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MANHATTAN — The new Kansas State basketball staff may be entering a season with a smaller roster budget than most of those within the Big 12, but the Wildcats won't use it as an excuse if it contributes to poor results.
New Wildcats general manager Sean Rutigliano spoke to the media on Friday, May 22, in the days after it was reported that Kansas State would have a $6 million roster budget heading into the program's first year under coach Casey Alexander.
National reporting suggests that the most expensive rosters are around $22 million and higher, while Kansas may have signed incoming freshman star Tyran Stokes to a $6 million deal alone.
Alexander said earlier this month that Kansas State "definitely" had what it needed to build its roster. Athletic director Gene Taylor said he wanted to promise roster budgets that would include "true NIL" and the dollars allocated from the school's revenue share pot.
Rutigliano, the first GM in the program's history, downplayed the panic a smaller figure could create, saying it all came down to selling Kansas State and Alexander to the right recruits.
"The most value that you're gonna get are guys that fit your program and guys that fit your head coach," Rutigliano said. "I don't ever think we're gonna get it perfect, but we're gonna work really hard to make sure that we bring in guys that fit that skill set, that toughness and have the grit that fit Coach Alexander in terms of who he is as a person and fit Coach Alexander in terms of if they're willing to be coached by him."
Rutigliano joins Alexander's inaugural coaching staff after coaching this past season as the head coach at Division III Colby College in Waterville, Maine. He was on Alexander's staff at Lipscomb and Belmont for the 10 years prior.
Kansas State has signed 14 players since Alexander became head coach, only retaining Andrej Kostic from Jerome Tang's roster in 2025-26. The roster mostly consists of players with untapped potential rather than proven results at the college level.
The roster came together quickly, with Kansas State landing its 14th commitment from incoming freshman Nash Stark on May 4, less than a month after the transfer portal opened.
"I think the money situation's gonna be a challenge for everybody," Rutigliano said. "We're never gonna use that as an excuse, and we're gonna keep working. How did we get this done so quickly? We worked really hard at it. I'm not saying that we worked harder than any other staff, but our staff did a really good job at being deliberate, being intentional and prioritizing the guys that we felt would fit Kansas State."
Playing in the Big 12, Kansas State will have plenty of opportunities to prove its player evaluation and development can outweigh the need to have more money than others. Programs at the top of the league, like Arizona, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech and BYU will continue to contend, while there's been an evident uptick in spending at Arizona State, Oklahoma State and Baylor.
The only thing proven so far is that no one within the Wildcats basketball program comes across as feeling they're being set up to fail.
"I think there are going to be challenges for everybody in (Power 4)," Rutigliano said. "So, I think you can make excuses or you could just keep plugging away and keep doing what you're doing."
Wyatt D. Wheeler covers Kansas State athletics for the USA TODAY Network and Topeka Capital-Journal. You can follow him on X at @WyattWheeler_, contact him at 417-371-6987 or email him at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State basketball small roster budget won't be used as excuse
Continue reading...
New Wildcats general manager Sean Rutigliano spoke to the media on Friday, May 22, in the days after it was reported that Kansas State would have a $6 million roster budget heading into the program's first year under coach Casey Alexander.
National reporting suggests that the most expensive rosters are around $22 million and higher, while Kansas may have signed incoming freshman star Tyran Stokes to a $6 million deal alone.
Alexander said earlier this month that Kansas State "definitely" had what it needed to build its roster. Athletic director Gene Taylor said he wanted to promise roster budgets that would include "true NIL" and the dollars allocated from the school's revenue share pot.
Rutigliano, the first GM in the program's history, downplayed the panic a smaller figure could create, saying it all came down to selling Kansas State and Alexander to the right recruits.
"The most value that you're gonna get are guys that fit your program and guys that fit your head coach," Rutigliano said. "I don't ever think we're gonna get it perfect, but we're gonna work really hard to make sure that we bring in guys that fit that skill set, that toughness and have the grit that fit Coach Alexander in terms of who he is as a person and fit Coach Alexander in terms of if they're willing to be coached by him."
Rutigliano joins Alexander's inaugural coaching staff after coaching this past season as the head coach at Division III Colby College in Waterville, Maine. He was on Alexander's staff at Lipscomb and Belmont for the 10 years prior.
Kansas State has signed 14 players since Alexander became head coach, only retaining Andrej Kostic from Jerome Tang's roster in 2025-26. The roster mostly consists of players with untapped potential rather than proven results at the college level.
The roster came together quickly, with Kansas State landing its 14th commitment from incoming freshman Nash Stark on May 4, less than a month after the transfer portal opened.
"I think the money situation's gonna be a challenge for everybody," Rutigliano said. "We're never gonna use that as an excuse, and we're gonna keep working. How did we get this done so quickly? We worked really hard at it. I'm not saying that we worked harder than any other staff, but our staff did a really good job at being deliberate, being intentional and prioritizing the guys that we felt would fit Kansas State."
Playing in the Big 12, Kansas State will have plenty of opportunities to prove its player evaluation and development can outweigh the need to have more money than others. Programs at the top of the league, like Arizona, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech and BYU will continue to contend, while there's been an evident uptick in spending at Arizona State, Oklahoma State and Baylor.
The only thing proven so far is that no one within the Wildcats basketball program comes across as feeling they're being set up to fail.
"I think there are going to be challenges for everybody in (Power 4)," Rutigliano said. "So, I think you can make excuses or you could just keep plugging away and keep doing what you're doing."
Wyatt D. Wheeler covers Kansas State athletics for the USA TODAY Network and Topeka Capital-Journal. You can follow him on X at @WyattWheeler_, contact him at 417-371-6987 or email him at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State basketball small roster budget won't be used as excuse
Continue reading...
