‘PTI’ sounds off on K-State coach Jerome Tang blasting his team

Kansas State head men’s basketball coach Jerome Tang ripped his players during a postgame press conference after the Wildcats’ 91-62 home loss to Cincinnati on Wednesday night in Manhattan, KS.

Among his comments slamming Kansas State players, Tang said, “These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform. There will be very few of them in it next year.” He added, “They don’t love this place, so they don’t deserve to be here.”

During Thursday’s edition of Pardon the Interruption on ESPN, hosts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon sounded off on Tang’s tirade.

“Didn’t Tang recruit these people? He’s in his fourth season, so he didn’t inherit any of these people. … The team he’s got now, he clearly hates.”

Wow. Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon go scorched earth on Jerome Tang on PTI. pic.twitter.com/qjsHz59Gf4

— Riley Gates (@Riley_Gates) February 13, 2026

“Can I ask the relevant question?” Kornheiser said, after reading quotes from Tang’s press conference. “Who recruited these people? Didn’t Tang recruit these people? He’s in his fourth season. So, he didn’t inherit any of these people. So, if mistakes are made, errors of judgment, they are his errors of judgment. I’m not saying he’s a bad coach. I was told he won 26 games in his first year and made the Elite Eight. He may have inherited some players on that team, but the team he’s got now, he clearly hates.”

“Look, this is college basketball right now, with NIL, and with the transfer portal, coaches make a lot of money, players make a lot of money, everybody’s a pro,” Kornheiser continued. “Nobody’s sweating out a chem final anymore, Wilbon. Nobody’s caring about that. So, if you want to get rid of this guy Tang, you’ve got to pay him an $18 million buyout. It’s probably cheaper to get rid of the players.”

“You can’t go that far,” Wilbon said. “If I was the president of the university, I would call Coach Tang, and I’d say, “So, you’ve got until the TV trucks get here at five o’clock for local news, to get down in something purple with a logo, and walk this back. That’s how long you’ve got. Because I will also terminate you for cause, and there may not be a buyout of [$18,675,000]. And I think he’s probably a really good coach too, but you can’t go this far.”

“I’m stealing a phrase from the coach I probably admired most in my life… the late, great John Thompson, who would often say to me when I got ready to criticize somebody in The Washington Post, ‘Hey, these are somebody’s children,’” Wilbon added. “They still are. Whether they get a paycheck or not. So, Tang has to remember that, or he might have to go.”

Even before the tirade, many Kansas State fans were already calling for a buyout of Tang’s contract. Some Kansas State students wore paper bags over their heads during the loss to Cincinnati, and one bag even noted Tang’s buyout cost.

Kansas State is 10-14 this season and 1-10 in conference play, tied for last in the Big 12.