Jerome Tang is ‘good’ with Iowa State coach TJ Otzelberger after spying accusations
Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang is ready to move past everything that happened between him and Iowa State head man TJ Otzelberger last week during a road loss against Iowa State.
“I talked to TJ,” Tang said on Monday, “and I’m good and he is good.”
Tang said they were on good terms despite a war of words and spying accusations that came after the Cyclones defeated the Wildcats 78-67 on Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum.
Things got heated between them with 7 minutes, 51 seconds remaining when Tang began angrily pointing into the crowd and then followed that up with a contentious conversation with Otzelberger in the postgame handshake line.
It was unclear what Tang was upset about at the time, but sources later said that he was concerned that Iowa State was spying on K-State by placing managers and/or other team representatives in spots behind the visiting bench, where they could view, and possibly even record, the Wildcats as they huddled up during timeouts.
The sources said K-State’s coaches were worried about those observers quickly passing information to the Iowa State bench via text messages or other signals.
Some may wonder why a team would go to such lengths to spy on another team’s timeout huddles, given that only a minimal advantage can be gained from doing so. But getting an edge on even a few possessions during the course of a game can be important in a conference like the Big 12. Spying in college sports has also been a hot topic of late, stemming from the Connor Stalions scandal with Michigan football.
In any case, K-State coaches were so upset about they witnessed in the crowd that one of them reportedly cursed out an Iowa State manager who was cleaning the floor in the second half, calling him a “cheating (expletive).”
It is unclear if the Wildcats made a formal complaint to the Big 12 afterward or chose to simply move on. The conference office has not responded to messages about the incident.
Both Tang and Otzelberger chose not to talk about the matter in the immediate aftermath of the game. But Otzelberger strongly denied spying accusations after the Cyclones beat the Kansas Jayhawks a few days later.
“Ludicrous, ludicrous rumors earlier this week,” Otzelberger said, “that somehow we were trying to gain an advantage looking into our opponents’ huddles, (which) is an affront to our players, our fans and to me. It’s not who I am. It’s not what our program is about. And I am angry that someone would even make that suggestion.
“What is factual is one of (K-State’s) staff members cursed out one of our student managers who was mopping the floor under the basket. So let’s put this to bed here and now: It didn’t happen. It won’t happen. And others need to be much more careful with their words moving forward.”
Tang said he had no response to that statement on Monday.
But there was another controversial topic that he did want to talk about.
Tang was highly critical of Big 12 official Gary Maxwell for the way he interacted with K-State guard Cam Carter during a road loss against Houston on Saturday. In hindsight, he said he should have followed proper protocols and shared his complaints privately with the conference office.
The Big 12 forbids its coaches from making negative comments about its officials in public settings.
“I made some comments about officiating,” Tang said, “and there are channels that the Big 12 provides that if I have an issue that I can follow and go through. I did not follow the proper protocol. For that, I apologize. I want to apologize to Brett Yormark, John Williams and the Big 12 if I had said or did anything that would dim the light on what is the best basketball conference in America.
“I also want to apologize to president (Richard) Linton and to Gene Taylor and the K-State family if I did anything to to dim the light on what is a terrific university and a wonderful fan base and family.”
