Just Getting Started
Apr 05, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Jerome Tang, the Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year, slides into a seat in his black "EMAW" hoodie, and begins to talk about the Final Four in Houston, Texas. He's glad to be back in Manhattan. He arrived home on Sunday night. And now he's here, back in the Ice Family Basketball Center, and he begins to reflect on the ups and downs and everything in between following this wonderful year for Kansas State basketball.
He laments the frustration of being one possession away from being in the Final Four, he trumpets the excitement about how far the program has come in just one year, but he says that he's still so far from what he really wants.
"As good of a year as it was," he says, "and it was a really good year, it's still not what we want, what we eventually wanted it to be."
Tang said prior to heading to New York City for the Sweet 16 that "we're going to win a national championship while we're here." Today, he passionately reiterates that desire. He grows somewhat emotional while recalling the hundreds of fans who waited to greet the team in the Manhattan Regional Airport terminal after the Elite Eight.
"Very emotional and moving," he says. "You know, I've come back from other Elite Eights at Baylor, and no knock on anybody, but I've never seen that kind of reception for not winning. The fans, some of them drove hours to come show their appreciation for what our guys did this year. It just makes you want to work even harder to get them that parade.
"We're going to have a parade through Manhattan. It's going to happen. The passion of our fan base fuels our staff and I know it fuels our players to just do a little bit more."
K-State finished No. 9 in the final USA Today Coaches poll released Tuesday. It's the second highest that the Wildcats have finished in a final poll since the coaches began a post NCAA Tournament poll in 1994. K-State finished seventh in 2010.
Picked dead last in the Big 12 Conference prior to this season, the Wildcats went 26-10 and posted their third-most victories ever in a single season.
Tang, voted Big 12 Coach of the Year, received the 2023 Werner Ladder Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year honor, as announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club, during its annual Final Four Awards Brunch in Houston on Sunday. He calls the experience of going on stage to shake hands with Tubby Smith, Roy Williams and Bobby Cremins — three head coaching legends whom Tang first met years ago — "surreal."
Tang won the award over a finalist list that included Purdue's Matt Painter, Houston's Kelvin Sampson, and Marquette's Shaka Smart. He became the first K-State head coach to earn the Naismith coaching honor and just the third to be selected national coach of the year by a national organization, joining Tex Winter (1958) and Jack Hartman (1980).
"I never dreamt of winning coach of the year," Tang says. "That was never anything that even crossed my mind.
"I dream of winning the national championship."
There's so much that Tang will remember about his first season as a Division I head coach. He says that he'll remember how the entire coaching staff kept each other moving forward last spring and summer when things "weren't going as fast as maybe we wanted it to," and he says that he'll remember that first summer meeting with seven players on board and wondering "how many wins we had sitting there," and he'll remember that first practice, and thinking, 'OK, I think we have enough (to get to the tournament).'"
And K-State won. And it continued to win. And it rose to No. 5 in the AP Top 25. And it beat eight AP Top 25 teams for the first time in history. And it finished in a tie for third place in the toughest conference in the nation.
"I know what I'm going to continue and that's that we're going to enjoy being here and enjoy all the small successes and we're going to celebrate it," he says. "I know some of the things that I did this year may have put some people off with the dancing after the game with students, I can see how an opposing coach may not like that, but man, I'm going to enjoy it, and I'm going to make sure our staff enjoys it. We're not going to take for granted winning because we know how hard it is and we don't know how long this thing lasts."
It certainly appears that things are just getting started.
"There's a lot of really good momentum right now," Tang says. "People are excited. You can get involved with pretty much any (recruit) that you want to get involved with, but with that, too, you have to make sure you pay attention to what's important to make you continue to go in the right direction.
"Hopefully, we're able to recruit and have the same type of kids just with a little more talent."
K-State currently has eight players on roster and most notably loses Bob Cousy Award-winner Markquis Nowell and Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Keyontae Johnson. Both were third-team All-Americans.
"We had two guys on the team this year that could give you 30 points on any night," Tang says. "Hopefully next year we're going to have four to five who on any night could give you 20."
How long might it take to put together a roster for next year?
"I'm not sure, but I'm not in a hurry," Tang says. "Getting it done fast might not be the best way. There's a group of guys right now in the portal and some of them are pretty good players, but I always believe there's going to be a second rung of guys in the portal and some of them might be a better fit for us. You don't want to rush into it and get it done."
Tang certainly didn't rush after K-State arrived at Manhattan Regional Airport after the Elite Eight. He signed autographs and posed for photos 48 minutes after the team's arrival. He smiled the entire time.
"I know that our fans, they make a huge sacrifice to buy season tickets or drive to the airport, all of those things," he says, "and I mean, I get paid a lot of money to do something that I love, and I'm passionate about basketball, but I love people and I know that's my ministry, to touch the lives of people. If I can take a few minutes and take some pictures and sign some autographs to make somebody's day better, I don't know why somebody wouldn't do it."
K-State will be back. The fans will be back as well. If there is one lasting piece of motivation going forward, perhaps it was captured shortly before midnight on Monday after the final buzzer sounded on the national title game.
"One Shining Moment" featured a few clips of K-State.
"It was cool to be on One Shining Moment," Tang says. "But I like the One Shining Moment where you're the one holding the trophy at the end."
