'The Butler way' fuels Horizon League champ's success

By John Mullin | Tribune reporter

March 9, 2009

The Butler way.

That phrase causes Butler athletic director Barry Collier to laugh, perhaps because he is one of the reasons for it.

"We do call it 'the Butler way,' and some people think that's cheesy," Collier said. "But it's been awfully good for us. We've never tried to be more than what we are."

What the Bulldogs are is one of those quiet elite teams that no one wants to see in an NCAA draw. The regular-season Horizon League champion will play host to Cleveland State for the league tournament title Tuesday night.

Butler (26-4) plays at picturesque Hinkle Fieldhouse, scene of the final game in "Hoosiers" and situated atop a hill in a wooded historic section of northeast Indianapolis. Players sold NCAA tickets between practices. A coach once manned a ticket booth. They practice at 7 a.m. as a way to get used to playing tired and to keep basketball from interfering with the school day.

Do not, however, be taken in by the sylvan façade.

"They just KO guys in the first round," said Loyola coach Jim Whitesell, whose Ramblers upset the Bulldogs last month at Hinkle precisely by standing up to the repeated Butler assaults.

Butler has gone to eight NCAA tournaments in 12 years under four coaches. The Bulldogs' 2003 and '07 trips ended in the Sweet 16, the latter run stopped by a loss to eventual national champion Florida.

In the second round last year, the Bulldogs lost to second-seeded Tennessee in overtime. Butler has won 20 games in 11 of its last 13 seasons and at least 25 in the last three.

But what really is the Butler way? And what sustains it?

"It's just being accountable on every possession," said sophomore forward Matt Howard, voted Horizon League player of the year. "We feel like each guy has a job to do on every play, and you count on teammates to do that job every single time.

"The other thing is playing unselfish. You never let the 'me' get over the 'we.' It's so important, and that's a big part of what we do."

Butler also has become a cradle of coaches. Collier left for a successful stint at Nebraska before returning as AD in 2006, two days after induction into Butler's Hall of Fame. He was succeeded by assistant Thad Matta, who went on to coach Xavier and now is at Ohio State. Todd Lickliter, who assisted Collier and Matta, succeeded Matta and is now at Iowa after guiding Butler to the Sweet 16.

Brad Stevens began as a volunteer assistant under Collier, earned an administrative job under Matta, was promoted to full assistant by Lickliter and took over when Lickliter left.

The result has been that each coach has won with the players he inherited and coached as an assistant. Stevens won the Horizon championship last year with a veteran team, was picked to finish no better than fifth this season because of upperclass departures and proceeded to win this season with a roster containing zero seniors.

"You just concentrate on recruiting the right people to represent you, not only on the court but in the classroom also," Stevens said. "There are values we try to adhere to, and you want people who are willing to think and work in terms of those values."

Stevens' playing career took him to DePauw, not Butler, for one simple reason.

"I wasn't good enough," Stevens said. "They were smart."

The key now is that Butler is attracting talent because of the way it plays, not despite it.

"People say it's harder to stay on top than it is to get there," Collier said. "I'm not sure I believe that, because success begets success. The team self-selects as time goes on."

Northwestern coach Bill Carmody, who wants a home-and-home series with Butler and whose Wildcats lost by four at Hinkle last November, sees that happening.

"And someone like Matt Howard, everybody wanted him," Carmody said. "So when you build that kind of program, you can attract that kind of player."

Howard was pursued heavily by Indiana and Purdue. Butler defeated both during his senior high school season.

The roots of the Butler way trace to the aftermath of Collier's first season, 1989-90, in which Butler bumbled to a 6-22 finish. Shortly after the final game, Collier was called to a meeting and given an extra year on his contract, although he concedes, "I was part of the problem, not the solution."

The problem was an up-tempo style, which was a disaster. Collier made changes, and in the mid-1990s he joined several coaching colleagues for a visit to Wisconsin and newly hired Dick Bennett. The resulting change of philosophy was the turning point for Butler.

"I would give Dick a lot of credit for the paradigm shift," Collier said. "When we played fast, we'd beat the teams we were supposed to, but we couldn't beat the better teams on our schedule.

"We strive to take care of the basketball, but it wasn't a deliberate slow-down by any measure. And if the other team wants to take a bad shot early, we're all for it."

jmullin@tribune.com