Kansas State fired head men's basketball coach Jerome Tang on Sunday, a day after a 14-point loss to No. 3 Houston dropped the Wildcats to 1-11 in Big 12 play this season. K-State will miss the Big Dance for the third straight season. Nothing unusual there.
The final straw actually came on Wednesday night, when K-State lost 91-62, at home, to a Cincinnati team not projected to make the NCAA Tournament. And it wasn't so much the 29-point loss, but Tang's comments afterward.
"This was embarrassing. These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform. There will be very few of them in it next year," Tang said. "I'm embarrassed for the university, I'm embarrassed for our fans, our student section. It is just ridiculous."
Kansas State was embarrassed by the performance as well, by the team and by its head coach's quotes. So embarrassed, in fact, that K-State believes it has contractual cover to fire Tang for cause.
"There's language in his contract that addresses certain things that potentially bring embarrassment -- his comments about the student-athletes and the negative reaction to those comments from a lot of sources, both nationally and locally," AD Gene Taylor said Monday.
Tang is -- or was -- owed $18.67 million on a contract that lasted through the 2029-30 season. As expected, Tang plans to fight for his full buyout.
"I am deeply disappointed with the university's decision and strongly disagree with the characterization of my termination," he said. "I have always acted with integrity and faithfully fulfilled my responsibilities as head coach."
That last phrase -- "faithfully fulfilled my responsibilities as a head coach" -- is key here, and potentially precedent-setting for the entire college athletics industry.
Tang did not commit a crime, break an NCAA rule, or engage any sort of personal-life misconduct. We've seen plenty of coaches over the years (deservedly) fired for verbally abusing players behind the scenes, but this isn't that. Tang made his comments out in the open, he didn't use threatening or vulgar language, and he didn't single out any player(s) by name. Tang lost too many games, and his comments afterward were too harsh toward the players he recruited. And even that part is debatable.
Until, well, yesterday, Tang's comments were viewed as standard-issue coaching. Recall College Football Hall of Famer John McKay, coaching a hapless Tampa Bay Bucs team in the late 1970s famously (and perhaps apocryphally) answering a question about his team's execution with, "I'm in favor of it."
I don’t remember anyone suggesting that Deion Sanders should be fired for cause after he publicly ripped his players. https://t.co/SPauqNLd9z pic.twitter.com/YqGxQCKSP4
— Tom Mars (@TomMarsLaw) February 16, 2026
Perhaps Kansas State knows it won't win a lawsuit and is trying to pump-fake Tang into settling for less than the nearly $19 million he's owed.
Either way, it seems we have something of a First Amendment civil rights case for the coaching profession here. Where is The Line, and how much will it cost a coach -- figuratively and literally -- if he crosses it?
"Coach, your quarterback threw four interceptions today, and your defense gave up 350 on the ground. How would you assess your team's performance?"
"On the advice of counsel, I am going to utilize my Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination."
Kansas State is trying to save money on its basketball program. The end result could have long-ranging, and perhaps industry-changing, results for the entire coaching profession.