to fill out his staff for this season, the school announced Thursday. Hardaway also hired Josh Townsend as the Tigers’ new director of scouting.

Roy Rogers Brings Over 20 Years Of Coaching To Memphis

Rogers was selected 22nd overall in the 1996 NBA draft by the then-Vancouver Grizzlies out of Alabama. He spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach for the Portland Trail Blazers.

He also has been an assistant with the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Washington Wizards, Houston Rockets, and Chicago Bulls.


Rogers’ hire marks his first college coaching job. He joins a staff that includes Mike Davis and Jermaine Johnson. Hardaway also added Darrell Brown Jr. as director of player development and Kristan Kelly as director of basketball operations this summer.

Townsend spent the past two seasons as head video coordinator for the South Bay Lakers, the Los Angeles Lakers‘ G League affiliate, and was with the Lakers’ 2024 Summer League staff.

Josh Townsend Was A Graduate Assistant At Penn State

Per The Associated Press, Townsend was a graduate assistant at Penn State between 2021 and 2023.

A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Townsend played collegiately at Kutztown University, where he was named Team Captain and currently ranks ninth all-time in career rebounds (553) for the Golden Bears.

These moves come less than two weeks before Memphis’ first exhibition game and almost three months following the departure of Nolan Smith, who left the Tigers to become Tennessee State’s coach.

Smith was the third member of Hardaway’s 2024-25 staff to exit since the season ended. Jordan VerHulst (director of basketball operations) and Marcus Nunnally (director of scouting) are the others.

Memphis will face Arkansas on Oct. 27 at FedExForum, and Auburn on Oct. 30 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta in exhibition matchups. The Tigers open the regular season against San Francisco at home on Nov. 8.