WATCH: Penny Hardaway issues apology following expletive-filled rant

Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway issued an apology Friday night to the players and fans on Instagram. The apology comes after he dished out an expletive-filled rant and lashed out at local media following his team’s 70-62 loss to the SMU Mustangs on Thursday.

Penny Hardaway issues an apology to the players and fans on Instagram. pic.twitter.com/0wSaNXgozy

— Drew Hill (@DrewHill_DM) January 22, 2022

Here is the transcribed version of Hardaway’s apology below:

“Memphis, I just wanted to let you guys know that I love you. Tiger Nation — I love you. I want to issue an apology to my school, to the players, to our fans. I let my emotions get the best of me last night and that’s not the way that you handle situations,” the embattled Memphis head coach said.

“I bleed Blue and I’m fighting always for my school, for my city, and for my players. We’re working very hard. We know that there’s adversity right now, but it’s not going to stop us from working hard. We are going to make you guys proud. We’re going to win. We’re gonna get through this together.”

“And to the fans that are fighting with us, thank you so much, we really appreciate it. You guys help push us through with your energy. And to my players, let’s keep fighting on. We’re nine and one strong. And again Memphis, I love you. Peace,” Hardaway said.

The rant from Thursday night

Here is the rant that Hardaway had on Thursday night following the loss to SMU–as transcribed by On3’s Simon Gibbs.

“This media gets kind of fucked up sometimes when it comes to me. We don’t have our full roster. Y’all know we don’t have our full roster,” Hardaway said, when asked by Daily Memphian columnist Geoff Calkins if he had any doubts that he can succeed at Memphis. “Stop asking me stupid fucking questions about if I feel like I can do something. If I feel like I had my roster like they (SMU) did? I’d feel like I can do whatever I want to do.”

Hardaway wasn’t finished, either.

“I’m coaching really hard, my boys are playing really hard, I’m not embarrassed about nothing,” Hardaway said after Memphis’ loss. “Y’all need to act like it. Act like we’ve got 17, 18 and 19-year-olds trying to learn how to play against 22, 23 and 24-year-old guys. Come on, man. Stop disrespecting me, bro. Don’t do that. I work too fucking hard. I work way too hard for that. Y’all write all these bullshit articles about me, and all I do is work. We’ve got young kids on the floor.”

Memphis entered the season with high hopes, thanks to Hardaway once again striking gold with his recruiting class, but the Tigers have fallen immensely short of expectations. After being ranked No. 12 in the AP preseason poll, and climbing up as high as the No. 9 spot, the Tigers would be lucky to make it to the NIT like they did last season.

Memphis’ recruiting class created offseason buzz for the third consecutive season, as Hardaway managed to secure commitments from five-star forward Emoni Bates, five-star center Jalen Duren, four-star forward Josh Minott and four-star forward John Camden, giving the Tigers the nation’s sixth-best recruiting class, via the On3 Consensus. Their record looks quite unlike the talented makeup of the roster.

Last season was no different: Memphis’ class came in at No. 4 in the country, thanks to a commitment from five-star center Moussa Cisse — who, after one tumultuous season, entered the NCAA Transfer Portal and went to Oklahoma State.

And of course, the season prior was the same story, as the Tigers hauled in the No. 5 class in the country, per the On3 Consensus, after gaining commitments from five-star center James Wiseman and five-star small forward Precious Achiuwa.

But no matter how much success Hardaway has had in the recruiting realm, he’s been unable to make any translation to on-court success.

On3’s Simon Gibbs also contributed to this article.