Surely, you have read or heard about Jerome Tang being fired by Kansas State as the head basketball coach there. Just a quick reset … K-State was playing at home against a mediocre Cincy team and lost by 30 points; after the game, Coach Tang made a bunch of comments about his team and the players not giving full effort and that the ones who had been nonchalant would not be back next year. I watched the replay of those comments and have a couple of personal observations:
- That was not a “rant”; Coach Tang was obviously upset – even angry – but he was in control, and he was not ready to accept that kind of play from his players any time in the future.
- It seemed to me that he put some of the blame on himself for recruiting/bringing in the players who had exhibited the sort of play he was denigrating in his comments.
Clearly, what Coach Tang did was out of the ordinary; coaches rarely unload that directly on their players; the typical “coach-speak” after a bed-wetting performance like that is to put the blame on the head coach and his staff saying they had to do better. Not this time… And I think it is that unusual nature that caused as much commentary in the press and on ESPN in this instance.
The AD and the university administration decided to fire Jerome Tang as is their right as his employer. Here is where things get dicey; they decided to say they were firing him “for cause” meaning the school would not owe him approximately $18M for the balance of his contract. The “cause” they cited was “embarrassment”; reportedly, the language in the contract that was cited references any behavior that causes “public disrepute, embarrassment, ridicule” to K-State.
Coach Tang has retained counsel; but as of this morning, he has not filed a lawsuit seeking his “buyout money”. That leads me to believe that the two sides are working on a settlement that might avoid a public trial where “embarrassment” is likely to be heaped on both parties.
For the record, were I a juror on this case given only what I know now I would vote for the plaintiff – Coach Tang – in this matter. Sure, the school can fire him any time they want to do so; but if “embarrassment” is to be the “cause” then the embarrassment brought to K-State by the act of firing him is at least equal to if not measurably worse than anything arising from his postgame “rant”.
And speaking of possible embarrassment, Tony Clark surprisingly “stepped down” as the Executive Director of the MLBPA earlier this week. Clark was a player in MLB and has been in that position with the Players Association since 2013. Clark is 53 years old; so, when I read about his decision I wondered if he was fighting some dread disease; that is younger than retirement age for most folks.
The first “revelations” about that act involved an investigation by the Feds into some financial irregularities that may have existed in a couple of initiatives sponsored by the MLBPA and perhaps Tony Clark might have had a hand in activities there. Given the overhang for the players union upcoming at the end of the 2026 season that “stepping aside” made some sense.
The current CBA for MLB and the MLBPA will expire around Thanksgiving, and all indications are that this negotiation will be acrimonious at best; more than a few commentators say that a lockout is likely and that it might cost us an entire MLB season in 2027. Obviously, any sort of Federal investigation into the union’s Executive Director would create one of those dreaded distractions.
However, this morning the reports on what motivated this “stepping down” changed. USA Today reports that an internal investigation by the union turned up an “inappropriate relationship” between Clark and his sister-in-law who is a union employee. As of this morning, USA Today is calling the personnel action a “forced resignation”.
Obviously, this is only Act 1 of this drama; the Federal investigation is ongoing and the alleged dalliance of Clark with his wife’s sister is sufficiently salacious to entice reporters to keep an eye on anything that might be a “scoop” there. If you want to read what I think is the most thorough exposition as of this moment, here is a link to a story in the NY Times from today.
Finally, I think this comment by Akio Morito, the co-founder of Sony, is relevant today:
“When I find an employee who turns out to be wrong for a job, I feel it is my fault because I made the decision to hire him”.
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………