Ronald Nored is the presumed front-runner to be the next head coach. Photo courtesy of Ronald Nored/X.
DAVID JACOBS | MANAGING EDITOR | drjacobs@butler.edu
SAWYER GOLDWEIN | MANAGING EDITOR | sgoldwein@butler.edu
After spending the last four seasons at the helm of the men’s basketball program in the twilight of his career, Thad Matta is retiring from coaching, maintaining the title of special assistant to the president and athletic director in an advisory role.
With a national search underway, several names in the college basketball world could reasonably become the 26th head coach of the storied program:
Presumed frontrunners
Before Matta’s arrival, the defensive savant and engine of Butler’s Final Four offenses was a fan-favorite to take the job. Now, several years later, the 36-year-old Indy native is in a primed position for another stab at the head coaching job. Nored has accumulated over a decade of assistant coaching experience in the NBA and G-League, currently working on the Atlanta Hawks staff.
In his two lone stints as head coach, Nored finished 11-10 at nearby Brownsburg High School in 2013 before being named the first head coach of the Long Island Nets in 2016, improving from 17 to 27 wins in his two seasons on the job.
Another fan-favorite, Barlow went from a first-year walk-on in the Horizon League to a full-time starter for Butler’s first two seasons in the Big East. Barlow quickly became a top assistant to Matta after spending the previous eight seasons with the Boston Celtics organization.
The 33-year-old got his first shot as a head coach with the Maine Celtics for the 2022-23 campaign, leading them to a 19-13 record and a berth in the G-League playoffs. Throughout his time in Boston and Maine, Barlow played a key role in the development of several young players, including forward Sam Hauser and Spurs center Luke Kornet.
Leiendecker’s old pals
A player on the back-to-back Final Four runs himself, athletic director Grant Leiendecker played under three assistant coaches who have continued to leave marks in the college basketball world:
A career-long assistant, Johnson was the director of basketball operations from 2004-06 before getting his coaching start at Butler in 2007, where he stayed for 10 years. Seeing both Final Four runs with Brad Stevens and the transition to Big East basketball under Brandon Miller and Chris Holtmann. Johnson then went to Ohio State before joining Matt Painter’s staff at Purdue in 2021, where he remains today.
A member of Barry Collier’s 1993-97 rosters, Graves was a spark-plug off the bench in his playing days for the Dawgs, averaging 12 points per game in his senior campaign. Soon after, the 51-year-old joined the staff as an assistant in 2000 before departing to take the South Alabama head coaching job in 2013.
As coach of the Jaguars, Graves went 65-96 in his four seasons and failed to amass more than 14 wins. Following the lackluster stint, Graves held roles at Evansville and Xavier before eventually being promoted to head coach at Indiana State in 2024, where he went 25-39 in his first two seasons.
An Indianapolis native, Shrewsberry had the briefest stint at Butler among Stevens’ assistants, arriving at the university in 2007 before leaving following the 2011 Final Four run. After multiple stints on Painter’s staff at Purdue and nearly six years linked up again with Stevens in Boston, Shrewsberry was hired as the head coach for Penn State in 2021 before being named to his current role as head coach at Notre Dame in 2023.
While leading the Nittany Lions, Shrewsberry went 37-31, including a round of 32 appearance in the 2023 NCAA tournament. Things have not been as promising for the 49-year-old in South Bend, though. After three years with the Irish, Shrewsberry holds a 41-56 record and has failed to surpass 15 wins in a season.
However, in a reality where Shrewsberry returns to Butler, he would almost certainly be packaged with his sons, Braeden and Nick. Braeden averaged 12 points this past season for Notre Dame, while Nick, a current Fighting Irish commit, averaged 18 points and eight rebounds for South Bend St. Joseph High School.
Keeping it in the family
One of the hottest names in college basketball right now, Steele guided Miami University to an improbable 31-0 regular season, blemished only by a loss in the Redhawks’ first game of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) tournament. Miami is making its first March Madness appearance since 2007.
Steele graduated from Butler in 2004 and got his first coaching experience during college, as an assistant for nearby Ben Davis High School. More than 20 years later, Steele is in a position for another shot at a power-conference job after his four-year tenure with Xavier ended without a chance to dance.
Elsewhere in the MAC, Groce has built an impressive culture as the head coach at Akron. The Zips won the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, marking their third straight berth, and fourth in five years.
Like Steele, Groce was largely unsuccessful in his only high-major opportunity to date, departing Illinois with a 37-53 record from 2012-17. Still, Groce has proved himself once again and is ready for the chance to lead a historic program.
Outside the Butler bubble
After seeing coaches continue to come and go for various reasons post-Stevens, many fans are clamoring for a true outside hire, one without any ties to Butler. If Leiendecker wants to go that direction, he will have to get crafty, with some top candidates like Utah State’s Jerrod Calhoun likely to find a more enticing opportunity and others, like Saint Louis’ Josh Schertz, having signed extensions at their current school. Still, there are plenty of qualified options to choose from.
Jacobson might be difficult to lure away from Northern Iowa after 20 seasons as the head man in Cedar Falls, but he is certainly worth pursuing. Jacobson has kept the Panthers as a steady threat in the Missouri Valley Conference throughout his tenure and has a knack for finding ways to win.
He is also no stranger to coaching in chaos, having a front row seat to multiple iconic March moments — namely Paul Jesperson’s halfcourt heave to upset sixth-seeded Texas in 2016 and Ali Farokhmanesh’s dagger to knock off top-overall seed Kansas and advance the Panthers to Jacobson’s only Sweet 16 in 2010.
Combine Jacobson with a little bit of Hinkle Magic, and who knows what might happen.
Crean is currently an analyst for ESPN, sharing his love for the game after being fired by Georgia in 2022. He has, however, expressed interest in a return to coaching and has strong ties to the Big East. Former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese even cited Crean as a positive factor in his decision to invite Marquette to join the conference under Crean’s leadership.
Crean can be a character at times, but might be exactly what Butler needs: an intense, but likable hire with a depth of head coaching experience. He also excels at recruiting, a must in the age of the transfer portal. Crean has coached notable guards such as Dwyane Wade, Victor Oladipo and Anthony Edwards.
Despite a complete lack of head coaching history, Murray is a strong option if Leiendecker opts for a young up-and-comer. He has served as an assistant coach at various schools since 2008, but no experience speaks louder than the belief UConn head coach Dan Hurley has in him. Hurley hired Murray at Wagner, then again at Rhode Island and once more at UConn.
Murray has been in charge of the Huskies’ offense since 2022 and saw prompt success with back-to-back national championships as soon as he began to do so. Murray could be the man to use his offensive expertise and Big East experience to revitalize the Bulldogs’ program.
