Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang on the start of practices
Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang talks about the official start of basketball practice Tuesday.
K-State Athletics
When Coleman Hawkins first met Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang after entering the transfer portal, one thing immediately stood out.
Tang was a man with a plan, and Hawkins liked what he saw.
“I think really it was a basketball blueprint,” Hawkins, the Wildcats’ versatile 6-foot-10, 230-pound graduate transfer from Illinois, said in a television interview on ESPNU on Wednesday during Big 12 Media Day at Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center. “Coach Tang never made any promises to me. He never told me that you’re guaranteed a starting spot, you’re guaranteed 40 minutes, 35 minutes a game, whatever it was. And just the blueprint he had for me.”
Regardless of his role as one of 10 newcomers to the 2024-25 Wildcat roster, Hawkins’ decision to finish his career at K-State was a lucrative one. There have been reports that his name, image and likeness (NIL) deal is worth close to $2 million.
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But more importantly, Hawkins also wants to enhance his NBA resume, which is where Tang came in.
“He had some efficiency things that he felt like the usage wasn’t right at Illinois,” Hawkins said of his four years with the Illini. “It’s no knock on them, but he felt like he could exploit those things and use me in many different ways. And I kind of just fell in love with that basketball blueprint.”
Not that Hawkins was a one-dimensional player at Illinois by any means. He is the only player in Illini history with at least 900 career points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists, 100 blocks and 100 steals.
Hawkins was a Big Ten second team all-conference selection last year on an Illinois team that reached the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight, averaging a career-high 12.1 points with 6.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. Big 12 coaches voted him co-newcomer of the year and to the preseason all-conference second team.
“Whether he was named that or not, it wouldn’t have changed the fact that he’s a very versatile basketball player with a high IQ who can play guard and play offensively multiple positions,” Tang said of Hawkins’ preseason recognition. “He takes great joy in watching his teammates have success, and that’s rare.
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“And then his teammates like him, and so he’s going to help us. When he’s on the floor he makes the guys on the floor better players, and he makes me look like a better coach.”
One of Tang’s offseason recruiting priorities for a K-State team that went 19-15 and lost in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament was to add both size and perimeter shooting along with a feel for the game. Hawkins fits the bill on all three counts.
In addition to returning 6-9 forward David N’Guessan and Hawkins, Tang brought in former Kentucky 7-footer Ugonna Onyenso, 6-11 forward Baye Fall from Arkansas and 6-9 forward Achor Achor from Samford. The fact that Hawkins made 36.9% of his 160 3-point attempts allows him to play on the wing if the Wildcats go with a taller lineup.
Hawkins has embraced the opportunity to showcase his skills in a variety of ways.
“When you’re used to doing something for four years and you feel like it works effectively, and you’re not doing it anymore, you’ve got to make the sacrifice and have to want to change,” he said. “I’ve been doing that and having to do that the last couple months now, and I’m able to see myself as someone who could just impact the game with facilitating.
“I’ve been getting put in those positions to do that, facilitate and just be me. Facilitate, make open shots, rebound, offensive rebound and just be me at a high rate.”
Just the way Tang planned.
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
