Penny Hardaway's unfiltered rant is just the latest example of his frustration this season

Penny Hardaway, in four seasons as Memphis basketball coach, has developed a reputation as one of the coolest customers in college basketball.

But, following Thursday's 70-62 loss to SMU – the Tigers' third in a row and eighth in the last 12 games – the former NBA All-Star lost his cool. The 49-second, expletive-laden, already-viral sound bite is only the latest unfiltered moment for Hardaway during this tumultuous season.

Hardaway's rant was prompted by a media member who asked Hardaway whether he believes he can "get the job done" at his alma mater. Memphis (9-8, 3-4 AAC) has not been to an NCAA Tournament since 2014. Hardaway has signed the No. 1 recruiting class in the country two of the past three years. Last season, his team missed March Madness but finished strong and won the NIT championship.

This season, however, a rash of injuries (Memphis has not had its full roster available since Nov. 24 and the team has been without two or three starters in every game since Dec. 14) has taken a toll on the Tigers. On Thursday, leading scorer DeAndre Williams missed his fifth game in a row with a bad back and assists leader Landers Nolley II (knee) was out for the second straight game.

When Hardaway was asked whether he's still up for the job, he did not hold back.

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“I think the one thing I can say to this media, because this media gets kind of (expletive) up sometimes when it comes to me, (is) we don’t have our full roster,” he began. “Y’all know we don’t have our full roster. So, stop asking me stupid, (expletive) questions about if I feel like I can do something."

Hardaway continued.

“If I had my roster like (SMU) did, then I feel like I can do whatever I want to do,” he said. “I’m coaching really hard. My boys are playing really hard. I’m not embarrassed about nothing. We have four freshmen starting (referring to Emoni Bates, Jalen Duren, Josh Minott and sophomore Earl Timberlake). Y’all need to act like it. Act like we’ve got 17- and 18- and 19-year-olds out here trying to learn how to play against 22-, 23- and 24-year-old guys.

“C’mon, man. Stop disrespecting me, bro. Like, don’t do that. I work too (expletive) hard. I work way too hard for that. Y’all write all these (expletive) articles about me and all I do is work. We’ve got young kids on the floor.”

During a four-game losing streak earlier this season, where the Tigers lost to bad Georgia and Ole Miss teams, Hardaway criticized his own players on multiple occasions. Specifically, the 50-year-old went after his more veteran players for not being willing to help his younger players make a smoother transition.

"When you play the young guys, the veterans are upset," he said on Dec. 1 after losing to Georgia. "We don't look like we have fun playing with one another."

Three days later, after the Ole Miss loss, Hardaway was back at it.

“It’s a tug-of-war right now in our locker room as far as who’s the man,” he said.

But he didn't stop there that day. In a phone interview with The Athletic's Seth Davis, Hardaway went even further.

"The main reason we have these losses is the veterans don’t want to take the young guys under their wings. They want it to be about them," he said.

Hardaway has received increased criticism since Memphis began struggling after starting the season 5-0. Following a victory at Wichita State on Jan. 1, The Commercial Appeal asked whether he felt vindicated after losing at Tulane two days earlier.

"I mean, I've been the topic of conversation in Memphis all year in a negative light. And all I'm gonna do is stay steady. The criticism, if we lose, I'll take it. Because I have to get these guys better. But it's kind funny when you're missing (three starters). "Give me any team in this conference that can lose three starters and still go on the road and beat anybody."

Even in victory, Hardaway has been openly irritated. After a 3-point victory over Tulsa on Jan. 4, the normally talkative coach was as curt as he's ever been.

"Yep," he said when asked if the game was an instance of simply being happy to win and ready to move on.

Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: For Penny Hardaway, unfiltered rant latest example of Memphis frustration