Pardon the Interruption hosts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon tore into Jerome Tang on the Thursday episode of their show. The Kansas State basketball coach went viral for tongue-lashing his players after a blowout loss to Cincinnati at home on Wednesday.
The coach has since been receiving backlash from different quarters. Kornheiser and Wilbon weighed in on the controversy.
“Can I ask the relevant question?” Kornheiser asked. “Who recruited these people? Didn’t Tang recruit these people? He’s been there—he’s in his fourth season. So he didn’t inherit any of these people. So if mistakes are made, errors of judgment, they are his errors of judgment. I’m not saying he’s a bad coach. I was told he won 26 games in his first year and made the Elite Eight. He may have inherited some players on that team. But the team he’s got now, he clearly hates.”
Jerome Tang arrived at Kansas State in 2022, inheriting a struggling program that hadn’t reached the NCAA Tournament for two straight seasons. So, when he led the team to a 26-win finish in his first season and made it to the Elite Eight, he made an impression.
However, things have taken a sour turn since then, with no appearance in the NCAA Tournament after that first season. Through the past three seasons, the Wildcats have a combined 45-46 overall record and 18-31 in conference play.
The team’s narrow hope for an NCAA Tournament appearance this season hangs by the thin thread of winning a Big 12 Tournament title.
Why hasn’t Kansas State fired Jerome Tang?
One of the highlights of Kansas State’s loss on Wednesday was the message from the Wildcats fans asking for Jerome Tang’s buyout to be paid. While the call seems reasonable, the $18 million buyout on the coach’s contract is not a small sum.
However, the Wildcats can let Tang go without having to pay that huge sum. But they have to do so with cause. Wilbon is convinced the program has cause to fire the coach after his postgame rant on Wednesday.
The show host said he would give the coach a chance to retract his comments before firing him with cause. Nevertheless, Jerome Tang will likely remain in his role at least until the end of this season.
The Wildcats will travel on Saturday to face the No. 3 Houston Cougars in their next game.
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Edited by Kayode Akinwumi
