Casey Alexander stands out among college basketball coaches for openly acknowledging that his program is recruiting “on a budget.” In recent seasons, the Wildcats invested heavily in marquee transfers such as Coleman Hawkins and PJ Haggerty, but that aggressive approach failed to deliver. Kansas State has now missed the NCAA Tournament three years in a row, and the program is coming off a disastrous 2025–26 campaign that featured 20 losses.
The struggles were so severe that head coach Jerome Tang was dismissed “for cause,” leading to Alexander’s arrival with a mandate to rebuild the roster while spending far less in the transfer portal. The exact financial limitations aren’t public, since NIL agreements and revenue-sharing deals remain private. Still, it’s clear that none of K-State’s new additions will command the kind of massive payday Hawkins reportedly received—around $2 million just two years ago. Alexander seems comfortable with that reality and, in fact, appears uninterested in bringing that type of high-cost player into his program during his first season.
“We wanted the right people,” Alexander explained. “We wanted the right kind of guys. We had to do that on a budget, And we’re really pleased with how things turned out.”
When pressed to define what that budget actually looked like as he quickly reshaped the roster with 10 transfers, two high school signees, and one returning player, Andrej Kostic, Alexander pushed back on the idea that resources were scarce. He emphasized that the staff “definitely” had sufficient funding and support to build a competitive team, but acknowledged that careful spending was essential.
“We were really cautious not to overspend,” Alexander said. “The hardest prat about the portal, when you have so many guys, is you don’t know which order the pieces will start falling into place. You have got to be cautious not to spend too much too early. You have to make sure you have some balance. Once you can start slotting Player A into this position and Player B into that position then it all becomes a little bit more clear. That’s really what I meant by the budget, is just making sure there was enough to go around.”
With that strategy in place, Alexander revealed that every recruiting conversation started with a discussion about finances. If a potential transfer fell outside what Kansas State could reasonably afford, the staff saw little point in continuing the process.