In the NCAA, a player may take a redshirt season and stretch out his or her collegiate athletic eligibility over the course of five years.

This can be done for a variety of reasons.

Some athletes wish to gain an extra year of practice with the team while others transfer from a different school. It can also be done to take a break from the competition.

A consequence of this is that the athlete is often done with his or her degree after four years of schooling but may still have to take classes a fifth year in order to maintain athletic eligibility.

The NCAA requires graduate student-athletes take at least nine credit hours in a semester in order to keep eligibility.

While athletes can use this rule to sign up for what may be deemed blow-off classes with very little academic benefit, some Butler athletes use it to further their education and work toward degrees.

Senior Katie Clark, a member of Butler’s cross country and track and field teams, took a redshirt season during the track and field team’s 2012-13 indoor campaign.

She is making the most of her extra time in Butler academics by working toward her master’s degree in Butler’s school counseling program.

Clark said her required fifth year of schooling is an added benefit to red-shirting for one athletic season.

“Even though the whole student-athlete lifestyle can be a struggle at times, unless you have a pro contract waiting for you, I think the unique experience of competing in the NCAA is something you should drag out as long as you possibly can,” Clark said.

For former men’s basketball player Emerson Kampen, who is finishing up his final year, a redshirt allowed an easier schedule during basketball season.

“My fifth year allowed me to spread out my workload during basketball season, “ Kampen said. “I didn’t pick up another major or minor, (but) it was worth it because it allowed me to focus on my classes and not have a large workload during the basketball season.”

Whatever path is taken, it is clear the current redshirt system can be advantageous for student-athletes, providing an extra year of collegiate athletics and offering the opportunity for more time in higher education.

The men’s club basketball team traveled to Raleigh last weekend for National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association national tournament in hopes of bringing the first national title back to Butler since 1929.

Just like the NCAA tournament the road traveled by the club team wasn’t an easy one.

Last year, the team didn’t even have funds to go. This year, as a university-recognized club, it was able to play for a national title in what was a truly long weekend, including a 12-hour drive to and from the tournament and six games in three days.

On Friday, Butler faced UNC-Greensboro, winning 55-39. Saturday featured three games on the schedule, and the first tip-off was at 9:30 a.m.

“The games on Saturday were a lot tougher,” senior center James Pascascio said, “and no one wants to drive 10, 15 hours to get sent home on day two.”

In Saturday’s second game —the first game of the playoffs— Butler escaped elimination by James Madison with a 51-49 win. The Bulldogs handily defeated Delaware 55-40 later that night to qualify for the semifinals the following morning.

Butler made Sunday’s final by beating a big Cornell squad 40-29, and was set to face 2012 national runner-up Howard University.

Beginning with a back-and-forth start, Butler was eventually able to open up a gap. Howard was down by as many as 13 in the first half, and the Bulldogs took a 32-23 advantage into the locker room after 20 minutes of play.

In the second half, Howard fought tooth and nail to stay in it. With minutes left, Butler’s Pascascio pushed the Bulldogs’ lead back to seven with a lay-in that put Butler up 49-42.

“We were all thinking, ‘This is going to be the longest minute twenty-eight (seconds) of our lives,’” Pascascio said. “We were rolling. We were playing well.”

But Howard wasn’t done yet. Down seven with 1:28 left, it scored the game’s final eight points to take their lone lead of the second half with just eight seconds left.

“We knew it was going to be rough,” Pascascio said. “With playing five games, we were banged up, beat up. We were so close and wanted it so bad.”

Senior Louis Kamo attempted the desperation shot. Unable to connect, the national title slipped through Butler’s fingertips yet again, and Howard stole a 50-49 win.

“We just played kind of timidly down the end,” sixth-year senior forward Mike Werres said. “We played to not lose instead of playing to win.”

Despite the loss, the club team finished with a record of 30-3. Butler’s Kamo and Matt Troja were also both named Men’s Club All- Americans.

“Looking at it from the beginning of the year,” senior student-coach Brian Joe said, “the expectations weren’t that high. To be able to make it to the national tournament was something that was really rewarding.”

Butler University’s athletics department may employ numerous Butler alumni, but a prior relationship with Butler is far from a job requirement.

Athletics Director Barry Collier said he looks for five things above all else when evaluating a prospective  department employee.

“(I look for) somebody that has high integrity, has a high level of intelligence, is a great communicator, has a high work ethic with a high motor and, lastly, would be the relative experience they bring,” Collier said.

Collier said Ken LaRose, a Butler alum who was recently hired to an associate athletic director position, fit all of these qualities. His time spent with

Butler—as a player, assistant coach and head coach of the school’s football team—is a beneficial bonus.

