K-State Q&A: Jerome Tang, Jacob Pullen, coaching search dominoes and spring football

Baylor and Kentucky fans weren’t the only ones nervously waiting to find out if Scott Drew was going to stay put with the Bears or accept an opportunity to coach the Wildcats this week.

Folks at Florida Atlantic, Kansas State and Texas Tech were also monitoring the situation with great interest.

Why?

Because if Drew left Baylor for Kentucky, that would have set off a domino effect that could have sent John Jakus, Jerome Tang or Grant McCasland to Waco as his replacement. All three coaches once worked for Drew and are now prominent members of his coaching tree along with Wichita State’s Paul Mills.

One of them, or perhaps Baylor assistant Alvin Brooks III, would have likely been atop the Bears’ coaching wish list if they had an opening. That had some K-State fans feeling uneasy about things, especially after they had to sweat out Arkansas making a run at Tang last week.

But the fan bases at all of those schools breathed a collective sigh of relief when Drew announced that he was staying at Baylor. The question of who might replace Drew at Baylor became a hypothetical. It now seems like he will retire in Waco. Seriously, if you turn down Kentucky what job are you going accept?

BYU turned out to be the school affected by the Kentucky coaching search, as Mark Pope has accepted the job.

Still, we love hypothetical questions here on the K-State Q&A. So I think it’s worth discussing what might have happened if Kentucky had succeeded and poached Drew away from Baylor.

Would Tang have left K-State to return to the place where he worked under Drew for so long as an assistant coach?

There were times last week when my answer would have been yes. But after checking in on the situation with various insiders at both K-State and Baylor I actually think he would have stayed in Manhattan ... unless Drew called him up and said he was the only person he trusted to follow in his footsteps.

But I don’t think things would have gone that way. There was speculation that McCasland was Baylor’s top choice, because he is a Baylor alum and he has led both North Texas and Texas Tech to the NCAA Tournament. Jakus may have been the next choice, because he was Baylor’s top assistant until just a few days ago.

Tang treats those guys like brothers, and I highly doubt he would have pushed for the job if they were in the running for it. I wrote a lengthy story about Drew’s coaching tree last summer and learned that Tang once campaigned for Mills to get the job at Oral Roberts when he was also up for the gig. McCasland refused to talk with K-State when he learned Tang was a top candidate here.

I find it very hard to believe that any of those guys would have competed with each other for the job.

Furthermore, Tang has a good thing going at K-State. He led the Wildcats to the Elite Eight in his first season. Things weren’t as spectacular in Year 2, but anyone can live with 19 wins and the NIT as a down year. The transfer portal could be quite fruitful for the Wildcats this offseason. And K-State just sweetened Tang’s contract to prevent him for leaving for Arkansas.

Fan support is also stronger at K-State than it is ever going to be at Baylor.

Maybe I’m wrong and Baylor is Tang’s dream job. Perhaps he would have been called to coach there, in which case there wouldn’t have been anything K-State could do to keep him. But K-State folks had quiet confidence that Tang would remain in Manhattan no matter what happened with Drew and Kentucky.

So maybe the domino effect wouldn’t have reached K-State.

Still, it’s easiest to not even sweat about that kind of stuff. Drew did a solid for Baylor, FAU, K-State and Texas Tech this week. BYU fans might have a bone to pick with him, though.

Tang and his coaching staff are locked in now, and we can all start focusing on next basketball season without any fear of him coaching elsewhere.

Are you for or against Jacob Pullen’s proposal to share a jersey retirement ceremony with Michael Beasley? - Jim M. via e-mail.

This got lost in the shuffle of the coaching carousel last week, but Jacob Pullen brought up an interesting possibility on social media when he asked K-State fans for their thoughts on him reuniting with Beasley for a joint jersey retirement ceremony at Bramlage Coliseum.

My thoughts:

In a perfect world, K-State would honor them separately. The whole point of a jersey retirement is to have a special day for one former player, giving both that player and the fan base an opportunity to relive their glory days together. It’s the sports version of a wedding. Everyone is there to give the bride (or the former basketball player, in this case) an unforgettable celebration.

Sharing the stage feels a bit awkward.

Beasley helped breathe life back into K-State basketball during his lone season in Manhattan. The 10 years before Beasley and the 10 years after show how much of an impact he made on the program. And he was a phenomenal player.

Pullen is the team’s all-time leading scorer and the best four-year player that some K-State fans are ever going to see.

They should both be celebrated for different reasons.

But this ain’t a perfect world and we have already waited way too long to honor both Beasley and Pullen. So if a joint ceremony is what it takes to get them back into Bramlage for a jersey retirement, then by all means do it. It’s time for their names to go up in the rafters.

Do you think the transfer monster is going to come for Avery Johnson if he has a breakout season? -@rbfrasier via X.

No.

If Chris Klieman can convince Avery Johnson to stay at Kansas State after a promising freshman season in which his offensive coordinator left for Texas A&M I think the Wildcats can keep their QB1 in Manhattan no matter what happens this year.

Maybe I am being naive and there is another college team out there that could swoop in and offer him an astronomical amount of NIL money to transfer. But I doubt it. Johnson should leave K-State making more NIL money than he can spend. He already drives around campus in luxury cars and has endorsement deals with shoe stores and other local businesses.

I promise you that K-State boosters also ponied up to keep him happy after Collin Klein left for the Aggies. EMAW nation will continue to pay up to keep Johnson in purple, especially if he has an amazing sophomore season.

K-State coaches have also made it clear that they will let him be a quarterback and call plays that allow him to show off his arm. They don’t want him getting hurt by calling one QB keeper after another.

Johnson has said many times that he is happy he ended up at K-State. He is also from the Sunflower State and his parents have moved to Manhattan to support him.

He doesn’t seem like a transfer threat to me.

What’s your biggest surprise with Spring Football season. Better depth somewhere or perhaps a lack of it? What position is going from a place of weakness to actually being a stronger group than originally projected? -@ChadFullington via X.

K-State really seems loaded on the defensive line. So much so that I think we will see the Wildcats use four defensive linemen at various times next season.

Travis Bates, Brendan Mott, Chiddi Obiazor, Tobi Osunsanmi and Cody Stufflebean are some of the best players on the entire defense. It makes sense to get them on the field at the same time. K-State will probably have three defensive ends in certain packages.

I am excited to see how that works out.

Tight end also seems like a pleasant surprise. No will be able to fill the shoes of Ben Sinnott next season, but the Wildcats have quality depth at that position. You may see a committee of tight ends catching the ball in 2024.