Jerome Tang taking steps to keep Kansas State basketball moving forward in second season
It would be hard to argue that Jerome Tang's first year as a college head coach was anything but a rousing success.
Not only did his Kansas State Wildcats exceed all expectations with a 26-10 record and third-place finish in the Big 12, but they also showed they were ready for the biggest stage of all with an Elite Eight run in the NCAA Tournament.
The question now for Tang and his staff is, what do they do for an encore?
Well, certainly not rest on their laurels. While they built a strong cultural foundation with a brand-new roster drawn from diverse backgrounds, Tang is well aware that it was just the first step toward stability and sustainability.
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"Every day you have to fight for your culture, man," Tang said. "I was with (Arizona coach) Tommy Lloyd and he just said, 'Hey, Jerome, the first year you're locked in, you're focused, and you know exactly what you want.'
"He said as he looks back on his second year, they were good, but he felt like he let some stuff slip a little bit. In hindsight, he would fight harder for his culture, and it's going to be a stronger fight, more hands-on, and more demanding that we do things the right way. We don't take anything for granted."
Lloyd, who just completed his second season at Arizona, followed a similar career path to Tang's, spending 20 years as an assistant to Mark Few at Gonzaga before getting his shot as a head coach. Tang was a Baylor assistant for 19 years under Scott Drew.
Much like Tang, Lloyd enjoyed immediate success at Arizona, leading the Wildcats to a 33-4 record, the Pac-12 championship and a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed before bowing out in the Sweet 16. He followed that up with a 28-7 mark and second-place league finish, only to suffer a first-round NCAA upset loss to 15-seed Princeton.
Much as his mentor Drew sought the council of other championship coaches after leading Baylor to a national title in 2021, Tang has not been shy about asking colleagues for advice on how to build on K-State's success this season. He also has studied programs got off to fast starts and then fizzled.
"You can't replace experience," Tang said. "After we won the national championship, Scott called every coach that had won a national championship to find out what they experienced the next year, and how they can do something differently or better.
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"So yeah, I want guys who are in their second year of coaching after having success the first year, and we did a deep dive into coaches who had success in their first year of coaching, and what happened, and then three years or four years later get fired."
And what, exactly was he looking for?
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"Well, what was the difference between the roster the first year and the second year? The staff between the first year and the second year? What changed?" Tang said. "So that we can look at it and see if we can pick up anything that we can avoid or implement."
Time will tell whether or not they find the right answer.
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State men's basketball coach Jerome Tang looks to get better
