Kansas State University has agreed to pay fired men's basketball coach Jerome Tang $12 million, settling a months-long dispute that began the night Tang tore into his own players following a 29-point blowout loss to Cincinnati, according to Kansas Public Radio's Friday headlines roundup.

Tang, in his fourth season as head coach, was dismissed in February after a postgame tirade in which he told reporters, "These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform," a remark that quickly spread across sports media and became the public flashpoint in what had already been a rocky season. Athletics director Gene Taylor gave Tang a choice the following weekend: finish out the season and then resign with a negotiated payout, or be terminated immediately "for cause." Tang declined the offer, and K-State fired him outright.

"THESE DUDES DO NOT DESERVE TO WEAR THIS UNIFORM."

The firing set up a legal fight over money. Tang's contract carried a buyout of roughly $18.7 million if he were let go without cause, but K-State argued the postgame comments and broader conduct amounted to cause, which would have wiped the buyout out entirely under language in his contract covering conduct that brings "public disrepute, embarrassment or ridicule" to the university, as Fox Kansas detailed at the time. Tang's attorneys pushed back hard, threatening to sue for the full amount.

The $12 million settlement lands roughly two-thirds of the way between zero and the full buyout, a split that suggests both sides saw real risk in letting a judge or jury decide who was right. Tang went 83-63 at Kansas State, including a Sweet 16 run in his first season, before the program slid during his final year.

K-State has not named a permanent successor; the Wildcats have been running the program under an interim staff since Tang's exit. The settlement closes the door on what had been one of the uglier coaching breakups in recent Big 12 memory.