Jerome Tang had one concern about Kansas State. Then he realized it may be a positive
Most of the time, when you hear a college basketball coach say he has concerns about taking a new job at a new school his reservations stem from things like money, recruiting, tradition or the team’s roster.
Not so much for Jerome Tang and Kansas State.
When the Wildcats first approached Tang about taking over as their new men’s basketball coach in March, his biggest worry had nothing to do with the team he was about to inherit or the college he was about to represent. It was the climate. After growing up in the Caribbean and spending most of his life in central Texas, could he handle the winters in Manhattan?
“I am that much of a warm weather guy,” Tang said. “I lived in Minnesota for five years and I promised myself I would never go back. This is not Minnesota, though, so I will be all right.”
Still, you can tell Tang is ready for summer to arrive in the Flint Hills. He has worn long sleeves nearly every day since he set up his office inside Bramlage Coliseum and he didn’t care for the rain and cold that followed him across the Sunflower State at Catbacker events last week.
So much so that he was skeptical when fans told him temperatures reach triple digits in the summer.
“I think you guys are selling me a fable that it gets sweltering hot,” Tang said. “But I never thought it was hot in Texas, so I like that. If it gets that way in the summer here I am going to be great.”
If 100 degrees doesn’t bother him, what temperature does he consider hot?
“When you’re in Las Vegas and it’s 117,” Tang said. “But if it’s 95 or 102 I am all right.”
The thought of shoveling snow off his driveway probably wasn’t uncomfortable enough for Tang to seriously considering turning down Gene Taylor’s offer to become a head coach in the Big 12 after spending the past 17 seasons as an assistant under Scott Drew at Baylor. But it definitely gave him pause.
At least it did until Tang realized some colder weather could be a positive for his new basketball team, and something that he never experienced at Baylor.
“What I like about here is when it gets cold outside that means it is basketball season and our fans pack Bramlage,” Tang said. “You can’t get that in the south. You just can’t. This is a basketball place. I am so fired up about that. I will put on a coat for that.”
Basketball attendance has been hit-and-miss during the Drew era at Baylor. Even as the Bears became a Big 12 powerhouse and a national champion, selling out the Ferrell Center (10,284) was such a rarity that Baylor has plans to build a new, smaller arena (7,000) on its campus.
Texas is also downsizing from the largest arena in the Big 12 to a capacity of 10,000 at its new Moody Center. The basketball capacity at TCU’s Schollmaier Arena is 8,500.
Basketball is traditionally a bigger draw at K-State, where the Wildcats have been known to fill Bramlage to capacity (12,528) when their fan base has a winning team to support.
K-State basketball attendance dropped significantly the past three years as the team slumped under former coach Bruce Weber. Recreating the loud Octagon of Doom basketball environments that K-State previously experienced over the past decade is among Tang’s top priorities.
He credits Kansas — or “the school down the road” as he likes to call it — for having a monster home-court advantage that helps the Jayhawks win so often. Tang told a crowd of K-State fans that he expects the Wildcats’ home-court advantage to be worth 10-15 points per game.
Based on the fan excitement he has witnessed thus far, Tang thinks it can happen ... and soon, even as he works rebuild the Wildcats’ roster with just two returning players.
He never experienced anything like K-State’s spring Catbacker tour while he was at Baylor. He has also seen how passionate K-State fans have been with recruits on social media.
Last week, he told a story about a 2023 recruit, presumably Sunrise Christian guard Layden Blocker, who recently announced on Twitter he was at K-State for a visit and the tweet received 889 likes. That was up significantly from when the same recruit visited Maryland. His tweet announcing that trip only got 16 likes.
For Tang, fan support like that was worth relocating to a cooler climate.
“Our fans are unbelievable,” Tang said. “They are great. They do a great job of interacting with (recruits) on social media. I’ve never had this kind of momentum behind it. I’m excited to see what can happen.”
This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 1:09 PM with the headline "Jerome Tang had one concern about Kansas State. Then he realized it may be a positive."