Kansas State Wildcats announce Jerome Tang as new men’s basketball coach
The Kansas State men’s basketball team has a new coach.
His name is Jerome Tang.
Tang, a 55-year old who has spent the past 19 seasons helping to turn Baylor into a national power, has agreed to a six-year, $14.1 million contract with the Wildcats and will replace Bruce Weber on the sidelines at Bramlage Coliseum.
“I am beyond excited to be the next head basketball coach at Kansas State,” Tang said in a release. “Having the opportunity to build on a program with a rich basketball history at a prestigious university is truly a blessing. We look forward to bringing an exciting style of basketball to K-State while helping our student-athletes succeed on the court and in life. My family and I can’t wait to get to Manhattan and form deep relationships with our students, former players, alumni and Wildcat fans everywhere. We look forward to making the Octagon of Doom the best home court advantage in the country!”
K-State administrators, including athletics director Gene Taylor, flew to Texas on Sunday to formally interview Tang and began working on a contract. They closed the deal on Monday morning. Tang will be introduced in a Thursday news conference at a time to be announced.
Tang’s contract will play him $2.1 million next season and his base salary will increase by $100,000 in each remaining year.
“As we conducted a national search to find our next head coach, we wanted to identify an individual who can lead our program to consistently high levels while maintaining the integrity that our program is known for,” Taylor said in a release. “When we first met with Jerome, he was very impressive, and that continued throughout the duration of our search.”
Tang was among the top replacement candidates from the beginning of Taylor’s search, which lasted nearly two weeks. It’s easy to understand why.
K-State would love nothing more than to emulate what Baylor has accomplished on the hardwood under Scott Drew and his former lead lieutenant. When Drew arrived in Waco, Texas in 2003 the program was in shambles. But he had Tang by his side as an assistant. Together, they slowly turned the Bears into the juggernaut they are today.
After once being viewed as an afterthought in Big 12 hoops, Baylor is now regularly challenging Kansas at the top of the conference standings. The Bears have not only become regulars in the NCAA Tournament, they have claimed a pair of league championships and won a national title.
If that weren’t impressive enough, they have also absolutely owned the Wildcats of late. K-State hasn’t beaten Baylor since 2019, losing seven in a row to the Bears by an average of 21.4 points.
Baylor won 27 games this season and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Its season came to an end with an overtime loss against North Carolina in the Round of 32 on Saturday. That exit paved the way for K-State to strike a deal with Tang early this week.
This story was originally published March 21, 2022 at 10:57 AM with the headline "Kansas State Wildcats announce Jerome Tang as new men’s basketball coach."