“(LaRose) was someone who was a student-athlete,” Collier said. “He didn’t have to be a student-athlete, but that was certainly a positive thing. In this case he was also someone who was a longtime college coach. (He) didn’t have to be, but (it’s) another positive thing.”

Sonya Hopkins, academic support coordinator, graduated from Southern Illinois University. She said  making the transition from one school to another came with one particular challenge.

“I don’t ever feel like I’ve been at a disadvantage outside of one thing, and that was my unfamiliarity of how the inner workings of Butler worked,”

Hopkins said. “There was a learning curve I had to experience and deal with, but that in no way, form or fashion prevented me from doing my job.”

Hopkins said she believes  a transition period comes with any new job, Butler being no exception. Despite the growing pains, Hopkins said she has benefited during her time at Butler.

“It’s really been enjoyable to meet a whole new group of people who are like-minded to myself,” Hopkins said. “It’s been fun to meet and have a whole new network of people in my life.”

Collier said hiring searches are never done with a specific goal of choosing someone with or without a connection to Butler.

“The majority of people we’ve hired in my almost seven years here are not Butler grads,” Collier said.

However, Collier said a connection with Butler would hardly hurt a candidate’s chance.

“Those five qualifications are far more important, but the fact that a person went to Butler, competed at Butler or coached at Butler would likely be a favorable addition to their consideration,” Collier said.

LaRose, who is in charge of athletic development in his new job, said he believes his experience with Butler makes his job that much easier.

“I saw it as natural for me to come here,” LaRose said. “I can tell the story of Butler dating back four decades and beyond.”

As for reasons alumni decide to come back to work for Butler, LaRose offered his personal take.

“For me, it’s the people,” LaRose said. “It’s something that I continue to be proud of even to this day. Butler University is truly a special place.”

The pursuit of happiness is as American as apple pie  and Chevrolet.

But is it good for you?

In the study “Too Much of a Good Thing: The Challenges and Opportunity of the Inverted U,” Professor Adam M. Grant of the University of Pennsylvania and Professor Barry Schwartz of Swarthmore College examine the effects of actively pursuing and expecting happiness.

What they found is startling: expecting to be happy or pursuing happiness can actually make us unhappy.

The study was especially true for achievement-oriented individuals.

In the study, Grant explains how an expected level of success sets us up for failure.

“Highly persistent, conscientious individuals who strongly value achievement are more likely to escalate their commitment to failing courses of action, investing time, money, and resources in losing endeavors,” he said. “Such dysfunctionally high levels of persistence may undermine psychological and physical well-being by preventing individuals from disengaging from goals at appropriate times driven in part by excessive levels of optimism and self efficacy that fail to correspond to reality.”

In essence, high expectations of high achieving students—the norm for the highly-involved Butler student population—may lead to psychologically harder failures.

Alison O’Malley, an assistant psychology professor at Butler Universty who specializes in positive psychology, said this study applies to Butler students, most of whom are very achievement orientated.

“When you’re in college, you almost put off really having to be happy or outsourcing your happiness,” she said. “There’s always a ‘what’s next’ mentality to keep you busy.”

O’Malley said pursuing studies you’re not passionate about can also create unhappiness.

She said students should find other avenues for happiness besides achievement, like hope.

By finding other ways to happiness and self worth, students are more likely to  be happier long term.

The Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps exists on Butler’s campus, and 12 students are enrolled in the program.

However, in the past, Butler’s ROTC programs were the largest student organizations on campus.

Ross McKee, military science instructor and ROTC adviser, said he believes the low numbers are due to a mixture of two things.

“I think that not many students even know Butler offers ROTC,” McKee said, “but the ones who do have the misconception that joining ROTC means joining the Army, and the two are not one and the same.”

Students who enroll in ROTC classes and the program can decide what type of career to pursue after graduation, with or without the military. Students on scholarship or contracted students have different obligations, but they still have a choice in what direction to go.

ROTC student and sophomore Camila Avello said she thinks students on campus may be intimidated by ROTC and a military setting.

“I think sometimes people think that ROTC is really uptight and rigid, which is not that case,” Avello said.

Students who sign up for ROTC are obligated to take one ROTC class per semester, attend bi-weekly leadership labs, attend field training each semester and go to morning workouts three times each week.

Of the 12 Butler students in ROTC, five are contracted and two are in the process of becoming contracted.

Avello is a contracted student who received a full-ride scholarship as a guaranteed reserve forces duty student. Because of this, she cannot go into active duty after graduation and must serve in the National Guard.

Avello, a science, technology and society major with biology and chemistry minors, would like to become a physician assistant.  She would also like to travel, and she said the Army would support those two goals.

