Butler Bulldogs

Butler Bulldogs
Logo
University	Butler University
Conference	Horizon League
Division	Division I
Athletic director	Barry Collier
Location	Indianapolis, Indiana
Varsity teams	17
Football stadium	Butler Bowl
Arena	Hinkle Fieldhouse
Mascot	Butler Blue II
Nickname	Bulldogs
Fight song	The Butler War Song
Colors	Blue and White
Website	butlersports.collegesports.com

The ‘’’Butler Bulldogs’’’ represent Butler University in NCAA Division I athletic competition. All but one of Butler's 19 intercollegiate teams compete in the Horizon League, along with Cleveland State, Detroit, Green Bay, Loyola, Milwaukee, UIC, Valparaiso, Wright State and Youngstown State. The football team is a member of the Pioneer League, which includes Dayton, Drake, San Diego and Valparaiso.

Facilities

It was clear from the earliest days that athletics was destined to play a major role in shaping Butler University. When the school moved to its current Fairview campus location, two of the first structures completed were a 15,000-seat fieldhouse and a 36,000-seat football stadium.

The Butler Bowl

The football stadium, which came to be known as the Butler Bowl, was built in 1927. The original stadium had seating for 36,000 and hosted games versus the likes of the Four Horsemen from Notre Dame and Red Grange from Illinois. The Bowl was downsized to a 20,000-seat stadium in the mid-1950s with the addition of the Hilton U. Brown Theatre, and is the home field for Butler football and soccer today. A 2006 renovation of the Butler Bowl includes new seating for 7,500, larger sidelines, and field turf, which allows the Butler Bowl to host football, soccer, and other events. The new Student Apartment Housing overlooks the stadium on the east end, with the original seating on the west side of the stadium.

Hinkle Fieldhouse

Main article: Hinkle Fieldhouse

The fieldhouse, which was the largest of its kind when it was completed in 1928 and remained the largest in the U.S. for several decades, is a historical landmark. The Butler Fieldhouse, which was renamed Hinkle Fieldhouse in 1966, came to symbolize not only Butler athletics, but also Indiana "Hoosier Hysteria." From its opening in 1928 until 1971, the building became the combined home of Butler basketball and the final rounds of the Indiana High School Athletic Association’s basketball tournament. The legends of Indiana basketball, from Oscar Robertson to George McGinnis to Larry Bird, all played in the Fieldhouse at one time or another. In 1954, Butler Fieldhouse hosted the historic final when Milan High School (enrollment 161) defeated Muncie Central High School (enrollment over 1,600) to win the state title. The state final depicted in the 1986 movie “Hoosiers”, loosely based on the Milan Miracle story, was shot in Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Varsity Field

Other facilities include Varsity Field, which serves as one of the homes of the Butler men's and women's soccer teams. A natural grass field, the complex gives the soccer teams a unique advantage in being able to play games and have practices on both the artificial surface of the Butler Bowl and the natural surface of Varsity Field. Varsity Field features a covered area for both team benches, an elevated press box, a storage area for equipment and seating along the southern sideline for up to 500 spectators. The soccer teams are also able to take advantage of the practice fields located north of the main field.

Bulldog Park

Bulldog Park serves as the home of the Butler baseball team. Located just behind Hinkle Fieldhouse and the Butler Bowl, Bulldog Park provides a nostalgic setting for collegiate baseball, with seating for up to 500 spectators and a fully functional press box. The field features symmetrical dimensions, stretching 330 feet down both lines, 370 feet to the gaps and an even 400 feet to the batter's eye in dead center. The Butler dugout stretches along the third-base line with the visitors situated along first. The bullpens are located in foul territory in both corners of the outfield, while a batting cage sits along the left-field line out of play. Originally a multi-purpose baseball field and football practice field, Bulldog Park became a baseball-only facility following substantial renovations during the 1990s, which saw the addition of a permanent outfield fence, bleachers, dugouts and a press box. Since its conversion, the field has been home to numerous players who have gone on to play in the professional ranks, including current Minnesota Twins pitcher Pat Neshek. In 2009, Bulldog Park received further upgrades including new bullpens, sodded baselines, new dugout benches, and an indoor hitting facility with three batting cages and a putting green.

