K-State Q&A: What’s next for the Wildcats as they search for a basketball coach?

The past three months have been wild and crazy for Kansas State.

Fans have seen Chris Klieman unexpectedly retire as football coach. They have cheered the return of Collin Klein. And they have witnessed the drama-filled departure of men’s basketball coach Jerome Tang.

That’s a lot. It usually takes several years for that much major coaching news to happen in Manhattan.

But things are about to get even more eventful with a coaching search underway.

My prediction for what comes next: K-State finds the least objectionable option to hire as Tang’s replacement.

Athletic director Gene Taylor says he will prioritize head coaching history and a winning background this time around. I bet the next coach is someone who brings a high floor (more than a high ceiling) with him to Manhattan. This may seem like a relatively unexciting hire on the surface, but he will bring respectability back to the program.

I can’t tell you exactly who that coach is going to be yet. K-State’s coaching search remains in its infancy. But I won’t be surprised if the Wildcats find someone with a background similar to what Klieman had before he was hired away from North Dakota State.

Now, let’s dive into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.

Just how good of a college basketball job does Kansas State have to offer at the moment? - Jesse. P via e-mail.

It’s a good job.

Not bad. Not great. K-State is perfectly in the middle.

The last three coaches who have worked for the Wildcats all reached the Elite Eight. Bruce Weber also won a pair of shared Big 12 regular season titles. The right coach can absolutely win in Manhattan.

But the wrong coach can lose here, too. Case in point: The Wildcats have only reached the NCAA Tournament one time in the past seven years.

There’s also the unfortunate fact about several former K-State coaches making it all the way to the Final Four ... at other schools. Lon Kruger, Frank Martin, Dana Altman, Bob Huggins and Weber all made it to the biggest stage in college basketball, just not when they were wearing purple.

I would rank K-State somewhere in the middle of the Big 12 in terms of job appeal. The Wildcats devote plenty of NIL resources to the basketball team. And fans are more than willing to support the team when things are going well. Those are both nice perks.

But wins are hard to come by in the Big 12. Tang had more than enough resources to win. He just didn’t execute after Year 1.

K-State basketball has seen its share of peaks and valleys over the past two decades.

Where the Wildcats go from here is entirely up to the next coach.

After seeing how they are handling the “for cause” firing with Jerome Tang, why would coaches want this job unless they currently have a terrible one? -@tucsontwitchy via X.

Here’s the thing about coaches: Most of them think they are invincible.

Any coach who would have been interested in K-State before it fired Jerome Tang will still be interested in K-State now. Why? Because they all think they can win with the Wildcats.

The easiest way to avoid getting fired is to win. So it shouldn’t be that hard for the next coach to avoid the same fate as Tang. All he has to do is win ... and not lose the fan base with a string of absurd remarks in press conferences.

Any coach who is close with Tang or his agent may no longer be interested in K-State. I doubt Mike Krzyzewski wants to come out of retirement and coach the Wildcats, either.

But most up-and-coming coaches will be interested. It’s the only power-conference job that is open at the moment. This is an opportunity to coach in the Big 12. My sources say there has been no shortage of interest in the gig. Agents and candidates began reaching out to Gene Taylor on Sunday night to express their interest.

What happens if Matthew Driscoll guides K-State to a Big 12 Tournament championship and then the Wildcats go on a crazy March run like NC State did a few years ago? Would he get the full-time job? -@Garrett_b_1983 via X.

K-State would probably have to keep him if the team is somehow able to win a national championship on Matthew Driscoll’s watch.

But that’s about the only scenario that could lead to him getting the job.

K-State wants to bring in a different kind of coach. Driscoll is way too similar to Tang. He instantly turned a lot of people off on Tuesday night when he spent the bulk of his 7-minute opening statement praising Tang and crediting him for the win even though he wasn’t in the building.

Driscoll also said he didn’t come to K-State to be a head coach. He doesn’t want the job. There is no future for him in Manhattan.

But you have to give him credit. The Wildcats played their best game in two months with him calling the shots against Baylor. If he wins enough games over the next month, maybe a low-major school will show interest in hiring him as a head coach.

Give us your top five candidates for the next K-State basketball coach - Jeff M. via e-mail.

Here are the eight names I threw out as potential candidates on Monday: Brad Underwood, Josh Schertz, Jerrod Calhoun, Eric Olen, Bryan Hodgson, Travis Steele, Mike Boynton and Erik Pastrana.

I have since heard internal support for two of those names. K-State folks seem to like Calhoun, who is killing it at Utah State this season. They also like Olen, who is in his first year at New Mexico.

I have heard mixed reaction to Schertz, who is at Saint Louis.

Fans will always dream about Underwood, but I don’t see that happening. The other names are wild cards.

I would now add Belmont coach Casey Alexander to the list. He found success at Lipscomb and has since led Belmont to seven straight 20-win seasons. Belmont is on track to win the Missouri Valley Conference this season. He is the exact kind of coach I mentioned at the top of this space. He may not be flashy. But he wins.

Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson might be another option. He was born in North Dakota and he has spent decades coaching in the Midwest. Taylor will like him. Jacobson hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2016, which could hurt his candidacy ... if he’s even looking to leave Northern Iowa. But he has won 60.3% of his games as a head coach.

Why was Year 1 so great for Jerome Tang? Why were Years 2, 3 and 4 so bad for Jerome Tang? - Andrew B. via e-mail.

More than anything, I think it boils down to one thing.

Markquis Nowell only played for Jerome Tang in his first season with the Wildcats.

Not only was Nowell an outstanding point guard and one of the best players to suit up for K-State in the past decade, he was also a Jerome Tang stan. Nowell went to Gene Taylor and begged him to hire Tang. Then Nowell embraced religion and asked Tang to baptize him. They had an incredibly strong bond, and it showed up on the court.

Having Keyontae Johnson, Nae’Qwan Tomlin, Ismael Massoud and Desi Sills on the roster didn’t hurt either. But Tang has coached other talented players of the years. But there has only been one Nowell.

Tang tried a bunch of different strategies to win over the past three years, but none of them involved bringing in an undersized point guard who played bigger than everyone else on the court. That’s a big reason why they didn’t work.

How many K-State basketball players should we expect back next season? -@catsfan6767 via X.

Very few.

Maybe even zero.

The Wildcats should have a brand new team next season, or something close to it.

You know ball. You’ve been around collegiate athletics a long time. You have friends in the media. How does “Kellis Robinett - Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Kansas State University” sound to you??? -@MrTroyHenry via X.

It sounds great!

Word must be getting out that I coached my son’s 10U 3-on-3 basketball team to an undefeated record last spring.

My weekly recommendations

Food: Garrett popcorn. You can’t find better snack food at an airport.

Movie: Kicking & Screaming. Most will remember Robert Duvall for his iconic roles in “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now” and “The Natural.” But the late actor gave an underrated performance in this Will Ferrell movie about coaching youth soccer.

Classic K-State highlight: Remember when K-State beat Michigan State in the Sweet 16? That was Jerome Tang’s finest hour.

This story was originally published February 20, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: What’s next for the Wildcats as they search for a basketball coach?."

Kellis Robinett

The Wichita Eagle

Kellis Robinett covers Kansas State athletics for The Wichita Eagle and The Kansas City Star. A winner of more than a dozen national writing awards, he lives in Manhattan with his wife and four children.