NCAA Basketball: 10 candidates to replace Chris Beard as Texas HC

Jerome Tang

There are a number of potential attributes that Texas could be looking for in its coaching candidates. It’s unknown which of these attributes is most important, though it’s likely they’ll want a head coach with power conference experience, and perhaps even someone with Big 12 experience. Look no further than Tang, whose Kansas State team laid 116 points on the Longhorns earlier this week in Austin.

In actuality, Tang’s collegiate head coaching career only began this season but he has more Big 12 experience than any other candidate. He had previously spent nearly two decades on the staff of Scott Drew at Baylor, aiding and assisting as that program transformed from absolute rock bottom to the top of the college basketball world. Now a head coach on his own, his early at Kansas State has been phenomenal, scoring ranked wins over West Virginia and Texas this past week alone, with a 13-1 start to this career.

After the last three seasons, it’s amazing to see the progress made early at Kansas State under Tang’s leadership. Combine that with his importance at Baylor in recent years and there’s no wonder the Longhorns could be looking at him to lead their program. Given the right paycheck, Tang has no reason not to jump at the bigger opportunity at Texas. The question remains how he fares as a head coach, as he still has just about half a season under his belt, with most of that coming against a weak non-conference schedule.