Casey Alexander adds new assistants (and a GM) to his K-State basketball staff
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Sean Rutigliano hired as GM to help target recruits and manage NIL budget.
- Alexander adds assistants Phil Cunningham and John Cooper to coaching staff.
- Wes Long named chief of staff; two new assistant coaches join existing staff.
Casey Alexander is assembling a new type of coaching staff as he works to rebuild the Kansas State men’s basketball team.
For the first time, the Wildcats will employ a general manager next season at Bramlage Coliseum.
Alexander has hired Sean Rutigliano in that role. Rutigliano comes to K-State after spending the past season as the head coach at Colby, a Division III school in Maine. Before that, he worked for Alexander as an assistant coach at Belmont. Now that they are reunited in Manhattan, Rutigliano will help the Wildcats target recruits and manage the team’s NIL/revenue sharing budget.
K-State has utilized a general manager in football for several seasons. But former head coach Jerome Tang didn’t feel the need to have one in men’s basketball. That decision was often criticized by fans, especially over the past two years as the Wildcats suffered through back-to-back losing seasons despite spending big money on high-profile transfers.
It will be interesting to see how much differently recruiting (and spending) works moving forward.
K-State also announced three more new basketball additions on Wednesday.
Phil Cunningham and John Cooper have arrived in Manhattan to serve as assistant coaches. Wes Long is the team’s new chief of staff.
Cunningham is a former head coach. He led Troy to an overall record of 80-111 over the course of six seasons from 2013 to 2019. The Trojans reached the NCAA Tournament one time during that stretch. He was most recently an assistant at Louisiana-Monroe.
Cooper is a former Wichita State player who went to become a head coach at Tennessee State and Miami (Ohio). He was most recently an assistant at UNLV.
K-State’s new coaching staff will feature two former head coaches.
Long was previously the associate head coach at Middle Tennessee State.
They will join JJ Butler, Kerron Johnson and Luke Smith as assistant coaches at K-State.