Jerome Tang, the head basketball coach at Kansas State University, has led his team into the elite 8 of the March Madness tournament.
In a 2022 interview with The Topeka Capital-Journal, Tang revealed that his father is half Black and half Chinese, while his mom is Indian. As a child, he lived in Trinidad, St. Croix, Texas and Minnesota.
“I’ve got a little bit of everything in me, so that is pretty cool,” he told The Topeka Capital-Journal.
This is Tang’s first year coaching the team through the March Madness tournament. According to CBS Sports, he was hired on March 21, 2022. Prior to his hiring, Tang spent over 15 years as an assistant coach at Baylor University.
“I am beyond excited to be the next head basketball coach at Kansas State,” said Tang in a university statement in 2022, according to CBS Sports. “Having the opportunity to build on a program with a rich basketball history at a prestigious university is truly a blessing. We look forward to bringing an exciting style of basketball to K-State while helping our student-athletes succeed on the court and in life.”
Now, nearly a year later Tang has transformed the team. When Tang took over, the team was coming off the back of three losing seasons in a row, USA Today reports. In his rookie season, Tang recruited new players and helped the team make it to the big tournament as the third seed.
“He had a winning resume and I just wanted to be a part of that,” guard Cam Carter, who joined Kansas State after Tang was hired, told USA Today. “I believe in everything that he believes in, which is winning.”
Kansas State takes on no. 9 Florida Atlantic on Saturday afternoon.
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