Butler Softball Field

The Butler softball team calls the Butler Softball Field home, located adjacent to the Holcomb Gardens across the Inland Waterway Canal. The field is a part of a larger athletic field complex that features Varsity Field (the alternate field for both the men's and women's soccer teams), the outdoor tennis courts and intramural softball and soccer fields. The field features brick dugouts for both the home and visiting benches, a bullpen area and batting cages located down the first base line out of play and spectator seating for up to 500 people. The field's outfield dimensions extend to 200 feet from foul pole to foul pole. A minor renovation during the winter of 2007 saw new dirt added to the infield and regraded for a more consistent playing surface.

The Butler Bubble

The Butler Bubble is home to the Bulldog men's and women's tennis teams and is used as an indoor practice facility for the Butler baseball, football and soccer teams. All of the Butler tennis teams' home matches during the winter and early spring take place inside the bubble, which is located behind Hinkle Fieldhouse off of 52nd Street. The Bubble was originally constructed at the far west end of the Hinkle Fieldhouse parking lot, but was relocated to along the right field line of Bulldog Park after the original plot was broke for the construction of the new Health and Recreation Complex in the summer of 2005. The Bubble houses four hard-surface tennis courts as well as additional room for storage of equipment for both tennis teams. The bubble itself is supported by higher air pressure inside and is permanently fixed over the courts.

Davey Track and Field

Situated next adjacent to Bulldog Park as a part of the Davey Athletic Complex, the Davey Track & Field is used primarily by the Butler track & field teams and the football team for practices but is also utilized by the other athletics programs for conditioning.

Butler Health & Rec. Center

Butler University broke ground on its new, 85,000 square foot Health and Recreation Complex (HRC) in June 2005. The HRC offers many new services to students, faculty, and staff, while expanding others presently available. Since opening Aug 30, 2006, over 250,000 participants have enjoyed it so far.

Paul D. “Tony” Hinkle

While the Fieldhouse provided a nationally acclaimed setting for Butler athletics, it was Paul D. "Tony" Hinkle, credited with inventing the orange basketball, who brought national recognition to the school as a coach and athletic administrator. He came to Butler in 1921 and remained with the University until his death in 1992. Hinkle served as a teacher, coach and athletic administrator for nearly half a century and compiled more than 1,000 victories with the school's football, basketball and baseball teams. The Bulldogs have carried on the winning traditions set forth by Hinkle. In the past decade, Butler teams have captured 26 conference championships (in four different leagues). The Bulldogs have made appearances in NCAA National Championship Tournaments in men's and women's basketball, men's soccer, volleyball, men's cross country, lacrosse, and baseball. Butler won the James J. McCafferty trophy, awarded annually by the conference for all-sports excellence based on conference championship points, five times, including three-straight from 1996-97 to 1998-99 and back-to-back years in 2001-02 and 2002-03.

Butler mascots

Prior to 1919, Butler's athletic teams were known as the "Christians". But numerous losses in the 1919 football season caused Butler's followers to grow weary of the nickname. During the week leading up to Butler's game with the heated rival Franklin "Baptists", Butler Collegian editor Alex Cavins and his staff, which included cartoonist George Dickson, decided something "hot" must be conceived for the school's weekly pep session. About that time, the mascot of a Butler fraternity..... a bulldog named Shimmy (you couldn't shake him), wandered into the Collegian office. The idea was born. The next school paper came out with a big page-one cartoon showing Shimmy the bulldog, labeled "Butler", taking a bite out of the pants seat of a figure labeled John the Baptist. The caption was: "Bring on That Platter, Salome!" (Butler lost the game to Franklin, 14-0, but the name "Bulldogs" stuck).

To date, there have been two dogs to carry the name "Blue", which is named for the university's primary color.

• Butler Blue I (September 23, 2000 - ) - one NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2003 and two Horizon League McCafferty All-Sports Championships in 2001 & 2002 (Term of Service: 2000 - 2003)
• Butler Blue II (March 27, 2004 - ) - one NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2007 and one Horizon League McCafferty All-Sports Championships in 2006 (Term of service: 2004 - present)

In addition to "Blue," a person in bulldog costume also performs as "Hink" for various Butler University athletic and university events.

