Penny Hardaway's biggest regret as Memphis basketball coach? Start with Rick Barnes

Penny Hardaway tries his best to avoid regret.

But he still wishes he had taken the high road in 2018, when Memphis basketball’s then-rookie head coach engaged in what became a high-profile public spat between himself and Tennessee coach Rick Barnes. In fact, it’s the only thing since the Tigers hired him that he wishes he could take back and do differently.

“At the time, people overplayed it,” Hardaway said in an exclusive interview with The Commercial Appeal. “(But) that’s the only thing I feel like I should not have done.”

Hardaway, who was sitting in the lobby of the Flamboyan Conference Center at the Casa de Campo Resort as the Tigers were in the next room preparing to play an exhibition game in La Romana, Dominican Republic, was reflecting on his unconventional career path. The Memphis legend was brought in to reinvigorate a program that was mired in a years-long slump, on and off the court. He had been a successful middle school, high school and AAU coach, but he had no prior college coaching experience. His only professional experience was as a superstar player.

Between his relatively unusual résumé and the “swag” he exuded from the get-go, Hardaway believes that’s what led to some of the challenges he faced early in his tenure.

“I knew what I was getting into,” he said. “It’s a network of coaches that have been around for 100 years, that do things a certain way. I didn’t do things the way they did them. That made me an outcast.”

Then, following a particularly heated Tigers-Vols game at FedExForum on Dec. 15, 2019 (which Tennessee won, 102-92), Hardaway found himself at the center of a national story. He accused Tennessee players of escalating an already tense situation during the game by leaving the bench “with their fists balled, talking trash to our guys.”

During an ensuing radio appearance, Barnes mocked Memphis for what he deemed to be excessive flopping throughout the game. Hardaway took great offense, concluding a subsequent interview with, “Rick Barnes, get the (expletive) out of here.”

“I shouldn’t have even responded to that,” Hardaway said. “I was taking up for my guys, but it got definitely blown out of proportion and rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.”

So much so that Hardaway believes it might be part of the reason why he was recently at the top of an unflattering — albeit apparently arbitrary — list. “College Basketball Report,” an account on X, formerly known as Twitter with 30,000 followers, indicated Hardaway and Michigan coach Juwan Howard are “the most hated coaches in college basketball over the past few seasons.”

The tweet did not include any survey results or measurable data to back up the claim, but it was enough to land on Hardaway’s radar.

“I’m, like, laughing at this,” he said. “Bro, I’m the easiest-going coach. The nicest dude. Chill. And you got me up there as ‘most hated.’ ”

The Tigers and Vols met again in 2019, this time in Knoxville. Memphis came out on top, 51-47. The programs were scheduled to wrap up the three-game series in 2020 with a neutral-site match at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, but COVID-19 forced its postponement. The game was rescheduled for December 2021, but it, too, was called off when positive COVID-19 tests and the resulting contact tracing protocol left the Tigers without enough players to field even a starting lineup.

That game has not yet been rescheduled, and there have not been any signs that it ever will be. In April, Barnes was tight-lipped on the matter.

"We haven't. We haven't," he said when asked whether there have been any discussions with Hardaway about rekindling the series.

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Hardaway said he doesn’t know what is standing in the way of getting the Vols back on the schedule.

“Coach Barnes and I see each other now and speak and have a cordial conversation,” he said. “I don’t know how he feels behind closed doors, but I would love to get the rivalry back. The last game we played was a great game, and that was after what I had said at home. It’s just unfortunate we didn’t get that last game in Nashville.

“I would love (to play) that Nashville game.”

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

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis' Penny Hardaway wishes he'd taken high road with Rick Barnes