| Todd Butler was the first and only choice
to fill Arkansas' vacant assistant coaching position on July 1, 2005.
Butler, 41, is widely considered one of the nation's top recruiters and hitting
instructors and is in his third season with the Razorbacks.
He serves as the Razorbacks' hitting instructor and outfielders coach, while
also coordinating Arkansas' recruiting efforts.
His offensive philosophy brings a more aggressive approach to hitting for power,
which complements the Hogs' team speed. That formula helped Arkansas capture the
2007 SEC Western Division title and advance to the championship of the SEC Tournament
Championship Game.
Arkansas has hosted an NCAA Regional in both of Butler's years in Cardinal
and White. During his 15-year Division-I coaching career, Butler has helped lead
11 teams to the NCAA Tournament while making three appearances in the College
World Series, including a runner-up finish in 1997.
His 2007 Hogs connected for 75 home runs, which was the third-highest total
in school history. Arkansas also scored the seventh-most runs all-time last season
with 481, ranked sixth in RBI with 433, finished seventh all-time in doubles with
135 and drew the ninth-most walks with 288.
His tutelage of Danny Hamblin during the 2006 and 2007 seasons produced some
of the biggest single-season home run totals ever for a Razorback. Hamblin connected
for 17 home runs as a junior, after hitting just 18 in his first two seasons.
He then slammed 22 home runs as a senior in 2007, the second-highest total in
school history. Hamblin finished his Arkansas career as the all-time leader in
home runs with 57.
Logan Forsythe and Casey Coon also flourished under his guidance last season.
Forsythe transformed himself from a .189 batter as a freshman in 2006 into the
Hogs' top hitter (.347) last season. He led the team with 16 doubles and 18 stolen
bases while driving in a career-best 55 runs and hitting nine home runs.
Coon exploded during his first year in the program with 71 RBI that ranked
third in the SEC and was tied for the eighth all time at Arkansas. He also hit
nine home runs with 13 doubles and a .425 on-base percentage.
The Razorbacks hammered 64 home runs in just 60 games in 2006, which is now
tied for the seventh-most in a single season in school history and at the time
was the most since the Hogs set the school record of 84 in 1999.
Butler has had seven players taken in the Major League Baseball Draft during
his two years in Fayetteville. That includes Hamblin who was been drafted twice
by the Oakland Athletics.
Before coaching his first game in an Arkansas uniform, he secured one of the
deepest recruiting classes in the country and possibly the most talented in the
history of the Arkansas baseball program during the fall of 2005. The class was
ranked 10th nationally by Baseball America and featured the nation's top junior
college group.
After just one year on the field for the Hogs, that collection of players has
already seen two players drafted in the second round of the 2007 Major League
Baseball Draft (RHP, Duke Welker, 68th overall to Pittsburgh and RHP, Jess Todd,
82nd overall to St. Louis.). The class is also the foundation for a talented 2008
Arkansas baseball squad.
Butler followed with another outstanding class in the fall of 2006, his second
recruiting class for the Razorbacks. The freshman dominated group was once again
ranked 10th nationally by Baseball America and includes some of the top young
arms and gifted hitters in the country. Arkansas managed to lure six players away
from the MLB Draft and onto the University of Arkansas campus in this class.
In 15 years as a Division-I assistant or head coach, Butler has constructed
seven recruiting class ranked in the top 10 nationally.
Another top 10 recruiting may be in the works for Butler after signing four
players ranked among the Baseball America Top 100 in the fall of 2007 for the
2009 season. The Razorbacks' 15-man class came from 11 different states, stretching
from California in the west to Michigan and Kentucky in the east.
One of the most experienced and talented assistant coaches in college baseball,
Butler came to Fayetteville after two assistant coaching stints (eight total years)
at the University of Alabama and three years as the head coach at his alma mater
McNeese State.
In 2001, Butler took over as head coach at McNeese State in his hometown of
Lake Charles, La., where he compiled a 90-83 (.520) overall record in three seasons.
In his last season at McNeese State, he guided the Cowboys to the 2003 Southland
Conference Tournament championship, their first in 10 years, and a berth in a
NCAA Regional.
McNeese State captured its first Southland Conference Tournament Championship
in 10 years in 2003 under Butler's guidance with a convincing run through the
tournament.
The win secured the fourth NCAA Regional bid in school history. The NCAA selection
committee sent the Cowboys to the Houston Regional at Rice's Reckling Park. Butler's
McNeese State team gave eventual national champion Rice all they could handle
before falling to the Owls, 3-2, in 10 innings. Ole Miss eliminated the Cowboys
from the 64-team field the following day.
Butler served as the hitting instructor and outfielders coach during his first
stint with the Crimson Tide from 1995-2000. He helped guide Alabama to six NCAA
Regional appearances as well as three trips to the College World Series in 1996,
1997 and 1999. The Tide advanced to the SEC Tournament in all six of those seasons,
claiming the SEC Tournament title in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999.
Butler also earned his reputation as one of the country's top recruiters during
those first six years at Alabama. He helped the Crimson Tide land some of the
nation's top talent as Alabama recorded three-consecutive top 10 recruiting classes.
The Tide's 1999 freshman class was ranked as the fourth-best in the country and
still ranks as the highest ranked classes in school history.
Under Butler's leadership the Crimson Tide became one of the most feared offensive
clubs in America. Alabama's 1997 team led the NCAA in four offensive categories,
including home runs (160), runs scored (679), total hits (860) and total bases
(1,571).
In addition, the Crimson Tide won the NCAA statistical championship for highest
slugging percentage (.621), eclipsing the previous school record (.521 in 1983)
by 100 points.
Butler returned to Alabama as an assistant baseball coach on June 26, 2003. He
spent the 2004 and 2005 seasons on the Tide staff as the recruiting coordinator,
hitting instructor and infield coach, while also coaching first base.
He continued to showcase his ability to sign some of the top recruiting classes
in the country upon his return to the Alabama bench. Alabama's 2005 freshman class
was rated 10th in the fall of 2004 in Baseball America's Dandy Dozen College recruiting
classes.
Prior to his first coaching stint at Alabama, Butler served as an assistant
coach at McNeese State (1993-94) under Tony Robichaux, now the head coach at Louisiana-Lafayette.
Before returning to his alma mater, he was an assistant coach at Blinn Junior
College in Brenham, Texas, in 1992, where he helped the Buccaneers advance to
the NJCAA World Series.
Butler was a student-assistant coach at McNeese State, where he earned his
bachelor's degree in liberal studies in 1991.
He spent two summers coaching in the Alaska Baseball League. His first stint
in Alaska was as an assistant coaching job in 1991 with the Kenai Peninsula Oilers,
helping them to the NBC World Series. He then coached for the Anchorage Glacier
Pilots in 1992.
Butler was born on July 23, 1966, in Alexandria, La., and is married to the former
Melissa Borrel. The couple has two daughters, Caitlyn (10) and Kendyll (5).
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