Jerome Tang has had a rough week with his Kansas State debacle. From flaming out in conference play to being completely removed from the university, to now having to fight to get the rest of his contract money.
One thing that he does have is support. So many analysts and onlookers have given Tang kind words and messages of approval amid his battle with the university. The latest is the CBB on TNT crew, who echo the sentiment that Kansas State was wrong to fire him on the basis of cause.
"They're struggling and he’s upset," Jalen Rose said on Thursday's episode. "He’s been there almost four years. He’s trying to establish something, and he’s saying the truth out loud. He's saying many of these guys don’t deserve to wear the uniform. Coaches say that all the time. He said it’s gonna be changes next year, people say that all the time. So that’s just the school not wanting to pay him while firing him."
Bruce Pearl even gave Tang his biggest laud yet, saying the former Wildcats coach is someone that he'd want his son to play for.
"When you’re winning, they're worried you're gonna leave. When you’re losing, they're packing your backs," Pearl said. "We’re always coming or going. We are not bought or sold, we’re leased. They broke the lease. You gotta pay. To fire him because he didn’t win enough games, that’s fine. But don’t say we’re gonna fire him with cause to not pay him. That’s a good man and a good coach. I’d love my son to play for a man like Jerome Tang. You know what's embarrassing? I think it’s embarrassing that Kansas State's leadership would allow that."
Above all, the TNT crew raised the rare question of player performances versus coaching. So much has been said about Tang's role in bringing in the players, but there have been hardly any conversations around the stars' inability to perform this season.
"The players are not performing," Jamal Mashburn said. "Kansas State has put a lot of NIL money into that particular program and went and got PJ Haggerty from Memphis. Players get coaches fired. This is more to me looking like NBA basketball than anything. If the players are not performing, the coach is gonna get sacrificed. They gotta go ahead and pay this man, because he didn’t say anything that any other coach wasn’t saying. That $18 million? I hope he fights long and hard for that."