{"id":159904,"date":"2026-02-18T15:17:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/159904\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T15:17:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:17:25","slug":"former-unf-mens-basketball-coach-appointed-interim-head-coach-at-kansas-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/159904\/","title":{"rendered":"Former UNF men&#8217;s basketball coach appointed interim head coach at Kansas State"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The former coach of the North Florida Ospreys was with the team for nearly 16 years.<\/p>\n<p>MANHATTAN, Kan. \u2014 A former Osprey is stretching their wings once again.<\/p>\n<p>Kansas State University announced Sunday the appointment of former UNF head coach Matthew Driscoll as interim head coach of its men\u2019s basketball team.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement comes after the school&#8217;s athletic director, Gene Taylor, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kstatesports.com\/news\/2026\/2\/15\/mens-basketball-k-state-announces-leadership-change-in-mens-basketball-program\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">said that the school<\/a> was parting with its current leader, Jerome Tang.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This was a decision that was made in the best interest of our university and men&#8217;s basketball program,&#8221; Taylor said. &#8220;Recent public comments and conduct, in addition to the program&#8217;s overall direction, have not aligned with K-State&#8217;s standards for supporting student-athletes and representing the university. We wish Coach Tang and his family all the best moving forward.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/africa.espn.com\/mens-college-basketball\/story\/_\/id\/47943350\/sources-jerome-tang-kansas-state-1-11-big-12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">According to ESPN<\/a>, Tang had signed a multi-year extension with the Wildcats, which would have seen him staying with the team through the 2029-2030 season.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am deeply disappointed with the university&#8217;s decision and strongly disagree with the characterization of my termination,&#8221; Tang told ESPN in a statement. &#8220;I have always acted with integrity and faithfully fulfilled my responsibilities as head coach.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstcoastnews.com\/article\/sports\/matthew-driscoll-as-university-of-north-florida-basketball-coach-after-16-seasons\/77-aa8bc1c0-a1e7-4c35-bcbe-c8b576948e0c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Under Driscoll&#8217;s leadership<\/a>, the Ospreys led the ASUN in scoring average three times, 3-point attempts per game seven times, 3-point percentage four times, and collected three regular-season ASUN titles and the 2015 ASUN Tournament Championship, leading to the team&#8217;s only NCAA Tournament appearance. He served as the Osprey&#8217;s head coach for 16 years.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;UNF gave me my first opportunity to be a head coach and it&#8217;s hard to put into words the impact that will have in my heart,&#8221; Driscoll had said while announcing his new position with the Wildcats as associate head coach in 2025. &#8220;Jacksonville, UNF and the people will have an incredible grasp on my heart for a long time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Kansas State says that a national search for its next head coach &#8220;will begin immediately.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former coach of the North Florida Ospreys was with the team for nearly 16 years. MANHATTAN, Kan.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":{"0":"post-159904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-jacksonville","9":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","10":"tag-jacksonville-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}