Things have not gone well so far this season in Manhattan, Kansas, and Wildcats fans look like they’re simply done with Jerome Tang.
A large group of students threw brown paper Aldi bags on their heads during Kansas State’s 91-62 loss to Cincinnati at Bramlage Coliseum on Wednesday night. The message was clear. The students were looking for just more than $18.5 million to buy out the rest of Tang’s contract.
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It’s no wonder that, after the blowout loss that dropped the Wildcats to 1-10 in Big 12 play, Tang erupted on his program and took only two quick questions.
It would take more than $18.5 million to buy out the rest of Jerome Tang’s contract at Kansas State, which would set a record in the sport. (Scott Sewell-Imagn Images)
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / Reuters)
“I’m embarrassed for the university. I’m embarrassed for our fans, our student section. We have practice at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning. We will get this right. I have no answers and no words.”
Tang is in his fourth season with the Wildcats this fall. He led the team to the NCAA tournament in his first campaign running the program, which he took over from longtime coach Bruce Weber, and they climbed as high as No. 5 in the national rankings.
But it’s been a steady decline ever since. The team hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament the last two years, and now sit at just 10-13 with seven games left in the regular season. The Wildcats have lost five straight and only just barely snuck out their one conference win late last month against Utah after a late go-ahead bucket from PJ Haggerty. The Wildcats, without a remarkable run both over the next few weeks and in the Big 12 tournament, are going to miss the NCAA tournament once again.
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But getting rid of Tang isn’t that simple. Tang’s buyout is the 12th-largest in all of college basketball, according to the Capital-Journal, and would set a record for the largest buyout in the sport’s history if Kansas State pulls the trigger. Wake Forest currently holds that record with the nearly $14.7 million buyout it gave Danny Manning in 2020. Jerry Stackhouse was believed to have received more than $15 million when he was fired from Vanderbilt, but terms of his buyout are not publicly known.
While Wildcats fans may not like it, they are very likely stuck with Tang for another year. And by the sounds of it, they’ll have a very different roster next fall.
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This season, though, feels just about lost.
“I’m pissed,” Tang said plainly.
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