Who is Casey Alexander? Five things to know about K-State’s new basketball coach
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- K-State hired Casey Alexander from Belmont three days after its 12-20 season.
- Alexander has 10 straight 20-win seasons and Belmont won three regular-season crowns.
- Belmont ranked No.1 nationally in 3P% (41%) and in effective FG% under Alexander.
It didn’t take long for Kansas State to identify a new men’s basketball coach.
Three days after the Wildcats ended a disappointing 12-20 season with a loss in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament, they were ready to hire Casey Alexander from Belmont.
Alexander will replace Jerome Tang at Bramlage Coliseum.
He comes to Manhattan with a winning background and a history of efficient offenses. K-State fans are hopeful that he can guide the Wildcats back to the NCAA Tournament after missing out on March Madness six of the past seven years.
Want to learn more about Alexander?
Here are five things to know about K-State’s new basketball coach:
Alexander is no stranger to 20-win seasons
K-State has only experienced one 20-win season since it last won a Big 12 championship under Bruce Weber in 2019.
The Wildcats will hope to reach that milestone more often now that Alexander is in the lead chair.
His teams have consistently won 20 games throughout the past decade. Alexander spent seven seasons at Belmont, and the Bruins won at least 20 games in all seven of those seasons. They also won three regular-season conference championships.
Alexander also guided Lipscomb to three straight 20-win seasons at the end of his tenure there.
This is a coach who has led his teams to 10 straight seasons with at least 20 wins.
Alexander is coming off what was arguably his best season at Belmont. The Bruins won 26 games this season and won the Missouri Valley by a wide margin. They were on track to reach the NCAA Tournament until they were upset in the Arch Madness quarterfinals.
His teams are best known for offense
The first thing that jumped off the screen about Belmont this season was the team’s ability to shoot from the perimeter.
Under Alexander’s guidance, Belmont ranked first nationally in 3-point shooting by draining 41% of its shots from beyond the arc. Nine different players shot better than 40% from downtown this season. Tyler Lundblade made 112 triples all by himself.
But the Bruins were also strong in the paint, as they made 60.6% of their 2-pointers.
Belmont ranked first nationally in effective field goal percentage this season.
Alexander was loyal to Belmont
He has coached at three different schools, but Alexander is best known for his time at Belmont.
Alexander played for the Bruins when he was a student-athlete in the early 1990s. Then he returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach for 16 years until he was offered a head coaching job at Stetson. From there, he climbed the coaching ladder to Lipscomb and then went back to Belmont as the head coach when Rick Byrd decided to retire.
Alexander was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2005. Only a special opportunity was going to convince him to leave Belmont.
K-State offered exactly that.
He has never won a game in the NCAA Tournament
Alexander has piled up wins in the regular season, but he hasn’t found much success in postseason tournaments.
He has guided just one team to the NCAA Tournament. That happened at Lipscomb in 2018 (Lipscomb lost to North Carolina as a No. 15 seed).
Some K-State fans will point to that as a weakness on his resume. But it’s worth noting that Belmont was on track to play in the 2020 NCAA Tournament before it was cancelled because of COVID. And Belmont navigated a transition from the Ohio Valley Conference to the Missouri Valley Conference during that time.
He would probably have more NCAA Tournament appearances had Belmont stayed in the lesser league.
Alexander also guided Lipscomb to a runner-up finish at the NIT in 2019. The Bruins beat Davidson, UNC Greensboro, North Carolina State and Wichita State during that run.
Alexander is a family man
Alexander is 53. He has a wife, Sunni, and three children.
It’s a good bet they will all be wearing purple this weekend.