Kansas State has found its next basketball coach.
The Wildcats are finalizing a deal with Baylor assistant Jerome Tang, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.
After Bruce Weber resigned as Kansas State coach following the team’s exit from the Big 12 tournament, the school began its search for its first coach in a decade.
The Wildcats reportedly have chosen the 55-year-old Tang, who has spent the last 19 seasons as Scott Drew’s assistant at Baylor, including the last five as the associate head coach, where he has helped author one of the greatest rebuilding jobs in the history of the sport.
Tang has never been a head coach, but has plenty of experience to lean on considering where Baylor was when he joined Drew’s staff in 2003.
The Bears were under significant NCAA sanctions for numerous infractions following the 2003 murder of Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy, who was killed by teammate Carlton Dotson under former coach Dave Bliss.
Baylor was one of the worst teams in the Big 12 when Drew took over, but he slowly built the Bears into a formidable program in the conference over the last two decades with Tang as his right-hand man.
The rebuild culminated in a national championship last April for the first time in school history.
While the Kansas State program is not in as bad of shape as Baylor in the early 2000s, there is still plenty of work to be done for Tang once he is officially announced as the head coach.
The Wildcats have not made the NCAA tournament since 2018, and have endured three consecutive losing seasons leading up to Weber’s resignation.
