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Todd Butler

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Todd Butler
Current position
TitleSenior Associate Athletics Director
TeamMcNeese State
ConferenceSouthland
Biographical details
Born (1966-07-23) July 23, 1966 (age 58)
Alexandria, Louisiana, U.S.
Playing career
1985–1986McNeese State
1987–1988Oklahoma
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1991McNeese State (asst.)
1992Blinn (asst.)
1993–1994McNeese State (Asst.)
1995–2000Alabama (H/OF)
2001–2003McNeese State
2004–2005Alabama (RC/H/INF)
2006–2013Arkansas (asst.)
2014–2019Wichita State
2020Missouri (RC)
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
2021McNeese State (SAAD)
Head coaching record
Overall259–263
TournamentsNCAA: 0–2

Todd Butler is an American college baseball coach and former player. He played college baseball at McNeese State University from 1985 to 1986 before transferring to the University of Oklahoma in 1987 and 1988. He spent three years as the head coach at McNeese State from 2001 to 2003 and was the head coach of the Wichita State University from 2014 to 2019.[1][2][3][4][5] Butler spent 16 seasons as an assistant coach in the Southeastern Conference under legendary Alabama coach Jim Wells and Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn.

He is known around the country for his ability to attract the best talent and develop strong hitters. During Butler's 23-year career as an NCAA Division I assistant or head coach, he has helped his teams to five College World Series appearances, 17 NCAA regionals, four NCAA super regionals, six conference tournament championships and his teams have been ranked No. 1 five times in his career. In addition, Butler has coached 32 All-Americans and Freshman All-Americans, 150 players drafted in the MLB Draft and 27 Major League players.

Playing career

Butler played for McNeese State and Oklahoma. In 1986, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[6] He was a captain with the Sooners in his senior year of 1988, and was named a third-team All-American and earned All-Big 8 honors. He signed with the Cleveland Indians as an undrafted free agent, and played the remainder of the 1988 season with Indians affiliates in Burlington, N.C. and Waterloo, Iowa.[1]

Coaching career

Butler returned to McNeese State to complete his degree, and served as a student assistant in 1991. He then worked one season at Blinn before returning as a full-time assistant at McNeese State for two years. Butler then served six seasons at Alabama. Butler served as the hitting instructor and outfielders coach during his first stint with the Crimson Tide from 1995 to 2000. He helped guide Alabama to six NCAA Regional appearances as well as three trips to the College World Series in 1996, 1997 (national runner-up) and 1999 (Final Four). The 1997 team was the national runner-up. The Tide advanced to the SEC Tournament in all six of those seasons, claiming the SEC Tournament title in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999.

Butler served as the hitting instructor and outfielders coach during those first six years, as well as being one of the chief recruiters. Butler earned his reputation as one of the country's top recruiters during those first six years at Alabama. He helped the Crimson Tide land some of the nation's top talent as Alabama recorded three-consecutive top-10 recruiting classes. The Tide's 1999 freshman class was ranked as the fourth-best in the country and still ranks as the highest ranked class in school history.

In 2001, Butler took over as head coach at McNeese State in his hometown of Lake Charles, La., where he compiled a 90–83 (.520) overall record in three seasons. In his last season at McNeese, he guided the Cowboys to the 2003 Southland Conference Tournament championship, their first in 10 years.

The win at the conference tournament secured just the fourth NCAA Regional bid in McNeese State's history and the Cowboys were sent to the Houston Regional at Rice's Reckling Park. Butler's team gave eventual national champion Rice all they could handle before falling to the Owls, 3–2, in 10 innings. Ole Miss eliminated the Cowboys from the 64-team field the following day.

While at McNeese State, Butler signed Clay Buccholz (Boston Red Sox) and coached Wade LeBlanc (Miami Marlins) and Jacob Marceaux (first rounder for the Miami Marlins). After three seasons, he returned to Alabama as recruiting coordinator, where he remained for two seasons before accepting the same position at Arkansas.

In his eight seasons at Arkansas, Butler helped the Razorbacks to two College World Series appearances (2009 Final Four, 2012 Final Four), eight NCAA regional berths, three NCAA super regional appearances and two SEC Western Division titles. In addition, Butler constructed five top-10 recruiting classes and had 51 players taken in the MLB Draft including 12 players taken in the first two rounds. In Butler's eight years at Arkansas, he coached six All-Americans including Nick Schmidt, Jess Todd, Zack Cox, Brett Eibner, Matt Reynolds and Ryne Stanek. He also had 51 players drafted and nine have made it to the Major Leagues including Craig Gentry, Blake Parker, Duke Welker, Jess Todd, Logan Forsythe, Dallas Keuchel, Drew Smyly, James McCann and Andy Wilkins.

On June 16, 2013, Butler was introduced as head coach at Wichita State, succeeding the legendary Gene Stephenson.[1][5]

On May 26, 2019, Butler was fired from Wichita State.[7]

After a single season as the recruiting coordinator at Missouri, Butler was relieved of his duties.[8]

Head coaching record

The following table depicts Butler's record as a head coach at the Division I level.[9]

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
McNeese State Cowboys (Southland Conference) (2001–2003)
2001 McNeese State 29–25 12–15 7th
2002 McNeese State 30–28 15–12 5th
2003 McNeese State 31–30 12–15 6th NCAA Regional
McNeese State: 90–83 (.520) 39–42 (.481)
Wichita State Shockers (Missouri Valley Conference) (2014–2017)
2014 Wichita State 31–28 13–8 4th MVC tournament
2015 Wichita State 26–33 10–11 T–3rd MVC tournament
2016 Wichita State 21–37 9–12 T–5th MVC tournament
2017 Wichita State 28–30 10–11 5th MVC tournament
Wichita State Shockers (American Athletic Conference) (2018–2019)
2018 Wichita State 35–21–1 9–14–1 7th The American tournament
2019 Wichita State 28–31 9–15 8th The American tournament
Wichita State: 169–180–1 (.484) 60–71–1 (.458)
Total: 259–263 (.496)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Admin career

In June, 2020, Butler returned to McNeese State as the Senior Associate Athletic Director.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Todd Butler bio". Arkansas Razorbacks. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
  2. ^ Paul Suellentropp (June 16, 2013). "Wichita State confirms hiring of Todd Butler as baseball coach". Wichita, KS: Wichita Eagle. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
  3. ^ Paul Suellentropp (July 10, 2013). "New Shocker baseball coach Todd Butler settles in". Wichita, KS: Wichita Eagle. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
  4. ^ Danilynn Welniak (June 15, 2013). "Todd Butler to be named WSU Baseball Coach". Wichita, KS: KWCH. Archived from the original on October 7, 2015. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
  5. ^ a b "Todd Butler Named Head Baseball Coach". Wichita State Shockers. June 16, 2013. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
  6. ^ "NCAA places Wichita St. baseball program on probation". capecodbaseball.org. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  7. ^ Taylor Eldridge (May 26, 2019). "Wichita State fires baseball coach Todd Butler". www.kansas.com. The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  8. ^ Colin O'Brien (April 30, 2020). "Missouri baseball parts ways with recruiting coordinator". www.newstribune.com. News Tribune Publishing. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  9. ^ McNeese State Cowboys Baseball Media Guide. McNeese State. p. 32. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
  10. ^ "Todd Butler Joines McNeese State as Sr. Associate Athletic Director". www.mcneesesports.com. McNeese State University Athletics. June 24, 2020. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
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