“I decided to join ROTC because not only does it help pay for my education, but it’s a great way to have a healthy lifestyle,” Avello said. “I feel like I’m getting paid to be in shape, and that’s pretty awesome.”

McKee said the skills a student gains from ROTC can transcribe into any lifestyle.

“Students learn to be leaders, which is beneficial in the Army or any other career,” McKee said. “There are also scholarship opportunities and a motivation to stay fit and healthy.”

Butler pairs with Indiana University – Purdue University  Indianapolis for some aspects of ROTC, and Butler students can also enroll in Air Force ROTC through Indiana University at IUPUI.

Students in ROTC have the option to participate in Army Air Assault School intern at Army bases and compete in different physical challenge competitions. In these challenges and schools, students have the opportunity to earn medals that they can wear on their uniform for the rest of their Army careers, McKee said.

McKee said he would like to see the number of Butler students in Army ROTC go up.

“Students don’t have to join at the beginning of their freshman year,” McKee said. “If sophomores or even juniors want to join, we can catch them up with a few extra classes. I’ve even had a senior join and continue their ROTC career during graduate school.”

Avello said she would like to see more students involved in ROTC at Butler but also a more open relationship between the students who are contracted, MSIIs, and the students who are not contracted, MSIs.

“There were a lot of small questions I had as an MSI that I didn’t want to bother Captain McKee with, and I had to go out of my way to ask the MSIIs,” Avello said. “It would be cool to see a pairing of MSIs and MSIIs for carpooling and whatnot.”

Avello said students should not be intimidated by ROTC students or the program.

“It’s actually a pretty lighthearted environment,” Avello said. “People are probably just intimidated of the fact that it’s military. That’s how I felt as a freshman.”

Avello said the relationships she has made with her ROTC classmates has been one of the most rewarding parts of her experience.

“My experience in ROTC has been very rewarding,” Avello said. “I’ve met so many awesome people that have goals similar to my own. If I had to pick one most rewarding part of ROTC, it would for sure be the relationships formed. I’ve met some really great people in such a short amount of time.”

Whenever an athletic team is entering a new phase, making history or experiencing success, people want to witness it.

The Butler men’s basketball games have become a sought-after ticket, not just in Indianapolis but also around the country.

The Bulldogs have played in 14 sellout games this season, nine on the road.  With the final home game of the season on March 9 against Xavier

already sold out, that makes a single-season record five sellouts at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

The team’s recent success, the move to the Atlantic 10 Conference, beating a top-ranked team for the first time in school history, hosting ESPN

College GameDay and multiple last-minute wins has made getting your hands on Bulldogs tickets a more difficult ordeal than it was in the past.

The increased demand has seen tickets appear on sites such as StubHub for several times their face value.  Upper-level tickets for the Xavier game that were sold at the Butler ticket office for $21 can be found on StubHub for as much as $159, and lower-level seats that sold for $41 can be found for $225.

Lee and Noah, two brothers who asked that the Collegian not disclose their last names, traveled from Chicago and St. Louis, respectively, and met in Indianapolis for the game Friday night.  They decided two days before that they would come to the game.

“Our dad teaches at (Saint Louis), so we’re fans,” Noah said.

They traveled all the way to Hinkle without tickets but purchased them from a man on the corner of 49th Street and Boulevard Place about an hour before tip-off.

Their tickets were in the upper-level section 32, where the majority of Billiken fans sat for the game.

“We paid $40 each,” Noah said.

Those same tickets were $17 originally from the ticket office inside Hinkle.

Two of the three men on the corner with “I need tickets” signs around their necks were from St. Louis.  The third was from Indianapolis.  One of the St. Louis men had more tickets for section 32.

“I want $40 or $50 each,” said the man, who asked that the Collegian not disclose his name.

Shortly after saying that, he ran across the street because an IMPD officer was approaching.

“This is college property,” the officer said. “If I catch you on this side again I’ll lock you up.”

Since they can’t stand on the property, scalpers often stand on the south side of 49th Street to avoid any trouble.

The university is not concerned with the ticket resale.

“You can’t avoid that, nor do you necessarily want to,” said Matt Harris, manager of fan development and tickets.  “Any company or individual has the same chance to purchase tickets as anybody else.  They have to go through the same method.”

The rise in demand this season has left some question as to whether or not ticket prices at the box office may rise in the future.

“That’s hard to say,” Harris said. “It depends on who we’re playing, when we’re playing, how many games we have. We haven’t even put pen to paper yet to figure out next year’s prices.”

The only remaining home game for the Butler men’s basketball team is against Xavier on March 8. .

Butler is known for its varsity men’s basketball success, but it may also be home to one of the best men’s club basketball teams in the Midwest.

After posting an 11-6 record last year in its inaugural season, this year’s club team has taken things to the next level.

