Kansas State hires Belmont’s Casey Alexander as coach

Kansas State has hired Belmont’s Casey Alexander as its next men’s basketball coach, athletic director Gene Taylor announced Friday.

Alexander will receive a five-year, $17 million contract after he led the Bruins to the Missouri Valley regular-season title this season, winning 26 games before losing in the conference tournament quarterfinals. It was his 10th consecutive season winning at least 20 games.

“I’m incredibly excited to join the team at K-State and can’t wait to get the journey started,” Alexander said in a statement. “K-State has such a rich tradition and a wildly passionate fan base and I’m grateful for the opportunity provided by Gene Taylor to be a part of it.”

Hired away from Lipscomb in 2019, Alexander has been at Belmont for seven seasons. In his first season with the Bruins, they claimed a share of the Ohio Valley regular-season title and won the conference tournament. They didn’t play in the NCAA tournament, however, after it was canceled due to the pandemic.

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Alexander went 166-60 at Belmont, his alma mater, and won three regular-season championships, although the Bruins never played in the NCAA tournament with him at the helm. He also helped transition the program from the Ohio Valley Conference to the Missouri Valley Conference.

Before taking over at Belmont, Alexander spent six seasons at Lipscomb, winning one regular-season title and taking the Bisons to the NCAA tournament in 2018. He was also the head coach at Stetson for two seasons.

At Kansas State, Alexander will replace Jerome Tang, who was fired last month toward the end of his fourth season in charge.

“Of the coaches we talked with Casey emerged as the one who best fit our program,” Taylor said in a statement. “He is known nationally as a tremendous evaluator of talent and one of the best offensive minds in the college game. He has built and maintained successful and winning programs at Stetson, Lipscomb and Belmont, and his reputation of developing players and a strong culture all make him a perfect fit for us.”

There were only two seniors in Alexander’s nine-man rotation at Belmont this season, and there is a chance some of the players with remaining eligibility could follow him to Manhattan, Kansas. Sophomores Sam Orme (12.7 PPG) and Drew Scharnowski (10.7) were the most productive of the group.