Thunderstorms, some heavy during the morning hours, then skies turning partly cloudy during the afternoon. High around 85F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..
Tonight
A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.
Jerome Tang speaks to the audience during a press conference at the Shamrock Zone on March 24 introducing him as K-State’s new head men’s basketball coach.
Jerome Tang speaks to the audience during a press conference at the Shamrock Zone on March 24 introducing him as K-State’s new head men’s basketball coach.
The Mercury already published my open letter to Jerome Tang, back when he was first hired. I told him, as you probably read, about the community he’s joining — the community of K-Staters around the world, the community of Manhattan, the state of Kansas, and how it all fits together.
This section is sort of an expansion of that, a big welcoming embrace to the new coach and his family. I can say without hesitation that there’s more enthusiasm at this hiring than any comparable moment I can remember. I certainly hope he can feel that.
Anyway I don’t need to reiterate all that. What I want to say here is really not directed to Coach Tang, but to all of the rest of you:
K-State is poised to do some great stuff. It’s going to be fun around here, in a variety of ways, for the next few years.
The big picture: K-State is a Division 1 athletics program in an elite conference, harvesting gobs of television money to underwrite the whole operation. Have any doubt? Just go walk around the facilities. They’re building the Roman empire up there.
That’s been true for awhile, of course, and presumably someday it will diminish. Can’t go on like this forever, and of course the departure of Oklahoma and Texas from the Big 12 will cut out a hunk of that money a few years down the road.
In the meantime, though, think about the highest-profile sports here. The football team has a coach who’s a proven winner, bringing back a talented team, poised for a strong year. The women’s basketball team has a record-setting post player, one the best in the country, several really talented young players, and a strong recruiting class.
And — this is what we’re really talking about — a men’s basketball coach who appears to be a perfect fit, with a national-championship pedigree and with a strong group of assistant coaches.
Nothing is a sure thing, of course, and everybody knows that there will be bumps along the way. The impending departure of the leading scorer from last year, Nijel Pack, is obviously one. The team will lose games. It’s just the way it is.
But everything is in place for there to be a period of sustained success. Aside from the facilities and the coaches, there’s also history: K-State has a long and proud tradition of winning basketball. Everybody thinks of KU as a basketball blue-blood, but K-State in many ways was a better and more successful program all the way through my growing-up years. (Yes, that was 30 years ago, but, hey, quit reminding me.)
As Jerome Tang himself said when I tried to push the KU button, “I wasn’t hired to beat KU. I was hired to win conference championships.”
Students will pack Bramlage. People around town will wear the purple — or the lavender, as it appears we’re going to do again regularly. It’s part of the culture here. Deep roots.
All I’m trying to say is: Get your seat, and get some popcorn. This is going to be fun.
