A Longstanding Relationship Brought Maligi to K-State

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang on Friday announced Ulric Maligi as associate head coach for the Wildcats, and the native of Arlington, Texas, is plenty eager to get started. Maligi brings 15 years of experience as an assistant coach with recent stops at SMU (2012-15), Texas A&M (2016-19), Texas Tech (2019-21) and Texas (2021-22) while serving under Larry Brown, Billy Kennedy and most recently Chris Beard.

For Maligi, the goal is simple.

"We came here not just to get to the NCAA Tournament, but to make some magical runs," he said. "We want to hang banners consistently. We're going to work tirelessly to get that done."

The 37-year-old Maligi has been named to multiple "40 under 40" lists as one of the top individuals under 40 years of age in college basketball. He has coached or recruited 18 NBA players in his coaching career, has helped sign 20 prospects ranked among the top 100 recruits in the nation, and has helped land recruiting classes that ranked No. 7, No. 9, No. 14 and No. 20 in the country.

K-State Sports Extra's D. Scott Fritchen spoke with Maligi about his relationship with Tang, his prowess on the recruiting trail, and his coaching influences:

D. SCOTT FRITCHEN: When did you first meet Jerome Tang, and how did that relationship evolve over the years?

ULRIC MALIGI: I first met Coach Tang when he had just started at Baylor University in the early 2000s. I was 18 years old and coaching the Dallas Mustangs, one of the top AAU teams in the country. At that time, I was also head manager at Howard University, and then our relationship grew. He recruited our program very hard. He never got any of our kids, but at the same time, it was pretty cool because he stayed in contact with me. It told me a lot about his character. I was blessed to have an opportunity to go right into coaching right out of college. Coach Tang was a guy that I leaned on heavily for basketball advice, whether it was individual workouts, scouting, recruiting.

I tell people all the time, a lot of my recruiting prowess, so to speak, came from Coach Tang in terms of being able to identify talent early. I thought they did a great job at Baylor in being able to go out and see freshmen and sophomores play, and then by the time they were seniors, they had cultivated such great relationships with those kids and their families that they made it really hard for those families and top prospects to say no. I've kind of followed that model along my career. That was a lot to do with Coach Tang. What's funny is we're here and (new assistant coach) Jareem Dowling hears me say different kind of cliches with recruiting pitches, so to speak, and he says, "Man, you got that from Coach Tang." I tell him, "I got a lot from Coach Tang."

.@CoachJTang made another addition to his coaching staff on Friday morning (April 1) with the selection of @Coach_Maligi as Associate Head Coach.

Welcome Ulric Maligi to the K-State Family!

🔗https://t.co/Q7JpNtt8tZ #KStateMBB x EMAW pic.twitter.com/AJBofWITqA
— K-State Men's Basketball (@KStateMBB) April 1, 2022

FRITCHEN: When did Coach Tang first reach out to you about this opportunity at K-State and what were some of your initial thoughts?

MALIGI: Obviously, I'd found out that it had been announced that he'd been hired. We played Purdue on Sunday and then it started hitting the news wire that he may have an opportunity here. He had told me that there were a couple opportunities that he might possibly be involved with — we talk frequently. Obviously, he's like family to me. He knew we were still in the NCAA Tournament. Following our loss to Purdue on that Sunday, we started talking early in the week, and it was one of those things that I felt made sense for my career and for my family. I wanted to come in and be able to help in any way I could to help Coach Tang get this program back to national prominence.

FRITCHEN: What do you admire most about Coach Tang?

MALIGI: He's just transparent. He's real. I dedicated my life back in June 2015, and I remember telling Coach Tang that I was going to get baptized. His wife and his family drove from Waco all the way down to Houston to Lakewood Church for a 30-minute baptism and then drove back. That's just who he is. His character, there are a lot of coaches early in my career when I was an AAU coach, they didn't get my kid, and I never heard from them again. He's been an advocate for me and my career, whether it was calling other coaches and recommending me for jobs, and just helping me along the way to be able to grow in this profession.

Honestly, I can say that there's no head coach that I feel believes in me more than him. It's just his transparency. He's a man of faith. His communication ability and ability to develop young men on and off the floor, and his passion for the game, and his passion for the Lord, there's so much that I admire about him. He's a proven winner, man. He's a proven winner. His motor, I tell you, it runs more than any head coach I've been around. I've been around a lot of transitions, but his motor has been non-stop to be able to get this thing rolling in the right direction.

FRITCHEN: One of the phrases that was so outstanding in Coach Tang's introductory news conference was, "I didn't come to rebuild. I came to elevate." Knowing what you know, what do you believe is in store for K-State?

MALIGI: I believe that we'll be one of the top teams in the country year-in and year-out. We'll get this program consistently back to national prominence, and I'm excited to be a part of that. Under Coach Tang's leadership, I believe we'll have a product that will help to galvanize this community, and we'll be involved in the community, and we'll be a team that reflects this community, and they'll really want to get behind our program. We'll be a winner on and off the floor. We'll graduate our student-athletes that exhaust their eligibility. We'll love on these guys every single day and pour into them, and we'll bring it every single day to help them become better on and off the floor.

The Octagon of Doom is rock'n and rollin#KStateMBB x EMAW pic.twitter.com/7atInSsfhT
— K-State Men's Basketball (@KStateMBB) April 2, 2022

FRITCHEN: What are your thoughts on the K-State tradition, on Bramlage Coliseum, and on the fans?

