Kansas State Names Baylor’s Jerome Tang Head Men’s Basketball Coach

Kansas State on Monday named Jerome Tang its new head men’s basketball coach, replacing Bruce Weber who resigned on March 10.

Tang, 55, had served as the associate head coach under Baylor’s Scott Drew so he’s familiar with the loaded Big 12 Conference, which this year put six teams into the NCAA Tournament. The Bears won the 2021 NCAA championship and, as a No. 1 seed this year, were upset by No. 8 North Carolina on Saturday in the second round.

Tang will be formally introduced to the public during a news conference on Thursday.

As part of the six-year contract, Tang will be paid $2.1 million in 2022-23 and will receive a $100,000 base salary increase each year remaining on the contract ($2.2 million in 2023-24, $2.3 million in 2024-25, $2.4 million in 2025-26, $2.5 million in 2026-27 and $2.6 million in 2027-28).

“I am beyond excited to be the next head basketball coach at Kansas State,” said Tang. “Having the opportunity to build on a program with a rich basketball history at a prestigious university is truly a blessing. We look forward to bringing an exciting style of basketball to K-State while helping our student-athletes succeed on the court and in life. My family and I can’t wait to get to Manhattan and form deep relationships with our students, former players, alumni and Wildcat fans everywhere. We look forward to making the Octagon of Doom the best home court advantage in the country!”

Tang was an original member of Drew’s coaching staff and 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.

“I am extremely excited to welcome Jerome, Careylyen, Seven and Aylyn to Manhattan and K-State,” Kansas State AD Gene Taylor said. “As we conducted a national search to find our next head coach, we wanted to identify an individual who can lead our program to consistently high levels while maintaining the integrity that our program is known for. When we first met with Jerome, he was very impressive, and that continued throughout the duration of our search.”

During his time at Baylor, Tang has helped the Bears post a 397-222 (.641) overall record, including a 168-155 (.520) mark in Big 12 play, to go with 13 postseason appearances (10 NCAA Tournaments, 3 NITs), one NCAA title (2021), one NIT title (2013) and one NIT runner-up finish (2009). In the process, he has helped coach 11 All-Americans, including consensus selections Johnathan Motley (2017) and Jared Butler (2021), a National Defensive Player of the Year in Davion Mitchell (2021) and 58 All-Big 12 honorees, including nine on the First Team.