K-State Wildcats Q&A: Is Jerome Tang on the hot seat amid basketball struggles?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Jerome Tang faces increased scrutiny after a three-season win decline and fan apathy
- K-State’s $18.7 million buyout limits midseason firing and fuels administrative caution
- Outlook hinges on roster turnover and transfer hits; Klein bolsters football
It’s time for another K-State Q&A.
Looks like we have one big topic, and a few others, to cover this week.
With that in mind, let’s dive right into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
How hot is Jerome Tang’s seat right now? -@KansasSnotCom via X.
It’s getting warmer.
The last time a K-State basketball coach missed the NCAA Tournament in three consecutive seasons, he was promptly shown the door. That happened in 2022 when fans had their pitchforks out for Bruce Weber. Coincidentally, that was the last time the Wildcats started 0-4 in the Big 12.
But there are some big differences between now and then. Weber’s final three teams didn’t just miss the NCAA Tournament. They bombed. Weber had some great seasons in Manhattan, but his final three records were 11-21, 9-20 and 14-17. Tang’s last three teams haven’t been good, but they’ve been better than that. His last two records were 19-15 and 16-17. This K-State team is 9-8 at the moment.
Weber also had a small buyout. That is not the case with Tang. It would cost K-State a whopping $18.7 million to fire him this year.
If things get bad enough, it’s possible that K-State will overlook that price tag and start looking for a new basketball coach. But the Wildcats would much prefer to save that money. Even if a donor is willing to donate nearly $19 million to the athletic department, K-State would rather use that money to build a football roster.
Those circumstances, combined with fan apathy, could be enough to buy Tang another season. But his recent performance is worthy of the hot seat.
It is very clear after four seasons of watching different Cat teams play that Jerome Tang is a nice man who is simply a bad teacher/coach of basketball. Are we stuck with this for three more years? -Steve B. via e-mail.
The most telling stat about the Jerome Tang era is that Kansas State’s win total has dropped every season.
K-State had 26 wins in Year 1, 19 wins in Year 2 and 16 wins in Year 3. It will take a miracle for this team to reverse that trend and win 17 games.
That is not a good sign.
The Wildcats will need to once again turnover their roster in hopes of a quick turnaround next season, regardless of who happens to be coaching the team.
How in the world do unproven head coaches get such huge buyouts? -@kstatefanfirst via X.
K-State athletic director Gene Taylor didn’t want to lose Tang to Arkansas when the Razorbacks came calling for him a few years ago. So he paid up to keep Tang in Manhattan.
In hindsight, that was not a good decision.
Does Jerome Tang make it to the end of the season at his current pace? -@MonteParrishKSU via X.
I understand the frustration.
K-State tricked all of us into thinking that it had at least a little bit of potential when it got off to a 5-1 start and threw a serious scare into Nebraska. That team played a fun style, scored a boatload of points and ranked inside the top 50 at Bart Torvik.
Since then, the Wildcats have gone 4-7 with just one notable win to speak of (at Creighton). They are no longer fun to watch or scoring all that many points. Over the past 11 games, they rank 113 at Torvik.
This team seems to be getting worse. The Wildcats appear in for a long season.
Still, unless there is some type of scandal or Tang gets caught robbing a bank, I have to imagine that he will remain the head coach for the remainder of this season.
Taylor has let several underperforming coaches finish out their respective seasons before firing them. He doesn’t strike me as the type of boss who is looking to change that right now. He also hired Tang and twice extended him. It would reflect very poorly on Taylor if he had to resort to a mid-season firing.
Let’s also not forget that it’s still early. If K-State starts winning a few games then some of this noise will subside.
The way basketball season is going, don’t you think Jerome Tang will renegotiate his buyout to a reasonable amount? I don’t think he wants to come back to an angry fan base and few donor dollars. He has to see the writing on the wall - @ksucats32 via X.
That seems like wishful thinking to me.
Even after all the struggles that K-State has endured this season, Tang still talks as if this team will win its final 14 games. It’s hard for me to see that confidence drying up and him looking for a way out.