MALIGI: It's interesting you ask that. I took a year off between SMU and Texas A&M and actually ran all of John Lucas' camps and tournaments for the youth. Coach Bruce Weber and his staff invited me up to visit and I came up to K-State for about a week. During that week, I experienced the KU/Kansas State game. K-State won that game. The Octagon of Doom was rocking and rolling. To be able to experience that environment is something that was exciting for me.

I never thought in a million years I'd be here at Kansas State, but that experience was one I never forgot. Everybody in the league know you never wanted to travel to the Octagon of Doom. They had great fan attendance, and in particular the students were rowdy, passionate and loud. This will continue to be one of the top environments in college basketball. We're excited to coach and play in that.

FRITCHEN: You've been named "40 under 40" on multiple lists as among the top individuals in college basketball. What do you attribute to such an honor?

MALIGI: Just the cultures that I've been fortunate to be around, and the coaching staffs that I've been a part of, and obviously players. Players make you look so much better as a coach. I've been able to work for some really good coaches and be a part of some really good staffs. I've been very fortunate to coach some high-level guys along the way.

FRITCHEN: You're noted as one of the premier college basketball recruiters in the nation with recruiting classes that have ranked No. 7, No. 9, No. 14, and No. 20. What are the keys to being such a great recruiter?

MALIGI: I believe it's transparency, relationships and delivering on those things that you talk about in recruiting. I find that a lot of times former players and their parents will do a great job recruiting for you. Sometimes, you don't even know it. It's about those cultures that you have a chance to be around, you do right by one kid, and you'll get the next one. I think all those things play into it in recruiting — not lying in recruiting, and being transparent, and delivering on what you say you're going to do is key. It's about making sure guys get their degrees and recruiting some of the best players in the country.

Guys want to play at the highest level and have opportunities to play professionally, and it's about being able to prepare them for those chances and at the same time winning at a high level, making NCAA Tournaments, making runs in the tournament, and making those lifetime memories.

FRITCHEN: What are a couple of your most memorable recruiting experiences?

MALIGI: A lot of people will point to this past year, where we got Dillon Mitchell at Texas, and it's kind of a long story, but we tied it into a deal with Dillon that if he committed, I'd jump out of a plane. I tied it into my mom's 60^th birthday. She always wanted to jump out of a plane. That was a pretty cool story. Dillon is a great player. There have been a lot of pretty cool stories.

Most rewarding is when you're a part of recruiting guys and then you see them accomplish something special amongst the team. They get their individual success and have team success and then they go on to do special things and be in the NBA and get their degrees and are always a part of the program. Fortunately for me, there's been quite a number of those success stories along the way. Guys come back and have jerseys retired, and guys are inducted into our Hall of Fame at some of the schools I've been fortunate to work at, and that's been cool to experience.

FRITCHEN: You've been a part of more than 300 victories in programs over your 15-year career and have obviously learned under some great coaches. What did you learn most under Chris Beard at Texas Tech and Texas?

MALIGI: Just being an every-day guy and being genuine. Coach Beard prided himself in genuine relationships and being successful in details. We wanted to outwork everybody. We prided ourselves in being one of the tougher teams and scrappier teams in college basketball. We didn't always have to have the most talent. We felt like we'd win with less and maximize what we had and bring that edge every single day. I admired that a lot about Coach Beard. He was a winner, man. He'd do whatever it took to help us win games at a high level.

FRITCHEN: What did you most learn under Billy Kennedy at Texas A&M?

MALIGI: He's a man of strong faith. He never got too high and never got too low. He was even keeled. Obviously, he's been an all-conference coach in every league he's coached in. He's a very good defensive coach and a guy that gave our guys a ton of confidence, and his optimism every single day was one that we all admired being around him. He had a great ability to be even keeled. That gave us an advantage in multiple years.

FRITCHEN: What did you most learn about Larry Brown at SMU?

MALIGI: He's another one I could talk about all day. I think the best thing about Coach Brown is that he coached the best players the hardest. He talked all the time about never coaching effort but coaching execution. It showed a different of level of respect when guys walked into the gym with Coach Brown. You felt like you should already be wound up and ready to go. His expectations were his expectations, and they brought it every single day. We were very fortunate to be able to build a winner at SMU, and it's something our fans were able to get behind and get excited about.

FRITCHEN: What do you feel like will be the identity of this K-State program?

MALIGI: Coach Tang always talks about us being a tough team, being passionate, and being appreciative. You look at our program, I think that it'll always impart those things. Obviously, we're going to be talented and have high-character guys, but we want to be one of the tougher teams in college basketball, we want to be passionate about the game of basketball and passionate about the chance to practice every day and passionate about the chance to compete and win, and ultimately, we want to be appreciative. We want to be appreciative of each other and this program, and appreciative of those that support us, and appreciative of our families and appreciative of all those that love K-State basketball and do so much for us to be successful on a daily basis.

I'm happy to be here. I'm looking forward to a lot of great days of K-State basketball. I'm just a small part of being able to help us get back to national prominence and to recruit some of the best players in the country. We came here not just to get to the NCAA Tournament, but to make some magical runs. We want to hang banners consistently. We're going to work tirelessly to get that done.

Kansas State University Athletics

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