Baylor Hires an Old Friend to Return to the Basketball Program
In this story:
Baylor Basketball is coming off one of its worst seasons in recent memory under its legendary head coach, Scott Drew.
Baylor missed the NCAA Tournament despite having a talented enough roster, with at least two players on the roster who are expected to be picked in June’s NBA Draft.
Despite that Baylor fell near the bottom of the Big 12 standings. Two teams finished worse than them.
One of the teams who finished with a worse record than Baylor in the Big 12 was Kansas State.
Kansas State was coached by Jerome Tang, who took the job in Manhattan after being a long-time assistant under Scott Drew.
Saying that Tang was at Baylor for a long time is almost the understatement of the century. He was there for nearly two decades, which included being on staff as Baylor won the national championship in 2021.
The Return
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Tang is coming back home. After last season’s drama at Kansas State ultimately resulted in Tang being let go, Tang sat out for the remainder of the season.
Returning to Baylor, somewhere he’s comfortable, always felt like a logical choice, but was not set in stone until Tuesday afternoon.
“Nineteen years together, he’s family,” Drew said after Baylor’s 90-74 loss against the Wildcats in March.
“We won championships together. It’s been emotional for me, our staff and our program, because everyone can relate. If you’ve got a brother or a friend and they go through hardship, you feel it.”
Drew would continue on talking about how Tang’s controversial firing was something that was difficult for him to process.
“Coach Tang never stays down long because he’s such a positive and optimistic person,” Drew said. “I think he had opportunities to leave, and he stayed because he really loves the people here and loves the school,” Drew said.
“When I lose, the worst thing for me is feeling like I let people down, and that’s harder on him, too. He wanted to win for the people, for the students and everybody. Just like tonight, I’m the embarrassed one, and I’m embarrassed for our fans.”
Now, the two men are reunited after a short stint apart. Tang will get to work immediately and try to help Baylor rebuild a roster that should have some continuity surrounding it.
Still, after a short season by their standards, Baylor has a lot of work to do to get back to the top of the Big 12 where they feel they belong.
Perhaps Tang can help Drew turn back the clock.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Jacob Westendorf is a contributing writer for Baylor Bears on SI. He is also a writer covering the Green Bay Packers for Packers on SI. Westendorf graduated from University of Wisconsin-Green Bay where he earned a degree in communication with an emphasis in journalism and mass media. He worked in newspapers in Green Bay and Rockford, Illinois. He also interned at Packer Report for Bill Huber while earning his degree. In 2018, he became a staff writer for PackerReport.com, and a regular contributor on Packer Report's "Pack A Day Podcast." In 2020, he founded the media company Game On Wisconsin. In 2023, he rejoined Packer Central, which is part of Sports Illustrated Media Group.