Matt Painter sits at the top of a list built around one simple idea: some coaches are squeezing far more out of their roster budgets than the numbers should allow.
That’s the big takeaway from CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander and Isaac Trotter’s deep dive into college basketball spending for the 2026-27 season, a wide-ranging investigation that sorted high-major programs into budget tiers and gave the sport its clearest look yet at what teams are actually putting into men’s basketball in the NIL era.
Painter’s Purdue landing in Tier 6 - the $7.1 million to $9.9 million range - was one of the most eye-opening findings. The Boilermakers are grouped with programs such as Utah, Northwestern, DePaul and Penn State, yet Painter keeps Purdue operating like a much richer program. The article pointed to continuity as the foundation of that success, along with the kind of respect that allows the Boilermakers to retain talent despite not working with the sport’s biggest checkbook.
The same investigation also laid out the tier structure used in the reporting:
Tier 1: $20 million plus
Tier 2: Just under $20 million
Tier 3: $15.1 million to $17.5 million
Tier 4: $12.1 million to $15 million
Tier 5: $10 million to $12 million
Tier 6: $7.1 million to $9.9 million
Tier 7: $5 million to $7 million
From there, the ranking of coaches outperforming their spending power stretches across the country, with several familiar names turning modest budgets into major results.
Nate Oats comes in at No. 2 after building Alabama into a program that keeps winning like one of the sport’s financial heavyweights, even though 13 of the SEC’s 16 schools spend at least one tier above the Crimson Tide. Alabama reached its first Final Four in 2024, has made it past the NCAA Tournament’s first weekend in each of the past four years, won SEC titles in 2021 and 2023, and has never been seeded worse than No. 6 under Oats. He also has five first-round NBA picks on his résumé.
At No. 3 is TJ Otzelberger, whose run at Iowa State keeps getting stronger. He has made the NCAA Tournament in all five seasons, reached three Sweet 16s and earned a No. 3 seed or better in each of the past three years.
That’s especially striking considering what he inherited: a program that went 2-22 the season before he arrived from South Dakota State. His first Cyclones team had a roster ranked No. 340 in KenPom’s minutes continuity metric, yet he still turned it into a Sweet 16 group.
Fred Hoiberg follows at No. 4, and Nebraska’s place in Tier 5 fits the school’s football-first profile. Even so, Hoiberg has pushed the Cornhuskers into territory they had never reached before. Nebraska has won 20 or more games in three straight seasons for the first time in program history, and it has been to at least two NCAA Tournaments in a three-year span for the first time since the early 1990s.
Ben McCollum lands at No. 5 after an electric first season at Iowa. The sample size is only one year, but the early signs are loud.
McCollum guided the Hawkeyes to a surprising Elite Eight run, and the challenge ahead is replacing Bennett Stirtz, who is now with the Oklahoma City Thunder after playing for McCollum at three different schools. Even without much offseason buzz, Iowa is already being viewed through the lens of a coach who knows how to get more from less.
Kyle Smith checks in at No. 6 after two seasons at Stanford, where the Cardinal are 41-27 overall and 20-18 in ACC play while working with one of the lowest budgets among high-major programs. Stanford narrowly missed the 2026 NCAA Tournament, but Smith has repeatedly pushed the team well beyond preseason expectations. The 2025 group finished 18 spots higher at KenPom than projected, and last year’s team finished 27 spots above its preseason mark.
Jamie Dixon is next at No. 7, and his track record at TCU is hard to ignore. He has taken the Horned Frogs to four of the past five NCAA Tournaments after the program had reached just one in the previous 30 years before his arrival. TCU still hasn’t broken through past the first weekend, but Dixon has kept the program consistently competitive without elite resources.
Ryan Odom comes in at No. 8 after a huge first year at Virginia. The Cavaliers won 30 games, earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and finished No. 17 in KenPom after starting the season at No.
- That kind of jump is exactly what this ranking is built to spotlight.
Mike White is No. 9 after helping Georgia do something the Bulldogs had not done in years: make consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. Georgia ranks last in SEC spending, according to the investigation, yet White still led the Bulldogs to a 10-8 SEC record with a roster in the $10 million to $12 million range.
Greg Gard rounds out the top 10. Wisconsin has gone 73-35 overall and 38-22 in Big Ten play over the past three seasons despite sitting outside the top half of the league in spending. The Badgers also outperformed preseason expectations in 2025 and have been seeded No. 5 or better in each of the past three NCAA Tournaments.
In Other News...
Indiana Fan Who Missed $1 Million Kick Had A Wild Next Move
Jackson Stallings turned a rough moment on ESPNs College GameDay into something very Indiana in a hurry. The student was on the spot for two 33-yard field goals that carried a $1 million prize, and both kicks sailed wide before the Hoosiers game against Minnesota. With Pat McAfee involved in the scene and the spotlight fixed squarely on campus, it was the kind of public miss that can linger for a while.
Instead, Stallings took the attention and pushed it somewhere unexpected, posting a viral LinkedIn message that framed the experience through business lessons. For a fan base used to seeing the football program under a microscope, it was a reminder that the days most memorable moment did not end with the kicks themselves. The bigger curiosity now is how far that post travels, and whether the miss ends up being remembered more for the money left on the table or the way Stallings handled it afterward. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Suddenly Has A Quarterback Problem It Cant Ignore
Josh Hoovers early exit against Minnesota turned a routine injury update into something more complicated for Indiana. The backup, Grant Wilson, stepped in and helped guide the Hoosiers to a win after Hoover did not return for the second half, giving the staff a live look at how the offense might function if the depth chart has to change.
Curt Cignetti said the possibility of a quarterback switch was discussed, which only adds to the pressure around Hoovers status moving forward. Indiana stuck with him for now, but with injury concerns and uneven play both in the picture, the Hoosiers are suddenly facing a decision they cant put off for long. [Read more 🡒]
Indianas New-Look Rotation Just Raised A Bigger Question For Next Week
Indianas second game of the season offered a clearer look at how much this roster can change from night to night, and the early returns were encouraging. In a 92-69 win over Bellarmine, Duke transfer Darren Harris delivered a career-high 23 points, while Villanova transfer Bryce Lindsay added 15 points and four assists off the bench, giving the Hoosiers a burst of scoring and playmaking from two newcomers who are already carving out roles.
Even with the offense rolling, coach Darian DeVries spent part of the night pointing to defensive lapses that still need cleaning up before the schedule stiffens. Indiana has enough depth to keep experimenting with lineups and roles, but next week will offer a better test of whether this new-look rotation can hold up when the margin for error gets smaller. [Read more 🡒]