By now, I believe everyone has heard the news. Kansas State fired Jerome Tang as head coach Sunday for cause. I’ll let the lawyers debate what constitutes “reasonableness” as that is definitely not my expertise. Basketball is my specialty and I know this:
Coach Don needs to be fired.
His job is to build a sustainable program. Not a single one-off team, but an actual basketball program. He failed miserably. There is no basis for his plan. I’m not sure what Don Jerome’s team is supposed to look like in theory, let alone in practice, and it’s been four seasons.
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This is an article I wrote on May 15, 2022:
I’m not going to lie to you guys, I’m a little confused about the current situation with Kansas State basketball…
I was a little surprised when he said, “When I came in, I thought there were only three guys I wanted to stay.” That was nothing if not a bold statement, but one that’s driven by the current state of college basketball.
At the very least, we can take the statement “kids should play for their schools, not their coaches,” douse it in gasoline, and throw in a match.
I dug out this old article, not because I wanted to dunk on anyone. I have a lot of positive things to say about Coach Don heading into the 2023 season. Still, I could just as easily change “Kids should play for their school, not their coach,” to “Kids should play for their school, not the guy who pays them the most money,” or “Kids should play for the name on the front of their jersey, not the name on the back,” and that would hit the nail right on the head.
Coach Don continues to sign players who make it clear they are only interested in the name on the back of the jersey and the salary. He seemed shocked that these players showed no enthusiasm for a school most of them had never heard of, let alone considered playing for, until Coach Don and company showed up with their checkbooks. I’m not sure what the history requirements were at Charter Oak State College (where Don earned his bachelor’s degree); however, a quick glance at a military history book would have told him that mercenaries were unsustainable and could not be trusted to hold their ground and fight when times looked bleak.
You can buy basketball players, but you can’t buy passion or loyalty.
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I keep coming back to faith.
This is certainly a topic that Coach Tang has not avoided during his tenure. While I certainly wouldn’t question his confidence regarding mental matters, he doesn’t seem to have a lot of confidence in his players or assistant coaches. Instead of building a sustainable program where kids who wanted to play for Kansas State came in as freshmen and then left as battle-hardened Big 12 seniors, he built a series of mercenary squads that would hang around Manhattan as long as their final game checks came through. I bet some people didn’t even wait that long before flying into town to get their next paycheck. I don’t blame the players, as Coach Don has made it clear throughout his tenure that he doesn’t have the time or patience to wait for a player, even one he spent time and money recruiting, to reach full basketball maturity.
How about the 2023 season?
At this point, it’s hard to chalk it up to pure luck, as he hasn’t shown the ability to replicate the trick.
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Bruce leaves him with a dynamic 5-foot-8, 160-pound point guard who ranks second in the Big 12 in assist rate and has leadership that oozes from his pores.
Keyontae Johnson nearly died on the court in 2020 and was medically cleared to return to the basketball court, only to collapse in his lap later in the night. You won’t find many All-SEC first-team forwards just hanging out in the transfer portal these days.
Tomlin was an NBA talent who didn’t get the attention of others because he didn’t play high school basketball and didn’t graduate from high school. If you gave Nae’Quan a normal high school basketball backstory, he was a 5-star recruit who wouldn’t have given Kansas State a look.
His 2023 roster is clearly his best in terms of sheer talent.
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This is also impossible to replicate.
Honestly, though, it was a really fun season and I understand why he got the extension. If Kansas State doesn’t give him that opportunity, someone else will, and everyone will be very upset. Coach Tang’s agent struck while the iron was hot and saved the bag for his client. Well done, I thought. Gene Taylor did what everyone asked him to do, which doesn’t leave you a lot of room to negotiate. If he hadn’t protected Don by any means necessary after the Elite 8 game, he would have been tarred, feathered, and run out of town on the railroad tracks.
Everything after 2023
What is Don Jerome’s team like?
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It’s been four seasons and I still have no clue.
Coach Don has been throwing basketball shit at the wall for the past three seasons in the hope that a picture will appear. He tried playing fast and he tried playing slow. At one point he prioritized the defense of the portal. This season, he’s clearly prioritizing offense.
Then again, maybe he doesn’t prioritize anything?
I also write about Purdue and Clemson basketball. I know what Matt Painter and Brad Brownell are looking for in players. Matt chooses skill over athleticism and tries to make up for it on defense with a big center patrolling the lanes.
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Brad Brownell chose to defend. He had to rebuild his entire roster last offseason after graduating a plethora of long-term players, and I know exactly how everyone he signed through the portal would fit in his system.
I don’t know what Jerome Don looks for in a player, and I’m not sure he does. I spent the entire offseason saying, “I’m not sure what’s going on. This doesn’t make any sense. How does he want these guys to fit in?”
That was before Europe’s panicked spending spree left him with nothing but enough players to fill the roster and a panicked purchase of P.J. Haggerty. I can imagine a roster built around Hagerty that looks nothing like the hodgepodge of basketball outcasts and mercenaries he’s been surrounded by this season. Of course, that’s because this team wasn’t built for P.J. Haggerty; This requires planning and forethought. I’m not sure what the purpose of this team was other than to lose basketball games, even with the late addition of an All-American point guard.
Jerome Don wasn’t fired for throwing a tantrum at the postgame press conference. He was fired because he was a terrible basketball head coach who spent tons of cash assembling some of the most mismatched, incoherent lineups ever to play college basketball.
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I hope the press conference is enough to knock a few million dollars off his buyout, but if K-State has to bite the bullet and pay his full buyout, the move is still worth it.
You all deserve better.
I look forward to writing about brighter days for Wildcat basketball in the near future.