Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Director of Basketball Operations
- Email:
- rodney.hamilton@memphis.edu
- Phone:
- 901-678-2346
- Instagram:
- @rodney_hamilton
Rodney Hamilton was added to head coach Penny Hardaway's first Memphis staff in April 2018 as Director of Basketball Operations. Hamilton spent six seasons (2012-13 to 2017-18) as an assistant coach at Tennessee State, where he was involved in recruiting, player development, scouting and academic assistance.
At Tennessee State, he coached and assisted in the development of Christian Mekowulo, the 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year, and Tahjere McCall, a two-time OVC Defensive Player of the Year (2016 and 2017). In addition, he coached Keron DeShields, a first-team All-OVC and OVC All-Newcomer Team member, Patrick Miller, a two-time First Team All-OVC selection who set the single-season school record for assists (195) in the 2012-13 season and Robert Covington, a first-team All-OVC pick in 2012.
Before arriving at Tennessee State, he served as the head women’s basketball coach at Indiana Tech for three seasons (2009-12). Additionally, he spent time as an assistant coach at Crichton College (2005-07) and Southeast Missouri State (2007-09). At SEMO, he was the program’s recruiting coordinator and was involved in scheduling, player development and scouting.
Hamilton’s first coaching job came in 2001 when he was named head coach at Westside High. He served in that position until 2005 when he joined Crichton College in Memphis.
Hamilton attended Whitehaven High School and played collegiately at Georgia State. When he graduated, he was Georgia State’s career leader in points (1,515), assists (535) and steals (212) and the program’s most accurate free-throw shooter (83.8 percent).
At Georgia State, he earned All-Atlantic Sun Conference first-team honors twice and was a two-time academic All-A-Sun selection. He was the first player at Georgia State to have his uniform retired and was an inaugural member of the Georgia State University Athletics Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in April 2016.
Before beginning his coaching career, Hamilton played professionally in Europe for three seasons with stops in Sweden, Switzerland and Hungary.
Hamilton earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management degree from Georgia State in 1998. He completed his Masters of Arts in Education from Christian Brothers University in 2003.
He and his wife, Tamara, are parents of three daughters, Bailey, Brooke and Bella.
