Kansas State fired Jerome Tang earlier this week for cause and "embarrassing" comments made toward the university's players.
But now, the institution is facing a new level of embarrassment from the outside media. Another prominent analyst is backing Tang in the Wildcats debacle. ESPN sportscaster Scott Van Pelt discussed the situation on his SVPod podcast, citing a quote from CFB legend Nick Saban to illustrate the current state of college sports.
"To fire him for cause because he was pissed, there’s no way you’re gonna win that," Van Pelt said on the Feb. 17 episode. "All I could think of when I watched him angry was what you explained to me about what Coach Saban says in this NIL era: 'Pay the wrong guys, you're s*** out of luck.' And that’s what happened. I’ve watched them, and I can’t for the life of me figure out who they spent $15 million on."
Van Pelt said that these players haven't matched their lucrative NIL deals. The Wildcats are 2-11 in conference play this season, winning just one game before their Baylor victory.
"They've spent at a level that doesn’t equal what their record is, and they’re having a brutal season in the Big 12," Van Pelt said. "They’ve got one conference win. Tang went nuts after they lost on their home floor by 30 to Cincinnati, who's had a rough year. You can’t lose on your home floor, The Octagon of Doom, by 30. By anybody, but especially not to a team that came in struggling."
Like many, Van Pelt isn't arguing that Tang should have left, but moreso the university's reasoning for letting him go.
"They fired him, not for cause, but because his team didn’t win enough," Van Pelt said. "They're trying to use this bulls*** excuse that he embarrassed the university. He said that the guys didn’t love the place enough and didn’t deserve to wear the jersey. The disconnect was, 'Who got the guys to put them in that jersey?' That’s you."
And of course, this extended the conversation about traditional coaching in the NIL era. Van Pelt and Stanford Steve discussed the issues of loyalty, player accountability, and culture shifts that come with college players getting paid like professional athletes.
"You just have to get lucky," Van Pelt said. "Like, 'We’re gonna go to Stanford Steve, or we’re gonna pay you this much, which isn’t as much as we’re giving Van Pelt. But then we’re gonna give you more of a role, and I've gotta be okay with the fact that you get more of a role, but I got more money, and somehow we could be a culture. Or it goes, 'You gave me the money, f*** it, I don’t care. I’m here for four months, and I’m out. I got nothing invested here. I don’t know these people, they don’t know me.' This is what happens on campuses all across the country. The fact that it doesn’t go incredibly wrong more is actually kind of amazing."