Strong characteristics like ethics, moral character, treating players the right way, and treating players beyond the court basketball was really important. "That's what makes this hire so special because of who he is as a person. We felt a strong connection we had to him, and him to us, and more importantly, him to our program. You know, sometimes you think you'll be there for an hour, but three hours later, we basically had to leave because some time they had to have dinner as a family. We talked to some great candidates, all head coaches, and every time we kept coming back to Jerome and kept coming back to saying, 'We have got to find out more about who he is as a person.' We went to his home in Waco this past Sunday. I will tell you that first hour we're like, 'Okay, the bar has been set pretty high.' And we said that everyone we talked to after this is gonna really have to try and match that bar. I'd heard of him, and he was identified early in the process as somebody we really wanted to talk to.
I didn't really know who he was, personally. When we met Jerome in Kansas City, we met him for an hour. Also, when we're looking for our coach, we felt that's where we needed to start. "So, one of the things people asked me is, 'So, what were you looking for? What were you looking for in the next head coach?' And quite honestly, I answered that a lot of the characteristics and things that Bruce Weber brought to us - high character, integrity, doing it the right way, building a successful program in the right way, and treating players well. There was a high interest because of the players that were here, and there was a high interest because it's K-State Basketball. There was a high interest because of the history of the program. I will tell you - and I told the players this - there was a high interest in this program. Certainly, our search firm, Katie and Chad, from Turnkey Sports really dug deep down and found some really great candidates. They have been here a long time and are familiar with our basketball program. Keeping me A) calm and B) focused and just really digging into our candidates and really driving the message of what we need here at K-State. Couple other guys - Kenny Lannou, Casey Scott and Josh McCowan were instrumental in this whole process. He had a chance to talk with Jerome on Sunday, and he called me and he said, 'Gene, you absolutely got the right guy.' So, appreciate your support. I want to thank President Linton for his support throughout the process, making sure he was aware of who we were talking to and making sure he was on board, and he certainly was. We're really excited about having Coach Tang with us. What a great day to be a Wildcat! Just really can't thank everybody enough for being here. Tang will be the first Black men's head basketball coach in school history and just the fifth minority men's head coach in school history, following former baseball coach Dave Baker (1978-83), former football coach Ron Prince (2006-08), former men's basketball coach Frank Martin (2007-12) and current women's tennis coach Jordan Smith (2018-present). Tang agreed to a 6-year contract, which was approved by the K-State Athletics, Inc., Board of Directors and President Linton. Richard Linton and Director of Athletics Gene Taylor as well as his family, which included his wife Careylyen (Rey), son Seven, daughter Aylyn, parents Paul and Bano Tang and in-loves Calvin and Carolyn Carter. Tang was joined at Thursday's introductory press conference by K-State President Dr. He served his first 14 seasons (2003-17) on staff as an assistant coach before being promoted to associate head coach in 2017. He played an instrumental role in building the Bears program from one rocked by scandal and NCAA probation into one that has developed into one of the nation's top programs highlighted by the 2021 NCAA Championship and consecutive Big 12 regular-season titles in 20. Tang, 55, was hired as the school's 25th head men's basketball coach on Monday afternoon (March 21) after serving as one of the architects in helping Baylor into a national powerhouse in his 19 seasons (2003-22) as an assistant and associate head coach. – Kansas State formally introduced new head coach Jerome Tang to the public during a press conference on Thursday (March 24) in the Shamrock Zone on the north concourse of Bramlage Coliseum.
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