‘This is a disgrace’: Markquis Nowell sounds off on K-State firing Jerome Tang
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Former K-State player Markquis Nowell calls Jerome Tang’s firing “a disgrace.”
- K-State says Tang’s remarks embarrassed/disparaged athletes, firing him for cause.
- Tang has retained lawyers and plans to contest the firing in court.
One of the best Kansas State basketball players of the Jerome Tang era is not happy with his alma mater at the moment.
Markquis Nowell, the undersized point guard who led the Wildcats to 26 wins and the Elite Eight as a senior in 2023, described K-State’s decision to fire Tang as “a disgrace” on social media. He also didn’t approve of the university’s decision to dismiss him “for cause.”
“I’m shocked and I’m disappointed in (K-State sports),” he wrote on social media. “You got this all wrong. Pay my guy his money and move on!”
Nowell also said he agreed with ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg, who labeled K-State’s decision to fire Tang “for cause” as “embarrassing.”
K-State athletic director Gene Taylor said Sunday that the university decided to fired Tang for cause after he made viral comments about K-State basketball players not deserving to wear purple uniforms after a 91-62 home loss to Cincinnati.
“This was embarrassing,” Tang said at that news conference. “These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform. There will be very few of them in it next year. I’m embarrassed for the university. I’m embarrassed for our fans and our student section. It is just ridiculous.”
Here is what Nowell wrote about those comments on social media: “Coach Tang said nothing wrong during his press conference. All he said was that there is a certain standard you have to play with when playing at Kansas State and the guys that he has there have not met it. I cannot believe this. This is a disgrace!”
Nowell averaged 17.6 points and 8.3 assists per game as a senior as the Wildcats came within one game of the Final Four.
K-State has asserted that Tang broke his contract because those comments brought embarrassment to the university and disparaged student-athletes.
“His comments about the student-athletes,” Taylor said, “and the negative reaction to those comments from a lot of sources, both nationally and locally, is where I thought we needed to make this decision. ... What he said about the student athletes really concerned me.”
K-State would owe Tang a buyout of $18.7 million if he was fired “without cause.” But the Wildcats are trying to reduce that number all the way down to zero by dismissing him “for cause.”
Tang has retained a legal team and plans to fight his termination in court.
One of his attorneys, Tom Mars, told ESPN that K-State will regret its decision to fire Tang in this manner.
“If K-State’s president and AD really think the school was embarrassed by recent events,” Mars told ESPN, “that’s nothing compared to the embarrassment that both of them are about to experience.”
This story was originally published February 17, 2026 at 10:01 AM with the headline "‘This is a disgrace’: Markquis Nowell sounds off on K-State firing Jerome Tang."