Tang Selected as Semifinalist for Naismith Coach of the Year

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Head coach Jerome Tang has been selected as a semifinalist for the 2023 Werner Ladder Naismith Men's Basketball Coach of the Year, as announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club on Friday (March 10).

Tang is one of 3 coaches on the semifinalist list from the Big 12, joining Texas' Rodney Terry and Kansas' Bill Self. The other coaches on the list included Pittsburgh's Jeff Capel, Northwestern's Chris Collins, UCLA's Mick Cronin, Florida Atlantic's Dusty May, Purdue's Matt Painter, Houston's Kelvin Sampson and Marquette's Shaka Smart.

The award's four finalist will be announced on Monday, March 20.

The fan vote to help narrow the list down to the winner will open Tuesday, March 21, and close Tuesday, March 28. The fan vote will account for 5 percent of the overall final vote. The 2023 Werner Ladder Naismith Trophy for Men's Coach of the Year will be awarded on Sunday, April 2 during the Men's Final Four.

Tang has been named a finalist for several National Coach of the Year honors, including the Joe B. Hall Award (top first-year Division I head coach), the Ben Jobe Award (top Division I minority coach) and the Jim Phelan Award (Division I Coach of the Year).

Tang was selected as the Big 12 Coach of the Year by both the league coaches and AP earlier this week. He is the seventh head coach in school history to earn conference Coach of the Year honors, including the third in the Big 12 era (joining Frank Martin and Bruce Weber). He joins Bruce Weber (2013) as the only coaches to be chosen for the distinction in their first seasons.

Picked 10th in the preseason Big 12 poll and armed with just two returning players, Tang has guided the Wildcats to 23 wins so far this season and a tie for third place with an 11-7 record in the nation's toughest conference. His 23-9 record is currently one of the best in the nation by a first-year Division I head coach, trailing just Xavier's Sean Miller (24-8) and Duke's Jon Scheyer (24-8). His 23 wins tie Bob Huggins for the second-most by a first-year head coach in school history, while he is the fifth K-State head coach to win 20 games in his first season.

Tang was selected as the 25th ead men's basketball coach at K-State on March 21, 2022, after serving as the one of the chief architects in helping build Baylor into a national powerhouse in his 19 seasons as an assistant and associate head coach from 2003 to 2022.

No. 12/12 K-State (23-9) will await its postseason destination on Sunday afternoon, as the Wildcats are expected to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

How to follow the 'Cats: For complete information on K-State men's basketball, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Kansas State University Athletics

Tang Selected as Semifinalist for Naismith Coach of the Year

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