In college basketball, few coaches are as open as Casey Alexander about operating “on a budget” in recruiting. After Kansas State previously spent heavily on big-name transfers like Coleman Hawkins and PJ Haggerty with little success missing the NCAA Tournament for three straight years and enduring a disastrous 2025-26 season that included 20 losses the program fired Jerome Tang “for cause” and brought in Alexander to do more with fewer financial resources for the transfer portal. Exactly how much less is unclear, since NIL deals and revenue-sharing agreements remain private, but it’s certain that none of K-State’s incoming transfers will command the $2 million that Hawkins earned as the country’s highest-paid player two years ago. Alexander doesn’t seem to want that kind of player in his first season anyway.
“We wanted the right people, the right kind of guys, and we had to do that on a budget,” Alexander said. “We’re really pleased with how things turned out.” When asked to specify the budget he worked with while quickly rebuilding the roster with 10 incoming transfers, two high school recruits, and one returning player (Andrej Kostic), he rejected the idea that he was scraping by. He insisted K-State “definitely” had all the money and resources needed to build a winning team.
Still, the Wildcats had to spend wisely. “We were really cautious not to overspend,” Alexander said. “The hardest part about the portal, when you have so many guys, is you don’t know the order pieces will fall into place. You have to be careful not to spend too much too early, and you need balance. Once you slot Player A and Player B into positions, it becomes clearer. That’s what I meant by budget making sure there was enough to go around.”
Accordingly, Alexander said K-State began every recruiting call by discussing money. If they couldn’t afford a transfer, there was no point in continuing. “The first thing is to agree on a money range,” he explained. “If it’s not there, there’s no conversation. We had to handle that first, then see if it’s a recruiting match. That was new to me and an adjustment, but it’s how things are now.” The result: K-State landed 10 new transfers.
