New Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang has no patience when it comes to winning

MANHATTAN — In waiting for the perfect fit for his first college head coaching job, Jerome Tang was a patient man.

His 19 years as an assistant at Baylor can attest to that.

But now that Tang has realized that dream, his patience is about to run out.

"With everyone's help, with all the K-State family (and) Wildcat Nation, we're going to accomplish great things together," he told a cheering crowd Thursday afternoon during his introductory news conference at Bramlage Coliseum's Shamrock Zone. "And it's not going to take long.

"I didn't come to rebuild. I came to elevate."

That was sweet music to the ears of K-State fans, who just endured a third straight losing season. It also resonated with the Wildcat players, who met Tang for the first time Wednesday.

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"It was exciting," said Nijel Pack, the Wildcats' All-Big 12 guard. "You never knew what he was going to say. It was our first official meeting. We got to see him, not online, but actually in person.

"He was very serious about everything he said. He told us everything was about winning, and that's what you really want to hear from your next head coach. He wants to be a winner and he promised us that this time next year we were going to be playing, so we're going to hold him to that."

Pack, who led the Wildcats in scoring with 17.4 points per game as a sophomore, entered his name in the 2022 NBA Draft earlier in the week, but still could choose to return for his junior year.

Point guard Markquis Nowell also came away from the first team meeting impressed with Tang, though he expected nothing less by the time the hire was made.

"I was pretty engaged with it," he said of the search process. "(Athletics director) Gene Taylor was talking about the coaches that he was probably looking at. I heard a list of names, but Jerome Tang was the one that I was vouching for the most, because you haven't seen a bad article about him, a bad tweet about him.

"You haven't seen anything bad about him, so I texted Gene Taylor and I said, 'We need Jerome Tang.' He texted me, 'Thanks,' and now he's here and it's a good day to be a Wildcat."

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Tang also made a favorable impression on Taylor and his search committee. He was their first informal interview, during the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.

"I didn't really know who he was personally," Taylor said. "I had heard of him. He was identified early in the process as somebody we really wanted to talk to.

"And I will tell you that (after) that first hour, we're like, 'The bar has been set pretty high, and whoever we talk to after this is really going to have to try and match that bar.' And we talked to some great candidates — all head coaches — and every time we kept coming back to Jerome and kept coming back, and 'Hey, we've got to find out more about who he is as a person.'"

Tang said he hoped to begin announcing members of his coaching staff in the next week, several media outlets confirmed Wednesday that Texas assistant Ulric Maligi will be his associate head coach. The Kansas City Star reported that North Texas assistant Jareem Dowling also is expected to join the staff.

"I feel like we're going to be able to attract some of the best assistants in the country that have great experience," Tang said. "Great basketball teachers.

"But the thing I'm really looking for is high-character guys who love the student-athletes and are great communicators."

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Before he took the K-State job, Tang did some research. First, he vetted Taylor, who passed the initial test.

"Everyone I called talked about what a great reputation he has and what a great boss he is and how he has your back and you can trust him," Tang said. "And how real he is."

Then, for frame of reference, Tang looked up "Wildcat."

"There are two species of wildcats," he said. "There's a European version and an African wildcat, but they have a couple of things in common. They're intelligent and they are active.

"So that fits great, because on the court we're going to be smart and aggressive."

Then he looked down at the Wildcat players seated on the second row in front of the podium.

"Now there's one other common trait they have in that they're nocturnal," he said with a smile. "So fellas, I expect you in the gym at night, getting up shots. Stay away from Aggieville and get up shots."

That, too, resonated with Nowell.

"What I took most from the meeting with coach Tang is that you have to be passionate, you have to be willing to get better (and) you have to do the things you're uncomfortable with doing," Nowell said. "And by that time, if you keep doing and building up good habits, then things will come your way.

"Once I heard that Jerome Tang was leaving Baylor, he was definitely the one that I was high on because his passion (and) his will was everything I embody, so I knew we were going to connect right away."

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang ready to start winning