The Butler club team has chalked up a 22-1 record, with notable wins over Indiana, Ohio State and defending national champion Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

The club’s president, senior Carl Miller, credits the team’s success to it similarities with Butler’s varsity team.

“We’ve all watched (coach)Brad (Stevens) do what he does, and that’s one of the things that we saw,” Miller said. “It doesn’t matter who you put on the floor. All of those guys can play together, and that’s what we’ve tried to establish on the club team.”

In addition to playing cohesively, the team is loaded with talent. Senior Brian Joe, one of the team’s two coaches, said the squad is filled with guys capable of playing at the collegiate varsity level.

“I think that we definitely have some kids that could at least play Division III or Division II basketball,” Joe said, “and a couple that are good enough to have gotten looks at Division I schools and probably could have played there.”

Both Joe and senior Josh Koch, the other coach, played on the team last year. However, both felt that coaching this year would help the club long term.

“I decided that I would step down from playing and give my position to a couple of the younger kids,” Koch said. “We’re hoping that the younger guys can catch on and continue to build the program.”

Next up for the team is a regional tournament this weekend in Oakland, Mich. If Butler wins this tournament it will go on to nationals, which take place in early April at North Carolina State.

Before nationals, a regional tournament at Ohio State is in the works. Joe said the club is also looking to host a tournament at Butler.

The Butler men’s tennis team picked up two victories last weekend to move to 2-4 on the season.

On Saturday, the Bulldogs grabbed their first win of the season and the first of coach Parker Ross’ Butler career.  The team defeated Eastern Kentucky 4-3.

The Bulldogs picked up their second win of the season when they hosted Northern Kentucky and took the match 4-3.

Sophomores Billy Weldon and Pulok Bhattacharya finished the weekend with a perfect 2-0 record in singles and 2-0 mark in doubles play with their respective partners.

Butler will be back in action Feb. 1 when it takes on ASA College starting at 3 p.m.

The Butler women’s tennis team fell to 1-2 on the season with two losses over the weekend.

The Bulldogs fell to Western Michigan 6-1 Saturday with junior Caroline Hedrick scoring the only Butler victory of the day at No. 2 singles.

On Sunday, Butler traveled to Indiana and lost to the 50th-ranked Hoosiers 7-0.

The Bulldogs will travel to Illinois State for their next match on Feb. 1.

On Jan. 27, the Butler swim team hosted the Butler Invitational.

The Bulldogs finished in fourth place with a total of 289 points behind Xavier, IUPUI and winner Illinois State.

Sophomore Lauren Scotti had only positive things to say about the team’s ongoing season.

“I feel like, this year, we have a lot more skill on the team and depth in certain events,” Scotti said. “We have a really good variety of girls that can help us out.”

Scotti finished in the top 10 in all three of her events last weekend.

Freshman Abby Gibbons did well at the invitational, contributing to the eighth-place finish in the 200-medley relay.

Looking to the team’s future, Elizabeth Miller— another contributor to the team’s fourth-place finish— seemed optimistic about the incoming additions.

“We are bringing in a great group of freshmen so far,” Miller said. “We have four or five girls that have already committed, and that’s always a positive. I think we’ll be good.”

The team’s next competition is at Valparaiso on Feb. 2.

The Butler softball team is gearing up for its 2013 spring campaign without seven players from last year’s team.

Last season, the Bulldogs finished with an overall record of 25-32 and 13-11 in the Horizon League.

Butler graduated six seniors from last year’s team, and Kayla Gray will forgo her final year of eligibility due to injury.

Gray started 52 of the 57 games last year and played in 142 games in her Butler career.

Butler produced 207 runs with a .331 on base percentage and 28 home runs in just 57 games last season.

Coach Scott Hall is in his third year at Butler. The Bulldogs will be hitting the Atlantic 10 for their inaugural season.

“I’m excited for the change,” Hall said. “Butler is a better fit for the A-10.”

Before Butler battles anyone, they must compete amongst themselves first. With players graduating, the possibility of playing time has opened up.

“We have always had to compete, but it’s a little more intense this year,” junior Callie Dennison said. “In the end, it doesn’t matter who’s on the field because we are a team first.”

The young Butler team will have nine freshman  and six sophomores of its 23 players on the roster.

“I think having so much youth this year could be seen as a challenge, but everybody is willing to put in the extra work in order to make themselves and the team better,” freshman infielder Krosley Ogden said. “We have a lot of great athletes, and I don’t see age having anything to do with that.”

Ogden said the team has many goals for itself, including to compete in its new conference.

“Just like all the other athletic programs at Butler,” Ogden said, “we really want to compete in our new conference and ultimately win the tournament.”