Sports offered

Sport	Men's	Women's
Baseball	X	-
Basketball	X	X
Cross Country	X	X
Football	X	-
Golf	X	X
Lacrosse	Discontinued	-
Soccer	X	X
Softball	-	X
Swimming	Discontinued	X
Tennis	X	X
Track & Field	X	X
Volleyball	-	X
Totals	8	9

Men's basketball

Main article: Butler Bulldogs men's basketball

Historically, the Butler basketball program competed in the Missouri Valley Conference from 1932 to 1934, the Mid-American Conference from 1946 to 1950, the Indiana Collegiate Conference from 1950 to 1978, and currently competes in the Horizon League where it has competed since the league’s creation in 1979.

Prior to the development of the NCAA Tournament, Butler claimed the AAU national championship in 1924 and the national championship John J. McDevitt trophy by the Veteran Athletes of Philadelphia. The Bulldogs reached post-season play for the first time in 1958, and the team’s first victory in post-season play came the following year when the Bulldogs made it to the NIT Quarterfinals. The Bulldogs have competed in the NIT post-season tournament seven times, twice reaching the quarterfinals.

The bulldogs qualified for the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Tournament for the first time in 1962 when it finished Regional Third Place. In total, the Bulldogs have qualified or been selected for the NCAA Tournament nine times and boast a record of 8-9, including three sweet sixteen finishes.

Recently, the Butler basketball program been considered one of the best "mid-major" basketball programs, having won at least 20 games and reached postseason play eleven of the last thirteen seasons, including appearances in eight NCAA Tournaments where the Bulldogs reached the sweet sixteen in 2003 and 2007. Since the start of the 2006-2007 season, the Bulldogs have earned a 10-4 record against members of the BCS leagues, including a 5-1 record against the Big 10. The program’s success has been a result of "The Butler Way", a now-unique style of team play that many have said harkens back to the Indiana glory days, as well as being called "the way the game should be played."

The Bulldogs’ recent accomplishments include winning the 2001 BP Top of the World Classic., the 2006 NIT Season Tip-Off and the 2007 Great Alaska Shootout. Individual honors include the selection of Butler junior guard AJ Graves as a Wooden Award National Player of the Year finalist in men's college basketball in 2007, the same year Head Coach Todd Lickliter was named the National Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches after winning the award for mid-season National Coach of the Year . In 2008, Senior Mike Green was the Chip Hilton Player of the Year Award Winner.

Women's basketball

The women's basketball program at Butler University began in the 1975-76 season, competing in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), and saw its first winning season two years later, earning a 9-5 record under the direction of coach Linda Mason. The Bulldogs played in the AIAW National Tournament for the first time in 1982, falling in the second round to William Penn, 77-94. The next year, the Bulldogs began competition at the NCAA Division II level and joined the Horizon League and Division I competition for the 1986-87 season.

The Bulldogs qualified for Division I post-season play for the first time in 1993, competing in the WNIT, and competed in the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament for the first time in 1996. The Bulldogs returned to the WNIT again in 1998.

Football

The Butler Bulldogs football program has a long history, beginning with Indiana's first intercollegiate football game at the old 7th Street Baseball Grounds in the spring of 1884. For the game between Butler and DePauw, Butler senior John F. Stone compiled the rules by combining association (soccer) rules with eastern intercollegiate rules to form the western intercollegiate rules, which were published by Charles Mayer of Indianapolis. Butler won the game by a score of four goals to one.

The Bulldogs have appeared in three playoff games, the last in 1991 when it lost to eventual national champion Pittsburg State 26-16. The Bulldogs saw their greatest success in football over the course of 60 seasons from 1934 to 1994 when Bulldog football teams won 31 conference championships, including seven straight Indiana Collegiate Conference titles from 1934 to 1940, league titles in 1946, 1947, 1952, 1953, and seven straight from 1958 to 1964, all under the late great Tony Hinkle.

Following the move from the College Division to NCAA Division II, Butler won 4 straight conference championships from 1972 to 1975, along with another one in 1977, all under the guidance of Bill Sylvester, Sr. Ashland joined Butler and fellow ICC members to form the Heartland Collegiate Conference, in which Butler won league titles in 1983, 1985, and three straight from 1987 to 1989, under coach Bill Lynch. The Bulldogs also went the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1983 and 1988. shitty

Butler and fellow HCC member schools joined with the Great Lakes Valley Conference to form the Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference (now the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference). Butler added back to back league titles in 1991 and 1992 with Ken LaRose at the helm, including a trip to the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1991. The following season, Butler and member school Valparaiso moved up to NCAA Division I-AA (now Division I FCS) to join with Dayton, Drake, Evansville, and San Diego to form the Pioneer Football League, in which Butler still competes. Butler capped its decade of dominance, seven league titles in ten years with three playoff berths, by winning another conference championship in 1994. The Dawgs were lead by the great Arnold Mickens who broke numerous NCAA Division I rushing records, including eight straight 200 yard performances during the campaign.

