Memphis Grizzlies assistant coach Jerry Stackhouse has agreed to a six-year deal with Vanderbilt to become the head coach, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

The Commodores athletic director Malcolm Turner had watched Stackhouse closely in Turner's prior job as the president of the NBA's G-League.

Vanderbilt University has pledged to bolster the financial commitment to the program, including assistant coaching salaries and budgets. Vanderbilt went 9-23 this past season, ranking 14th overall in the crowded SEC Conference.

Stackhouse's intense coaching style has won him a bevy of respect in his two seasons as coach of the Raptors 905 of the G-League, where he won a title in 2017 as a rookie head coach.

A former NBA player that spent most of his time with the Philadelphia 76ers, the Detroit Pistons and the Dallas Mavericks, Stackhouse's journeyman ventures have taught him plenty of league-wide recognition, going swiftly from being the star and focal point of the team to adjusting to a role as a featured scorer and later a veteran influence for younger players.

The 44-year-old coach announced his retirement from the NBA as a player in 2013, soon embarking into a two-year venture as a sports analyst for Fox Sports Detroit before pursuing coaching for the last four years.

Stackhouse makes for an interesting counter to in-state rival University of Memphis, who hired longtime NBA star Penny Hardaway, setting the stage for a regional recruiting battle in the near future.

Stackhouse, an 18-year NBA veteran, has already won accolades as the G-League Coach of the Year during his championship season in 2017, coming into his first college stint as a highly-decorated former player and now coach.