It would probably take another team showing interest in him as head coach to motivate that kind of talk.
Bramlage Coliseum looked half empty for the UCF game. Maybe not even that much. Where was everybody? -MrKaKaRa via X.
That is what most of the crowds have looked like at Bramlage Coliseum this season.
The place probably looked emptier than usual because students were still away on holiday break. But there have only been two good home crowds all season — when fans showed up to greet Collin Klein against Seton Hall and when BYU fans filled the place to cheer on the Cougars.
Too bad. When the fan base gets behind the men’s basketball team, the Octagon of Doom is a fun place to watch a game.
K-State will need to start winning to fill those empty seats.
The battle between 0-5 Utah and 0-5 Kansas State will be electric next Tuesday! -@Jordan_ICT via X.
A battle for not last this early in the Big 12 basketball season really would be something.
As a sports journalist, I don’t go into games rooting for any particular outcome. But I certainly won’t be sad if the basketball gods bless us with that matchup next week inside Bramlage Coliseum.
I joked with someone that Jerome Tang and Bobby Hurley probably told each other “we’ll see you again on the first day of the Big 12 Tournament” after their pillow fight in Tempe last weekend. K-State vs. Utah will have even more of that vibe.
It could be the classic type of game that is so bad it’s actually good.
FYI, it looks like K-State will be favored over Utah at home. Torvik currently projects the Wildcats as 8.5-point favorites.
How does this dumpster fire of a basketball team win more than a couple Big 12 games? -@ReichertRules via X.
Even the worst K-State basketball teams of the Big 12 era have been able to win at least two conference games.
Jim Wooldridge won at least four conference games in all six of his seasons at Bramlage. He never won more than six, either. But even those teams found a way to pick up a few wins.
This team should do the same.
Unexpected results happen all the time in basketball. K-State is bound to get hot from 3-point range a few times and win a handful of games. Let’s hope so, anyway. I don’t want to imagine writing about 18 straight losses.
What is your biggest takeaway from Collin Klein’s portal additions so far? -@garrettb_1983 via X.
I am cautiously optimistic that the Wildcats are putting together a good transfer class, which currently stands at 24 members.
Few of the incoming players are huge names, so we will have to wait and see on most of them. But Klein has addressed some positions of need such as defensive line and landed a few players that I am excited to watch next season.
It is also interesting that the majority of K-State’s newcomers will have multiple years of eligibility remaining. These guys may not all be short-term rentals.
Bringing in four Oklahoma State transfers and two Missouri transfers is also interesting. I like the idea of bringing in teammates.
I am most excited about Mizzou receiver Joshua Manning, Oklahoma State running back Rodney Fields, Louisiana Tech linebacker Tanner Morley and Kennesaw State defensive end Elijah Hill.
It will be fascinating to see how quickly Klein molds his new roster into a team.
How funny will it be if Dylan Edwards follows through and transfers to Kansas? - Jeff M. via e-mail.
It will definitely be entertaining to watch if he switches sides in the Sunflower Showdown rivalry.
Insiders have told me that Nebraska was his first choice, but that didn’t work out. I don’t think he has received as much recruiting attention as he expected out of the transfer portal. That’s why KU could now be an option for him. Maybe it would make for a good match. Maybe not.
K-State will host that game next season at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, by the way.
Dylan Edwards has more than enough talent to be a starting running back in the Big 12. Can he stay healthy and focused on football at his next stop? Those factors will define his next football chapter.
Was Brian Lepak on Klein’s radar the entire time? If not, why the delay is naming him to the staff? -@BusMedicMike via X.
The expectation from the beginning was that Brian Lepak would remain on staff. He has a good history working with Klein and is seen as a bright, up-and-coming coach in the industry.
Why the delay?
It took K-State a little while to figure out what position he would coach. He was also a potential candidate to coach tight ends at Oklahoma after that job came open. After a bit of a delay he agreed to coach tight ends at K-State.