The Bulldogs won the 2009 Pioneer Football League title by compiling a 7-1 league record and a 11-1 season overall. The conference title run included a come-from-behind 25-24 victory over Pioneer League preseason favorite San Diego, a 31-28 road win at Dayton (who also finished with a 7-1 league record), and a 20-17 title-clinching victory over Drake.

The Pioneer Football League title earned the Bulldogs a berth in the Gridiron Classic. It's Butler's first postseason appearance since 1991 when they were still a Division-II football program. Butler defeated Central Connecticut State 28-23 to win the Gridiron Classic in Indianapolis.

Track & field

Butler Relays

The Butler Relays were a prestigious American Track and Field competition, founded by track coach Herman Phillips who won three NCAA quartermile championships and was a member of the 1928 U.S. Olympic 1,600 meter gold medal relay team.

The event annually showcased 350-400 athletes representing 20-30 colleges and universities. From an attendance of 3,500, the games grew to attract over 10,000 spectators to Butler (Hinkle) Fieldhouse each March. The college's fraternities and sororities vied in yearly ticket sales, parade float, house decoration, and Relay Queen competitions. The University Division "Governor's Cup" went to each year's victor, with Indiana University claiming the inaugural trophy in 1933 and the University of Notre Dame taking the final prize in 1942. The University of Michigan captured the eight intervening awards. Butler claimed the College Division "Mayor's Trophy" between 1938 and 1941. In addition to the participation of legendary American Olympians Jesse Owens, Glenn Cunningham, Ralph Metcalfe, and IU's Don Lash, the Butler Relays saw ten world records set or tied during the meet's decade-long run.

When Phillips became head track and field coach at Purdue University in 1938, Lawrence Holmes directed the relays for one year. Butler alumnus and former world two mile record holder Ray Sears staged the games from 1939 until the fieldhouse was dedicated to military use in 1942. The Butler Relays were not reinstituted after World War II because of the expense and the basketball program's influence over fieldhouse scheduling.

Soccer

Men's soccer at Butler began in 1989, and the women's team was added in 1991. In the program's 20 year history, the men's soccer team has made five post-season appearances, acquiring a 3-5 record in post-season play. The Bulldogs' last post-season appearance was in 2009. Butler's men's soccer qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2009, reaching the round of 16 in 1995 and 1998. Butler won the Horizon League (formerly MCC) tournament title in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2001. They also won or shared the regular season title six times, including 1994, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2008 and 2009. The 1998 squad enjoyed national rankings as high as No. 8 in the country.

Conference affiliation

Butler first joined a Division I conference in 1932 when the men's basketball team joined the Missouri Valley Conference. Other sports joined conferences in later years.

Years	Football	Men's Basketball	Women's Basketball
1932-1943	Missouri Valley Conference	Missouri Valley Conference	-
1944-1950	Mid-American Conference	Mid-American Conference	-
1951-1978	Indiana Collegiate Conference	Indiana Collegiate Conference	-
1979-1986	Heartland Collegiate Conference	Midwestern Cities Conference	Midwestern Cities Conference
1986-1993	Heartland Collegiate Conference	Midwestern Collegiate Conference	Midwestern Collegiate Conference
1993-present	Pioneer Football League	Horizon League	Horizon League

Fight songs

Butler War Song
We'll sing the Butler war song,
We'll give a fighting cry;
We'll fight the Butler battle--
Bulldogs ever do or die.
And in the glow of the victory firelight,
Hist'ry cannot deny
To add a page or two
For Butler's fighting crew
Beneath the Hoosier sky.

As performed by the Butler Band

Butler Varsity
On, on, O Varsity,
Forever royal blue.
Not a team can bar the way
When you go charging through.
Forward with might and main
To gain the victor's shield
And the varsity forever
Right on down that field.

As performed by the Butler Band

External links

• Official Athletics Site
• Fan site