Kansas State hires Jerome Tang as head coach

After a search that only took a week and a half, Kansas State is expected to hire Baylor assistant Jerome Tang to be the next head coach of its basketball program, according to sources.

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports was the first to report it.

Gene Taylor mentioned when the opening was made that they wanted to move quickly and they did.

Other candidates that were associated with the opening at some point were Andy Kennedy, Brad Underwood, Chris Jans, Grant McCasland, Kim English, Darian DeVries and Matt McMahon.

However, after a first meeting with the Wildcats, Tang hovered at the top of the list for essentially the duration of the process. He also had interest from a handful of SEC programs, such as South Carolina, Missouri and Florida.

Tang just finished his 19th season as an assistant at Baylor under Scott Drew. He was there for the entire rebuild of a program that was just ashes when they assumed their positions. While he wasn't the head coach, he was certainly an architect of that resurrection.

Baylor is now an annual Big 12 champion contender and have won a national title and are consistently mentioned in the races for some of the best prospects in America.

Before that, he was a high school basketball coach and athletics director for years.

Stay tuned to KSO for more on the hire, his potential coaching staff and details of the contract.

EDIT: The university has made it official with an announcement. Jerome Tang will make $2.1 million during his first season in Manhattan and it will increase by $100,000 each year over the course of the six-year deal.