ESPN rarely tunes in or talks about Kansas State basketball, but its recent antics have the program going viral.
For all the wrong reasons. The Wildcats were dominated at home by Cincinnati, a devastating illustration of how low the program has fallen in a year with Tournament expectations. Even worse, coach Jerome Tang went on a scathing rant, saying the players "don't deserve" to play for the university.
Veteran analysts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon discussed Tang's comments on Pardon the Interruption.
"Who recruited these people? Didn’t Tang recruit these people? He’s in his fourth season," Kornheiser said on a Thursday afternoon segment. "He didn’t inherit any of these people. So if mistakes are made, they are his errors of judgment. I’m not saying he’s a bad coach. But the team he’s got now, he clearly hates."
They discussed the effects of NIL deals in the modern era of college sports, noting that money has likely reshaped the overall landscape.
"The tough thing now is that coaches can rationally go back into their meeting, slam the door with their staff, and say, 'These kids are getting paid!' There’s gonna be a strong resentment. But you can’t go that far. If I were the athletic director or the president of Kansas State, I'd tell Coach Tang and say, 'You’ve got until the TV trucks get here at 5 o’clock to get down in something purple in a logo and walk this back.'" Because I will also terminate you for cause and there may not be a buyout of $16-$18 million," Wilbon said.
While the frustration and need for accountability contributed to this reaction, it was still very harsh and frankly a bit random. Tang spent days hyping the team amid its losing streak, so suddenly turning on them seemed like a light switch. Even if it was a reality check, these certainly don't seem like the words you say about your active roster in a public press conference.
"I think he’s probably a really good coach, but you can’t go this far," Wilbon said. "The dear late great John Thompson would often say to me, when I got ready to criticize somebody at the Washington Post, 'These are somebody’s children.' They still are, whether they get a paycheck or not. So Tang has to remember that, or he might have to go."