Jerome Tang, the Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year, slides into a seat in his black "EMAW" hoodie, and begins to talk about the Final Four in Houston, Texas. He's glad to be back in Manhattan. He arrived home on Sunday night. And now he's here, back in the Ice Family Basketball Center, and he begins to reflect on the ups and downs and everything in between following this wonderful year for Kansas State basketball.
He laments the frustration of being one possession away from being in the Final Four, he trumpets the excitement about how far the program has come in just one year, but he says that he's still so far from what he really wants.
"As good of a year as it was," he says, "and it was a really good year, it's still not what we want, what we eventually wanted it to be."
Tang said prior to heading to New York City for the Sweet 16 that "we're going to win a national championship while we're here." Today, he passionately reiterates that desire. He grows somewhat emotional while recalling the hundreds of fans who waited to greet the team in the Manhattan Regional Airport terminal after the Elite Eight.
"Very emotional and moving," he says. "You know, I've come back from other Elite Eights at Baylor, and no knock on anybody, but I've never seen that kind of reception for not winning. The fans, some of them drove hours to come show their appreciation for what our guys did this year. It just makes you want to work even harder to get them that parade.
"We're going to have a parade through Manhattan. It's going to happen. The passion of our fan base fuels our staff and I know it fuels our players to just do a little bit more."
K-State finished No. 9 in the final USA Today Coaches poll released Tuesday. It's the second highest that the Wildcats have finished in a final poll since the coaches began a post NCAA Tournament poll in 1994. K-State finished seventh in 2010.
Picked dead last in the Big 12 Conference prior to this season, the Wildcats went 26-10 and posted their third-most victories ever in a single season.
Tang, voted Big 12 Coach of the Year, received the 2023 Werner Ladder Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year honor, as announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club, during its annual Final Four Awards Brunch in Houston on Sunday. He calls the experience of going on stage to shake hands with Tubby Smith, Roy Williams and Bobby Cremins — three head coaching legends whom Tang first met years ago — "surreal."
Tang won the award over a finalist list that included Purdue's Matt Painter, Houston's Kelvin Sampson, and Marquette's Shaka Smart. He became the first K-State head coach to earn the Naismith coaching honor and just the third to be selected national coach of the year by a national organization, joining Tex Winter (1958) and Jack Hartman (1980).
"I never dreamt of winning coach of the year," Tang says. "That was never anything that even crossed my mind.
"I dream of winning the national championship."
There's so much that Tang will remember about his first season as a Division I head coach. He says that he'll remember how the entire coaching staff kept each other moving forward last spring and summer when things "weren't going as fast as maybe we wanted it to," and he says that he'll remember that first summer meeting with seven players on board and wondering "how many wins we had sitting there," and he'll remember that first practice, and thinking, 'OK, I think we have enough (to get to the tournament).'"
And K-State won. And it continued to win. And it rose to No. 5 in the AP Top 25. And it beat eight AP Top 25 teams for the first time in history. And it finished in a tie for third place in the toughest conference in the nation.
"I know what I'm going to continue and that's that we're going to enjoy being here and enjoy all the small successes and we're going to celebrate it," he says. "I know some of the things that I did this year may have put some people off with the dancing after the game with students, I can see how an opposing coach may not like that, but man, I'm going to enjoy it, and I'm going to make sure our staff enjoys it. We're not going to take for granted winning because we know how hard it is and we don't know how long this thing lasts."
It certainly appears that things are just getting started.
"There's a lot of really good momentum right now," Tang says. "People are excited. You can get involved with pretty much any (recruit) that you want to get involved with, but with that, too, you have to make sure you pay attention to what's important to make you continue to go in the right direction.
"Hopefully, we're able to recruit and have the same type of kids just with a little more talent."
K-State currently has eight players on roster and most notably loses Bob Cousy Award-winner Markquis Nowell and Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Keyontae Johnson. Both were third-team All-Americans.
"We had two guys on the team this year that could give you 30 points on any night," Tang says. "Hopefully next year we're going to have four to five who on any night could give you 20."
How long might it take to put together a roster for next year?
"I'm not sure, but I'm not in a hurry," Tang says. "Getting it done fast might not be the best way. There's a group of guys right now in the portal and some of them are pretty good players, but I always believe there's going to be a second rung of guys in the portal and some of them might be a better fit for us. You don't want to rush into it and get it done."
Tang certainly didn't rush after K-State arrived at Manhattan Regional Airport after the Elite Eight. He signed autographs and posed for photos 48 minutes after the team's arrival. He smiled the entire time.
"I know that our fans, they make a huge sacrifice to buy season tickets or drive to the airport, all of those things," he says, "and I mean, I get paid a lot of money to do something that I love, and I'm passionate about basketball, but I love people and I know that's my ministry, to touch the lives of people. If I can take a few minutes and take some pictures and sign some autographs to make somebody's day better, I don't know why somebody wouldn't do it."
K-State will be back. The fans will be back as well. If there is one lasting piece of motivation going forward, perhaps it was captured shortly before midnight on Monday after the final buzzer sounded on the national title game.
"One Shining Moment" featured a few clips of K-State.
"It was cool to be on One Shining Moment," Tang says. "But I like the One Shining Moment where you're the one holding the trophy at the end."
Players Mentioned
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