K-State AD outlines the coaching search that led Wildcats to Casey Alexander
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- K-State hired Casey Alexander after a four-week search of around 10 candidates.
- Alexander brings 15 years, 303 wins and plans to mix high school recruits with transfers.
- Belmont’s elite shooting and offensive identity likely will shape K‑State’s style.
How desirable is Kansas State’s basketball job as a head coaching destination?
That question has been asked repeatedly since the Wildcats fired Jerome Tang and began searching for his replacement.
Casey Alexander made his thoughts on that topic crystal clear during a pair of interviews with K-State athletic director Gene Taylor. That is one of the main reasons K-State decided to poach him from Belmont this week and sign him to a five-year deal that is worth $17 million.
“When we talked about that,” Taylor said in an exclusive interview, “Casey told us, ‘Kansas State has had three different coaches in recent history go to Elite Eights. That’s not by accident. There’s a reason for that. It’s a good program. It has good support, both financially and from the fans.’ He knows our history. That was impressive to me. He’s excited about coaching here. He wants to coach at Bramlage when it’s rocking.”
Inside the interview process with Casey Alexander
The Wildcats officially hired Alexander on Friday.
K-State targeted him after Taylor and his advisors spoke with around 10 candidates over the course of nearly four weeks.
Taylor said he spoke with Alexander via Zoom in February, and he immediately vaulted near the top of K-State’s list when the conversation was over. The two sides met again last weekend for a face-to-face interview at the Kansas City Airport Marriott hotel. It was clear at that point, Taylor said, that Alexander was a finalist for the job.
“He was really good in his interviews,” Taylor said. “He had a really good plan for what he wants to do at Kansas State and how he will run his team in the Big 12, compared to how he has done things in a mid-major conference. He talked about how he would build his roster, not only from a financial perspective.
“He’s big on having a consistent team as much as he can. He’s never had teams that completely turned over, and he doesn’t want to start now. He still believes in high school kids, getting recruits and developing them. He wants to fill needs with transfers. He understands the type of player he will need and the physicality it will take to win in the Big 12.
“He had that all planned out. We also liked his background. Everywhere he’s coached, he’s been able to identify talent and win.”
Indeed, Alexander has 15 years of experience as a head coach. During that time, he has won 303 games while working at Stetson, Lipscomb and Belmont.
Alexander was most recently at Belmont, where he guided the Bruins to seven consecutive 20-win seasons and three conference titles. This past year, he helped Belmont win 26 games and claim a Missouri Valley regular-season championship.
He also guided Lipscomb to one NCAA Tournament and a runner-up finish in the NIT when he worked there.
Taylor was impressed with Alexander’s steady rise as a mid-major coach.
“He didn’t have a lot of wins when he started out at Lipscomb,” Taylor said. “He was right around .500 for his first three years. But once he got to 20 wins he stayed there. To me, that shows somebody who’s learning how to coach and learning how to build a program. Once he got that process down, he continued it, whether it was at Lipscomb or Belmont. That’s what I was impressed about. It just seems like this guy really can coach no matter what the situation is.”
Other candidates and finalists for the K-State job
Taylor is hopeful that Alexander can continue to work his magic at K-State.
This is an interesting time for the Wildcats. Their past three coaches (Frank Martin, Bruce Weber and Tang) were all able to put together moments of brilliance over the past two decades. But the team has only reached the NCAA Tournament one time in the past seven years.
K-State also showed strong interest in Saint Louis coach Josh Schertz and Utah State coach Jerrod Calhoun for this opening.
But neither of them jumped at an opportunity to coach in Manhattan. Schertz signed a lucrative contract extension to stay at SLU. Calhoun was hesitant to negotiate a deal with the Aggies on their way to the NCAA Tournament and potential interest from Cincinnati looming.
So the Wildcats set their sights on Alexander, and he turned out to be a good match. He accepted the job after a few hours of negotiations Thursday evening. Taylor said it was important for him to hire a new coach sooner rather than later. He had no interest in waiting until after the Final Four.
Alexander is set to hold an introductory news conference at 11 a.m. Monday inside Bramlage Coliseum.
He will not return to Belmont and coach the Bruins in the NIT. For what it’s worth, Taylor said Alexander had his full support if he wanted to continue coaching Belmont in a consolation tournament. But the Bruins decided to withdraw their name from NIT consideration after coaching change.
The transfer portal doesn’t open until April. So Alexander would have had time to work both jobs. But it makes sense that he wants to focus solely on his new gig.
What’s next for K-State basketball?
In any case, Alexander will bring a clear identity to K-State basketball.
His teams are best known for their offense, and it’s a good bet that the Wildcats will make a bunch of 3-pointers next season.
Belmont ranked first nationally in 3-point shooting this season by draining 41% of its shots from beyond the arc. Nine different players shot better than 40% from downtown. 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.
One knock on Alexander is that he has never won an NCAA Tournament game.
But it’s not easy to do that at mid-major programs. Case in point: Belmont won the Missouri Valley regular-season title by three games this season, but it was eliminated from March Madness contention when it suffered an upset loss in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.
Winning 26 games wasn’t enough for Belmont to reach the NCAA Tournament. Alexander won’t have that problem at K-State.
The last three coaches who won 20 games in a season at K-State were able to advance deep into the Big Dance.
“Access to the NCAA Tournament is a huge factor for him,” Taylor said. “Hearing him talk about needing to win 28, 29 or 30 games to get there at Belmont, man, that must have been a lot of pressure. That’s really hard. He’s very excited to have more opportunities at Kansas State. That is one of the reasons why he really wants to coach at this level.”
This story was originally published March 14, 2026 at 12:36 PM.