Memphis hires assistant Pastner as new coach

Apr 6, 2009 - 11:06 PM MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Ticker) -- Memphis remained inside the program for the replacement for John Calipari, announcing that it hired assistant Josh Pastner on Monday.

Pastner, 31, will be officially introduced Tuesday at 12 p.m. Central time.

The hiring comes less than a week after Calipari announced that he was leaving the Tigers for the top job at Kentucky. Pastner spent one season on Calipari's staff after serving the previous six years under Hall of Famer Lute Olson at Arizona.

This is the first head coaching job for Pastner, who was a former walk-on at Arizona and a player during Olson's NCAA champion squad in 1997.

Memphis is coming off a 33-4 campaign that ended with a loss to Missouri in the semifinals of the West Regional. The national runner-up in 2008, the Tigers have reached at least the Elite Eight in the last four years.