Kansas State hired longtime Belmont coach Casey Alexander to take over its basketball program on Friday, three days after losing in the Big 12 Tournament and about a month after firing coach Jerome Tang under controversial circumstances.
Alexander, who led the Bruins to 166 wins and four conference titles in seven seasons, agreed to a five-year deal that will pay him $3.3 million for the upcoming season. He will receive a $50,000 base increase each year, topping out at $3.5 million in 2030-31.
“I’m incredibly excited to join the team at K-State and can’t wait to get the journey started,” Alexander said. “K-State has such a rich tradition and a wildly passionate fan base and I’m grateful for the opportunity provided by (athletic director) Gene Taylor to be a part of it.”
The school said a formal introductory news conference would come at a later date.
The 53-year-old Alexander is 303-180 in 15 years as a head coach, including stops at Stetson and Lipscomb before his successful run at Belmont. The Bruins won the regular-season Missouri Valley title this season before losing to Drake in the conference tournament.
Alexander had played for Belmont and got his start there as an assistant coach.
“We had significant interest in our job from numerous talented and successful coaches from around the country," Taylor said. “What was evident throughout the search was the positive reputation of K-State basketball, and of the coaches we talked with, Casey emerged as the one who best fit our program. He is known nationally as a tremendous evaluator of talent and one of the best offensive minds in the college game.”
Kansas State announced it was firing Tang on Feb. 15, four days after a 29-point loss to Cincinnati.
After the game, a despondent Tang said that his players “do not deserve to wear this uniform" and that "there will be very few of them in it next year." The sound byte quickly made headlines, and the school ultimately fired Tang for cause, saying that he had embarrassed the school.
Tang is disputing the “for cause" nature of his dismissal, which would void an $18.7 million buyout. He's retained noted sports business attorneys Tom Mars and Bennett Speyer to represent him in the case.
Matthew Driscoll served as the interim coach for the remainder of the season, which ended with a 105-91 loss to BYU in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament on Tuesday. The Wildcats finished 12-20, their worst record since going 9-20 during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season in their penultimate year under Bruce Weber.
It was an abrupt fall from grace for Tang, who led Kansas State to the Elite Eight in his debut season four years ago.
Alexander was born and raised in Tennessee and has few Midwest ties, but the opportunity to coach for a Big 12 program that has a sizeable NIL budget and robust support from the school administration proved to be too good to pass up.
He also has a track record of rebuilding programs. Stetson won just eight games prior to his arrival, and two years later, Alexander went 15-16 with the Hatters. Lipscomb won 12 games before Alexander was hired, and his last two seasons there included a trip to the NCAA Tournament and a 29-win season that ended with a loss in the NIT championship game.
Alexander won at least 20 games in each of his seven seasons with Belmont.
“Coach Alexander is an outstanding fit for K-State, and we are thrilled to welcome him as the next head coach of our men’s basketball program,” Kansas State president Richard Linton said. “He has built a culture of winning throughout his career, leading with integrity, purpose and a deep commitment to his student-athletes. We are excited to welcome Casey, his wife and their family to Manhattan."
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