K-State Men’s Basketball Coach Jerome Tang on Hot Seat?

Based on his record alone, Kansas State coach Jerome Tang might be concerned that his job is in jeopardy. The Wildcats are a disappointing 10-14 overall and an unthinkable 1-10 in the Big 12.

K-State’s season has been a struggle. The Wildcats started 5-0. Since then, K-State is 5-14. The Wildcats have won one of their last 11 games.

When you look at their victories, not one looks to be over a sure NCAA Tournament team. The Wildcats have lost close games, they have dealt with injuries and bad luck.

But many teams do.

Tang’s legendary rant Wednesday night after the Wildcats were crushed at home to Cincinnati, 91-62, probably didn’t help. Tang went off on his team — with force and in their face. He said, among other things, that players didn’t deserve to be on the K-State team.

There was booing at the Cincinnati game and folks wore paper bags over their head. “I’d wear a paper bag, too, if I was them,” Tang said in a postgame news conference about the fans in the student section.

Kansas State coach Jerome Tang's team has lost 10 of 11 games. | Scott Sewell-Imagn Images

Now, The Athletic college basketball writer Brendan Marks has listed Tang as a coach possibly on the hot seat, along with 15 other coaches who might be in the same precarious situation. In the Big 12, Marks also cited Arizona State’s Bobby Hurley, and Cincinnati’s Wes Miller.

Marks wrote about Tang: “Things don’t often fall apart so quickly for a coach who makes the Elite Eight in his debut season. But that’s Tang’s reality, having gone 35-45 and 18-30 in the Big 12 since his standout first season.

“The Wildcats are tied for last in the league, with their lone conference win coming against Utah, the team they’re tied with. Tang’s buyout is $18.7 million if he’s fired before April 30 — and Kansas State would have to decide before then to get started on hiring a new. Coach and building a roster.

“Would the Wildcats really pay that much to move on? Quite possibly, according to industry sources.”

Wildcats blown out by Cincy

K-State losing to Cincinnati was bad enough but the manner in which the game played out was particularly ugly. The Bearcats, who were winless on the road, shot 57.1 in the first half while racing out to a 53-31 lead.

The Wildcats’ defense didn’t offer much resistance.

“This was embarrassing,” Tang said at his postgame news conference Wednesday night.

“These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform. There will be very few of them in it next year.

“I’m embarrassed for the university, I’m embarrassed for our fans, our student section.

“It is ridiculous. We have practice at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning. We will get this thing right. I have no answers and no words. I’m only taking two questions. I’m [hissed]. This is, this is …

“These dudes got to have some pride, it means something to wear a K-State uniform, it means something to put on this purple … I love this place, man, and they don’t love this place and don’t deserve to be here.”

Same result against KU

On Jan. 24, arch-rival Kansas marched into Bramlage Coliseum and won, 86-62, finishing the game on a 27-7 run. A struggling team, sometimes, can build in some runway by defeating a rival, especially a big-time program like Kansas.

Losing in such a miserable way — the Jayhawks outscored K-State, 18-2, in the paint down the stretch — didn’t help Tang or his team.

“Very disappointed that we didn’t finish with the kind of effort that those people [fans who showed up in a snowstorm] deserve,” Tang said in a news conference after the Kansas loss.

Kansas State coach Jerome Tang talks to Nate Johnson during the second half against Cincinnati at Bramlage Coliseum. | Scott Sewell-Imagn Images

The pressure of competition and the desperation to win can lead to bad decisions. It’s understood that Tang was upset after the Cincinnati game — one that looked on paper to be a possible K-State win.

This is Tang’s fourth season at Manhattan. In his first season, Tang’s team went to the Elite Eight. The Wildcats are 26-31 over the last two seasons.

In a everywhere, all-the-time media world, a college coach is the face and voice of his program. Fans, students and boosters are aware of what is going on. Everyone wants results. Everyone wants a fix. Tang does, too.

Messengers not only have to show a path forward, but they have to deliver the message in a palatable way to the stakeholders. Tough love has its place, if the message is received, digested, and being taken seriously.

K-State plays at No. 3 Houston on Saturday afternoon (3 p.m. CT, Peacock). It will be interesting to see how the Wildcats respond against one of the nation’s best teams … and what Tang has to say afterward.

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