{"id":24480,"date":"2023-03-27T11:55:17","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=24480"},"modified":"2023-04-06T12:04:15","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T16:04:15","slug":"kansas-state-basketball-coach-says-ministry-is-his-passion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2023\/03\/kansas-state-basketball-coach-says-ministry-is-his-passion.html","title":{"rendered":"Kansas State Basketball Coach Says Ministry is His Passion"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_24492\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24492\" style=\"width: 892px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2023\/03\/jerome-tang-kstate-coach-credit-gopowercat-youtube.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-24492\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2023\/03\/jerome-tang-kstate-coach-credit-gopowercat-youtube.png\" alt=\"jerome tang\" width=\"892\" height=\"516\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-24492\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Go Powercat\/YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The first-year coach who has surpassed expectations by getting Kansas State to its first Sweet 16 appearance in five seasons said he sees his job as a \u201cministry\u201d to prepare athletes to be leaders, fathers, and husbands.<\/p>\n<p>Jerome Tang led the third-seeded Wildcats to two NCAA Tournament wins recently, first with a win over Montana State and another over Kentucky. Under Tang, Kansas State is 25-9 after finishing last season with a 14-17 record, missing the tournament. Tang got the head coach position in March 2022, previously serving as an assistant at Baylor, where he helped lead the Bears to a national championship in 2021. Before Baylor, he was a head coach at Heritage Christian Academy in Texas.<\/p>\n<p>In post-game conferences after both wins against Montana State and Kentuck, Tang referenced his Christian faith. After the first win, Tang said, \u201cI\u2019d like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for this opportunity that He\u2019s given me, the many blessings that He\u2019s placed on my life. I know my profession is coaching, but my calling and my passion is ministry. And I love being able to spend time around these young men and just help them to grow and become great husbands who are going to be great fathers and leaders in their community. It\u2019s just so much fun to do it through the game of basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\u201cI&#8217;d like to thank my Lord and savior Jesus Christ for this opportunity&#8230; My profession is coaching. My calling and my passion is ministry.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Kansas State\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CoachJTang?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CoachJTang<\/a> after his first NCAA tourney win on Friday <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7HtySIW0We\">pic.twitter.com\/7HtySIW0We<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sports Spectrum (@Sports_Spectrum) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sports_Spectrum\/status\/1637119150987386880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 18, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Kansas State played Michigan State in the Sweet 16, winning 98-93. After the win against Kentucky, Tang said, \u201cI\u2019m so proud to represent Kansas State. I\u2019m so proud to be a part of the community of Manhattan (Kansas). And I\u2019m just blessed \u2014 so blessed.\u201d Tang was an assistant for 19 seasons at Baylor, including the last couple of seasons as associate head coach to Baylor\u2019s coach Scott Drew.<\/p>\n<p>Media members participating in the annual preseason poll chose Kansas State to finish last in the Big 12. However, the Wildcats finished in third place, despite only having two players return from the 2021-2022 roster. In 2022, Drew said Tang prayed about the job opening at Kansas State.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsspectrum.com\/sport\/basketball\/2023\/01\/10\/jerome-tang-kansas-state-gods-faithfulness\/\">Sports Spectrum,<\/a> Drew said last year, \u201cWhen he felt like God led him somewhere, he went. He\u2019s been more than ready for a long time. He just didn\u2019t have the calling to go. He\u2019s going to do a great job at K-State. I know no one\u2019s going to cheer louder or harder for him than I will, except when we play.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Kansas State lost to Florida Atlantic in the Elite Eight round 79-76. Both teams got off to a hot start, trading baskets until Florida Atlantic\u2019s big man Vladislav Goldin made a layup to take the lead 20-18. The Owls would go into the half with a 42-38 lead.<\/p>\n<p>However, Kansas State came storming back in the second half behind star guard Markquis Nowell\u2019s shooting and playmaking abilities. Kansas State led by as many as five before, yet again, the Owls came flying back into the game.<\/p>\n<p>The Kansas State Wildcats\u2019 tournament dreams may be over for now, but with Jerome Tang and his solid faith at the helm, they\u2019ll likely return next year with the potential to go further.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first-year coach who has surpassed expectations by getting Kansas State to its first Sweet 16 appearance in five seasons said he sees his job as a \u201cministry\u201d to prepare athletes to be leaders, fathers, and husbands. Jerome Tang led the third-seeded Wildcats to two NCAA Tournament wins recently, first with a win over Montana&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":24492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3630,7,10],"tags":[4821,5463,547],"class_list":["post-24480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletes","category-entertainment","category-sports","tag-elite-8","tag-jerome-tang","tag-ncaa-basketball-tournament"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Kansas State Basketball Coach Says Ministry is His Passion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kansas State men&#039;s basketball coach Jerome Tang isn&#039;t afraid to share his faith after thanking God in two post game conferences.\" \/>\n<meta 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