Wednesday's bombshell investigation from CBS Sports' Matt Norlander and Isaac Trotter into college basketball roster spending is loaded with insights. The piece, published after months of meticulous research, breaks down the budgets and values of high-major college basketball teams into tiers for the 2026-27 season. It is the most thorough look yet during the NIL era into what programs are actually spending on men's basketball, and it will shape narratives around the sport during the 2026-27 season.
One of the many takeaways from a rare under-the-hood examination of the sport's financial inner workings comes from looking at tiers 4-7. Inhabiting these rungs of the sport's financial ladder are some overachieving coaches with relatively limited spending power. Look no further than Purdue's Matt Painter as the prime example.
The Boilermakers landed in Tier 6 ($7.1 million to $9.9 million) for the 2026-27 season. For context, that puts Purdue in the same neighborhood as programs like Utah, Northwestern, DePaul and Penn State. Yet, Painter's teams routinely perform as well or better than the high-dollar programs in tiers 1-3.
Painter is just one example of a high-major college basketball coach doing more with less. For reference, here are the tiers used in the reporting: Tier 1: $20 million plusTier 2: Just under $20 millionTier 3: $15.1 million to $17.5 millionTier 4: $12.1 million to $15 millionTier 5: $10 million to $12 millionTier 6: $7.1 million to $9.9 millionTier 7: $5 million to $7 million Here is a ranking of the 10 coaches who are overperforming relative to their spending power. Seeing a perennial power like Purdue in Tier 6 was one of the more shocking revelations of the Norlander/Trotter investigation.
The Boilermakers have never been viewed as crazy spenders, but the article underscored just how remarkable a job Painter does on an annual basis. Continuity is the bedrock of his program, and it says something about how well-respected he is that the Boilermakers are able to thrive in retention with unremarkable resources. No one else in Tier 6 is even in Purdue's neighborhood when it comes to program quality.
The only school in Tier 5 that can hold a candle to Purdue is Iowa State. Of the SEC's 16 schools, 13 are at least one tier above Alabama in spending. The Crimson Tide share a neighborhood with Mississippi State yet produce wins as if they are billionaire-backed blue blood.
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