Kansas State basketball’s attempt to fire Jerome Tang for cause has been widely derided by the basketball world. After a 90-74 win over Baylor with interim coach Matthew Driscoll on the bench, the Wildcats still mentioned Tang several times postgame.
Kansas State arguably looked more complete than it has all season, with PJ Haggerty and Nate Johnson putting up 34 and 33 points, respectively.
‘We (came) more together as a team,’ Johnson told reporters postgame. ‘It just bonded us over that period of time, and it showed. His message still showed that we are still together and we’re just going to keep getting better every day.’
‘It’s been some very difficult days,’ Haggerty added. ‘Every day, we all love Coach T (Tang), you know, as a coach and as a person. He just wanted us to be better men rather than just basketball players, too. But at the end of the day, we’re just gonna keep playing and honoring him.’
Haggerty also harkened back to a mantra of Tang’s.
”Crazy faith’ is something he said every day, whether it was good days or bad days; he always stuck with faith,’ he said. ‘Either he had it on his shirt, or he said, ‘crazy faith,’ and that was the biggest thing that he always told us.’
This support lingers even after Tang’s firing for cause was justified by a press conference in which Tang derided his roster and said most of the players wouldn’t be back next season.
‘This was embarrassing,’ Tang said after a 91-62 loss at the hands of Cincinnati. ‘These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform, and there will be very few of them in it next year. I’m embarrassed for the university, I’m embarrassed for our fans, and our student section. It’s just ridiculous.’
Even with those harsh words, Kansas State’s players are rallying behind him as he looks for the $18.675 million buyout he would be owed if Kansas State loses its case to fire him for cause.
Driscoll added: ‘Because of his leadership and because of what he did, that’s why tonight transpired, and it’s why everything came to fruition tonight. We went through a lot of things, but if you want to know something, there’s nothing easy in life, and nothing’s normal. Everyone wants it easy, and he said we’re not doing that.’
Clearly the players and new installation of coaches aren’t hoping to bolster the university’s case.