CBS Sports’ deep dive into college basketball roster spending has already started reshaping the conversation around the 2026-27 season, and one of its clearest themes is this: some coaches are squeezing elite results out of budgets that don’t come close to matching the sport’s biggest spenders.
The investigation by Matt Norlander and Isaac Trotter sorted high-major programs into spending tiers, with Tier 1 at $20 million-plus and Tier 7 at $5 million to $7 million. That framework makes the overachievers jump off the page, especially in the middle and lower rungs where smart coaching can matter as much as raw financial muscle.
At the top of the list is Purdue’s Matt Painter, whose program landed in Tier 6 at $7.1 million to $9.9 million. That puts the Boilermakers in the same range as Utah, Northwestern, DePaul and Penn State, yet Purdue keeps operating like a far richer outfit. Painter’s teams keep winning at a level that outpaces the spending around them, and the investigation only sharpened the contrast.
Continuity remains the backbone of what Painter does, and Purdue’s ability to retain talent with modest resources says plenty about his standing. No other Tier 6 program is really in Purdue’s class, and among Tier 5 teams, only Iowa State comes close.
Nate Oats checks in next, and Alabama’s place in Tier 4 stands out in a league where 13 of the SEC’s 16 schools are spending at least one tier higher. The Crimson Tide sit in the same neighborhood as Mississippi State, but their résumé under Oats looks like that of a program with far deeper pockets.
Alabama reached its first Final Four in 2024, has gotten past the NCAA Tournament’s opening weekend in each of the last four years, won SEC titles in 2021 and 2023, and has not been seeded lower than No. 6 in the tournament during Oats’ tenure. The NBA pipeline has been strong too, with five first-round picks on his record.
TJ Otzelberger lands third after building Iowa State into a consistent tournament team in Tier 5. He has gone 5-for-5 in NCAA Tournament appearances in Year 6, reached three Sweet 16s and delivered a No. 3 seed or better in each of the last three seasons.
That run looks even more impressive when you remember what he inherited: a program that went 2-22 the year before he arrived from South Dakota State. He turned that roster into an elite defensive group almost immediately, and the Cyclones’ 2026-27 team is ranked No. 12 in Gary Parrish’s Top 25 And 1.
Fred Hoiberg is right behind him, and Nebraska’s Tier 5 placement fits a school that has never been a basketball heavyweight. The Cornhuskers had never won an NCAA Tournament game before this past season, which makes Hoiberg’s recent stretch stand out even more. Nebraska has won 20 or more games in three straight seasons for the first time in program history, and it has made at least two NCAA Tournaments in a three-year span for the first time since the early 1990s.
Ben McCollum comes in at No. 5 after one season at Iowa, and the early signs are loud. He guided the Hawkeyes to a surprise Elite Eight run in his first year, and the question now is whether he can keep building something lasting in the Big Ten.
Replacing Bennett Stirtz, who is now with the Oklahoma City Thunder after playing for McCollum at three schools, will be a major test. Iowa did not make much noise in the transfer market, but that’s part of the challenge in this tier: finding a way to get more out of less.
Kyle Smith is another coach making the most of limited resources, with Stanford sitting in Tier 7. The Cardinal are 41-27 overall and 20-18 in ACC play through two seasons, despite operating on one of the lowest budgets among high-major programs.
Stanford just missed the 2026 NCAA Tournament, but Smith’s teams have consistently beaten expectations. One squad finished 18 spots higher at KenPom than its preseason projection, and another finished 27 spots higher.
Jamie Dixon has kept TCU relevant in Tier 5, reaching four of the last five NCAA Tournaments after the program had made just one in the previous 30 years before his arrival. The Horned Frogs still haven’t broken through beyond the first weekend, but Dixon has repeatedly turned middling resources into a team that plays hard and competes.
Ryan Odom’s first season at Virginia was as strong as it gets. In Tier 4, he won 30 games, earned a No. 3 seed and finished No. 17 in KenPom after beginning the year at No.
- That kind of leap is exactly what this spending exercise is designed to spotlight.
Georgia’s Mike White rounds out the list after guiding the Bulldogs to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since the early 2000s. Georgia ranks last in SEC spending, according to the investigation, yet White still pushed the Bulldogs to a 10-8 league mark with a roster in the $10 million to $12 million range.
Greg Gard closes the group in Tier 5, and Wisconsin’s recent consistency keeps his case strong. The Badgers are 73-35 overall and 38-22 in Big Ten play over the last three seasons, all while spending outside the top half of the conference. Wisconsin also outperformed preseason expectations in 2025 and has been seeded No. 5 or better in each of the last three NCAA Tournaments.
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