Jerome Tang will not coach one other sport for Kansas State males’s basketball, however his Manhattan period is seemingly removed from over.
Regardless of his firing from the top teaching spot, Jerome Tang’s presence will apparently hold over the Kansas State males’s basketball program.
Tang’s three-plus season tenure on the helm of the Wildcats got here to an finish on Sunday, nearly 24 hours after KSU dropped a 78-64 resolution to third-ranked Houston. That dropped Kansas State to 1-11 in Large 12 convention play and affiliate head coach Matthew Driscoll will take over for the remainder of the season. KSU performs on Tuesday evening in opposition to Baylor (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
Armed with Bruce Weber holdover Markquis Nowell and transfers Keyontae Johnson and Nae’Qwan Tomlin, Tang’s first Okay-State group reached the Elite Eight spherical in 2023. That was adopted up by a quick NIT look and three consecutive seasons with no less than 10 convention losses.
Tang Period Seemingly Continues in a New Form of Court docket
The lingering controversy over Tang’s firing is Kansas State has claimed to have fired Tang for trigger, which might get this system out of an $18 million buyout on Tang’s contract. Per Jeff Borzello and Pete Thamel of ESPN, one other latest contest led to KSU referencing a clause in Tang’s contract that will goal conduct that will convey, „public disrepute, embarrassment, ridicule“ to the college.
The Wildcats are two video games faraway from a 91-62 residence shellacking by the hands of mediocre Cincinnati. After that sport, Tang tore aside those that took the ground, hinting at robust occasions forward for the Wildcats.
“These dudes don’t should put on this uniform. There will likely be only a few of them in it subsequent yr,” Tang stated, per Matthew Ho and CJ Moore of The Athletic. “I’m embarrassed for the college, and I’m embarrassed for our followers, our pupil part. It’s simply ridiculous. We’ve obtained observe at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning, and we’ll get this factor proper. I’ve no reply and no phrases.“
Okay-State athletic director Gene Taylor alluded to the feedback in his assertion saying Tang’s firing.
Replace: Jerome Tang has retained Tom Mars and Bennett Speyer within the case of his firing for trigger. Mars instructed ESPN: “If Okay-State’s President and AD actually assume the college was embarrassed by latest occasions, that’s nothing in comparison with the embarrassment that each of them are about to… https://t.co/deGmkldkAh
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 16, 2026
„This was a choice that was made in the most effective curiosity of our college and males’s basketball program,“ Taylor wrote. „Latest public feedback and conduct, along with this system’s general path, haven’t aligned with Okay-State’s requirements for supporting student-athletes and representing the college. We want Coach Tang and his household all the most effective transferring ahead.“
Whereas it seems that the Wildcats are accomplished with Tang, he does not seem accomplished with them: the ex-boss launched a press release vowing to struggle the ruling and has engaged in a brand new type of elite recruitment. A report from Thamel states that Tang has employed attorneys Thomas Mars and Bennett Speyer to characterize him and each have intensive work in collegiate athletic circumstances.
Mars was beforehand a part of the authorized staff that helped Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss acquire one other yr of eligibility from the NCAA, which tried to dam his return primarily based on redshirt harm administration from his 2022 sophomore season at Ferris State. Speyer was the lawyer for present West Virginia soccer head coach Wealthy Rodriguez when he was accused of sexual harassment and making a hostile work setting throughout his time on the helm on the College of Arizona. The case was dismissed in 2021.
In the meanwhile, no official lawsuit has been filed. In a press release to Pete Nakos of On3 Sports activities, Mars said that he and his staff will give Okay-State „a couple of days to regain their senses.“ However Mars and Speyer are on retainer and are keen to hunt the case to completion, with the previous calling out each Taylor and KSU president Richard Linton.
“If Okay-State’s President and AD actually assume the college was embarrassed by latest occasions, that’s nothing in comparison with the embarrassment that each of them are about to expertise,” Mars stated by an X put up from Thamel.
Geoff Magliocchetti on X @GeoffJMags
