Butler hires head coach

[Windyplayer]

Brandon Miller, former guard for Butler. He's been an assistant at some top-flight schools including Ohio State, Xavier, and most recently Illinois. He's also 34-Butler is clearly trying to catch lightning in a bottle twice. 

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9454808/butler-bulldogs-promote-assistant-brandon-miller-head-coach

[Tums Festival]

Hope this is the right hire for Butler. Obvious parallels to Buzz' hiring too.

[brewcity77]

Butler is trying to continue their king-maker trend. Collier, Matta, Lickliter, and Stevens all ha success and moved on to bigger and better things. If Stevens was lightning in a bottle, it wasn't just chance, it's that Butler is in the lightning-bottling business.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Butler is trying to continue their king-maker trend. Collier, Matta, Lickliter, and Stevens all ha success and moved on to bigger and better things. If Stevens was lightning in a bottle, it wasn't just chance, it's that Butler is in the lightning-bottling business.

Xavier has had a similar run

Pete Gillen
Skip Prosser
Thad Matta
Sean Miller
Chris Mack (current coach)

[Windyplayer]

Butler is trying to continue their king-maker trend. Collier, Matta, Lickliter, and Stevens all ha success and moved on to bigger and better things. If Stevens was lightning in a bottle, it wasn't just chance, it's that Butler is in the lightning-bottling business.

I guess it depends on you define success. All of these coaches did something for Butler to put them in a better position. Collier took over a Butler program in 1989 that was starved for success and gave them one NCAA tournament appearance during his 11-year tenure, which was a huge coup for the program at that time. Matta took over for one season in 2000-2001 and had pretty good success getting the team to the second round of the NCAAs. Lickliter took over from 2001-2007 and took the team to two Sweet 16s during his time at the helm. Then Stevens came in and not only kept Butler moving in the right direction, but accelerated the move toward perennial tourney team--beyond anyone's wildest dreams--by going to the Big Dance 5 of his 6 years there (CBI in 2011-2012) including two back-to-back runner-up finishes--still blows my mind. So each coach meant something to the program, though to say they were each lightning in a bottle is false. Stevens was by and far the cream of the crop and came from within at the age of 31. And he has tremendous success at Butler not elsewhere. I'm saying you're probably not going to find another Stevens from within regardless of what they end of doing post-Butler. After all, from Butler's perspective, who cares if they have lots of success after Butler, if they didn't have that similar success at Butler. And just for kicks, Collier was 34 when hired, Matta 32, Lickliter 46, and Stevens 31.

[Dawson Rental]

I guess it depends on you define success. All of these coaches did something for Butler to put them in a better position. Collier took over a Butler program in 1989 that was starved for success and gave them one NCAA tournament appearance during his 11-year tenure, which was a huge coup for the program at that time. Matta took over for one season in 2000-2001 and had pretty good success getting the team to the second round of the NCAAs. Lickliter took over from 2001-2007 and took the team to two Sweet 16s during his time at the helm. Then Stevens came in and not only kept Butler moving in the right direction, but accelerated the move toward perennial tourney team--beyond anyone's wildest dreams--by going to the Big Dance 5 of his 6 years there (CBI in 2011-2012) including two back-to-back runner-up finishes--still blows my mind. So each coach meant something to the program, though to say they were each lightning in a bottle is false. Stevens was by and far the cream of the crop and came from within at the age of 31. And he has tremendous success at Butler not elsewhere. I'm saying you're probably not going to find another Stevens from within regardless of what they end of doing post-Butler. After all, from Butler's perspective, who cares if they have lots of success after Butler, if they didn't have that similar success at Butler. And just for kicks, Collier was 34 when hired, Matta 32, Lickliter 46, and Stevens 31.

After moving on, Lickliter didn't last long at Iowa which raises the question of whether Stevens was the brains behind the program while Lickliter was the head coach.

[brewcity77]

Rather than lightning in a bottle, which is an analogy I heard for Stevens, is that Butler has had tremendous success as a program despite coaching turnover. While they certainly can't afford a bad hire at this point, they have shown a remarkable track record for making very good hires. Whether it's shrewd leadership or the "Butler Way", 4 straight good hires seems to be more a trend than a case of repeated good luck.

[ChicosBailBonds]

After moving on, Lickliter didn't last long at Iowa which raises the question of whether Stevens was the brains behind the program while Lickliter was the head coach.

Or sometimes a guy clicks at one job but not another.

Enter...Kevin O'Neill

[keefe]

Or sometimes a guy clicks at one job but not another.

Enter...Kevin O'Neill

Enter...Buzz Williams

[Windyplayer]

Rather than lightning in a bottle, which is an analogy I heard for Stevens, is that Butler has had tremendous success as a program despite coaching turnover. While they certainly can't afford a bad hire at this point, they have shown a remarkable track record for making very good hires. Whether it's shrewd leadership or the "Butler Way", 4 straight good hires seems to be more a trend than a case of repeated good luck.

Two Sweet 16s for Butler prior to Stevens' hire amounts to tremendous success? In 6 years, Stevens took Butler to two NC and a Sweet 16.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Enter...Buzz Williams

Actually, correct.   Losing record at New Orleans, winning record at MU.

Someone's success at one school doesn't guarantee success at another, just like any other job.  Different situation, different cultures, different resources, etc.