Butler Bulldogs
The Butler Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent Butler University, located in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Bulldogs participate in 20 NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports. After leaving the Horizon League following the 2011–12 season, nearly all teams competed in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The football team is a founding member of the non-scholarship Football Championship Subdivision -level Pioneer League. On March 20, 2013, the Butler administration announced that the school would join the Big East, and moved to the new league July 1, 2013.
Sports sponsored
The most recently added varsity sport is women's lacrosse, with Butler elevating its former club team to full varsity status for the 2016–17 school year.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, the Horizon League from 1979 to 2012, the Atlantic 10 Conference for the 2012–13 season, and are now current members of the Big East.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 postseason play for the first time in 1958, and the team's first victory in postseason play came the following year when the Bulldogs made it to the NIT Quarterfinals. The Bulldogs have competed in the NIT postseason 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. In total, the Bulldogs have qualified or been selected for the NCAA tournament twelve times and boast a record of 19–12, including three sweet sixteen finishes and two national runner-up finishes.
Until moving to the "high-major" Big East Conference in 2013, the Butler basketball program had been considered one of the best "mid-major" basketball programs, having won at least 20 games and reached postseason play twelve of the last fourteen seasons, including appearances in nine NCAA tournaments where the Bulldogs reached the Sweet Sixteen in 2003 and 2007, as well as back-to-back Final Four and championship game appearances in 2010 and 2011. Since the start of the 2006–07 season, the Bulldogs have earned a 15–8 record against members of the BCS conferences, including a 7–2 record against the Big Ten. The program's success has been attributed to "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, the 2007 Great Alaska Shootout and the 2010 Diamond Head Classic. 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. In 2010 the Bulldogs made it to the Championship game, in Indianapolis, for the first time in school history. Sophomore Gordon Hayward entered the NBA draft and was a lottery pick by the Utah Jazz. Hayward was the first Butler player to play in the NBA since Ralph O'Brien in the early 1950s.
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, 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 Division I women's basketball tournament for the first time in 1996. Their last post-season appearance in the 1990s was in the WNIT in 1998. The Bulldogs did not return to the post-season until 2009 and 2010 under head coach Beth Couture, who led the team to four consecutive 20-win seasons in 2008 through 2011.
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 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 Division II 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 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.
Butler and fellow HCC member schools joined with the Great Lakes Valley Conference to form the Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference. Butler added back to back league titles in 1991 and 1992 with Bob Bartlameo 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 under the guidance of Ken LaRose 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 led by the great Arnold Mickens who broke numerous NCAA Division I rushing records, including eight straight 200 yard performances during the campaign.
The Bulldogs, led by Coach Jeff Voris, won the 2009 Pioneer Football League title by compiling a 7–1 league record and an 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, and a 20–17 title-clinching victory over Drake.
The Pioneer Football League title earned the Bulldogs a berth in the Gridiron Classic. It was 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. In 2012 the Bulldogs were able to rattle of 7 consecutive league victories to secure the share of the PFL Championship. This is the third PFL Championship for the Dawgs, and its second in the last four years. In 2013, Butler became the first PFL team to compete in the FCS playoffs after the conference was given an automatic invitation, losing in the first round to Tennessee State.
Postseason
Hoosier helmet trophy
The Hoosier helmet was established as the trophy helmet for the rivalry football game played between Butler and Valparaiso University.The Hoosier Helmet was created prior to the 2006 season to commemorate the football rivalry that has existed since 1921. The helmet trophy was created to further intensify the rivalry between these two teams. A group of Butler players, along with their head coach, Jeff Voris, came up with the idea for the helmet. After Valparaiso head coach Stacey Adams agreed to play for the helmet, Butler equipment manager John Harding put the helmet together.
The white helmet is mounted on a hardwood plaque and features each team's logo on respective sides of the helmet. A gold plate is added each year to commemorate the winner and score of the contest. Currently, Butler holds a 9–3 series lead when playing for the Hoosier Helmet. Both Butler and Valparaiso compete in the NCAA FCS, non-scholarship Pioneer Football League.
Track and 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 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.