Jerome Tang didn’t always appreciate NIL. Now a Kansas State player gets $2 million

Anyone who has followed Kansas State basketball recruiting over the past two years can understand how important NIL money has become in college sports.

Shortly after Jerome Tang was hired as coach of the Wildcats, he downplayed the importance of NIL deals, calling them “pennies” compared to the “dollars” he could get his players in the NBA. Then he saw All-Big 12 shooter Nijel Pack traded to Miami for what seemed (at the time) too good an offer – $800,000 and a car.

At the time, K-State fans were understandably frustrated and feared that other teams might continue to buy out their best players in the future.

But things have changed drastically since then. Tang and the Wildcats are now buyers. That became clear last week when K-State signed Illinois transfer Coleman Hawkins to a massive NIL deal that sources say is worth around $2 million.

“When he got here, NIL was in its infancy and it wasn’t something that really impacted us,” said Curry Sexton, Wildcat NIL general manager. “But then NIL took over college basketball in a big way and it’s become incredibly obvious that the primary focus of these high-level transfers is NIL. With that, Coach Tang saw the need to change his philosophy a little bit because he knew that if we pass over people interested in NIL, we’re not going to have anyone to choose from.”

To his credit, Tang plunged headfirst into the world of NIL after spending a few months in Manhattan.

Wildcat NIL, the primary organization supporting K-State sports, traveled the region last summer educating donors about NIL’s growing importance. Sexton, a former K-State football player, and his partners took the lead. But Tang asked if he could come along.

Who better to help raise money for K-State basketball players than their head coach?

So he drove to places like Topeka, Hiawatha, Salina, Kansas City and Wichita. He shook hands, took photos and spoke passionately about how a larger NIL budget could help K-State’s basketball team win a national championship. He also later agreed to fly to Dallas to meet with donors there.

When it came to NIL, every meeting was important to Tang.

“We’ve held several events over the last nine months where we’ve spoken to our donors about the importance of NIL,” Sexton said. “Coach Tang has been very involved in that and spreading his message, especially the message of how NIL impacts his program. He’s played a huge role in the momentum we have now and in improving NIL at K-State.”

Tang also lobbied for additional NIL money from K-State supporters when Arkansas publicly expressed interest in hiring him in the spring. His request was granted.

The results confirm this.

The Wildcats had an incredibly busy offseason. With only three players returning, Tang had to revamp the K-State basketball team’s roster with eight new additions from other Division I schools.

The Wildcats bring in Dug McDaniel (Michigan), CJ Jones (Illinois-Chicago), Ugonna Onyenso (Kentucky), Achor Achor (Samford), Brednan Hausen (Villanova), Max Jones (Fullerton), Baye Fall (Arkansas) and Hawkins (Illinois).

Together they form a transfer class that ranks third in the country, according to college basketball expert Evan Miya.

While it’s difficult to calculate K-State’s NIL basketball budget since most players don’t disclose the value of their contracts, the Wildcats will undoubtedly spend millions on their roster next season.

This was not the case before.

“From his 2023 portal class to today, I’m sure (the NIL budget) has grown quite a bit,” Sexton said, “and that’s largely because we all embraced it. Our athletic department embraced it, our donor base embraced it and our coaches embraced it. That really helped strengthen Coach Tang’s NIL pool as well as the pools of all our other programs.”