Butler to play in 2013 Old Spice Classic

The Butler Bulldogs keep moving on up in the college basketball world. Getting invited to play in early season tournaments is becoming something they're getting used to these days.

Butler will take part in the three-day, eight-team 2013 Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Florida at the HP Fieldhouse at ESPN's Wide World of Sports Complex during Thanksgiving weekend. 

The Bulldogs will first face the Washington State Cougars around 2:30 on Thursday, November 28 in the second game of the day. Purdue will play Oklahoma State in the first game of the Old Spice Classic at noon. Games three and four of the day will feature Memphis vs. Siena at 6:30 p.m. and LSU against Saint Joseph's around 9:00 p.m. for the night cap. 

Friday's semifinal and consolation matchups is where things will get a little interesting. Below is the schedule and how the three days lay out.

Thursday, November 28th

Purdue vs. Oklahoma State noon

Butler vs. Washington State 2:30 p.m.

Memphis vs. Siena 6:30 p.m.

LSU vs. Saint Joseph's 9 p.m.


Friday, November 29th
Consolation game #1, 11 a.m.
Semifinal game #1, 1:30 p.m.
Semifinal game #2, 5:30 p.m.
Consolation game #2, 8 p.m.

Sunday, December 1st
Fifth Place game, Noon
Third Place game, 2 p.m.
Seventh Place game, 5 p.m.
Championship game, 7:30 p.m.

Head coach Brandon Miller couldn't be happier about the position he's in at the helm of Butler basketball. Roosevelt Jones, Khyle Marshall and Alex Barlow all return to the starting lineup, along with Kellen Dunham, Kameron Woods and Erik Fromm who all have a lot of experience and could break into the starting five.

Last season, the Bulldogs finished 27-9 and graduated just three players, but have a lot of offense to replace with those three being Rotnei Clarke, Andrew Smith and Chase Stigall. A new conference for the third year in a row, Butler joins the Big East and that should get them that much more attention, not to mention playing in tournaments, such as the Old Spice Classic.

Miller keeps two Butler assistants on staff

Taking over as head coach of the storied men's basketball program at Butler, looks to be an extremely tough task for Brandon Miller, especially filling the shoes that Brad Stevens wore so well before him. Keeping two of the assistants from Stevens' staff might just be a great move on the part of Miller as he transitions into being the head coach at Butler.

Current Butler assistant coaches Terry Johnson and Michael Lewis will continue their coaching days on the sidelines at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Head Coach Brandon Miller has decided that he will keep the two assistants as part of his staff.

Johnson is a 1992 Anderson (IN) High School grad, where he was a three-sport athlete. He continued his basketball and baseball careers at Lincoln Trail Junior College (IL) from 1992-94. TJ then transferred to Lamar University (TX) to play Division I basketball, where he led the Cardinals' basketball team in assists and steals from 1994-96. Terry finished his bachelor's degree at IPFW in 1998 and earned his Masters in Sports Administration from Western Kentucky University in 2011.

Following his playing days, Johnson became an assistant at IPFW (1997-99), Indiana Tech (1999-2001), Lincoln Trail JC (2001-03) and Auburn (2003-04) before his arrival in Indianapolis.

Terry Johnson began his timeline at Butler as the director of basketball operations for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. Since 2007, Johnson has been an assistant coach under Brad Stevens during his head coaching tenure and starts his 9th year at Butler this winter.

Michael Lewis is a 1996 Jasper (IN) grad that went on and had a stellar career at Indiana University from 1996-2000. Scoring 2,138 points in his prep career, Lewis climbed to 13th on the all-time scoring list in Indiana history. He managed to make the Indiana All-Star squad and was named Indiana's Gatorade Player of the Year in 1996. Lewis became the all-time assists leader in IU history with 545 during his four-year career.

After college, Lewis played in the USBL for the Florida Seadragons (2000-01), where he was an all-star in 2000. He came home to the Hoosier state in 2001 and played with the Fort Wayne Fury in the CBA. Michael also spent some time playing European basketball in Belgium before joining the coaching ranks.

Lewis got his first coaching experience at the D-I level at Stephen F. Austin in Texas during the 2004-05 season. After that, he moved north to the bench at Eastern Illinois (2005-11), where he made a lot of recruiting moves for EIU. Brad Stevens brought Lewis onto his staff after the 2010-11 season and Michael will enter his 3rd season on the Butler Bulldog bench.

Brandon Miller promoted as new Butler head coach

It didn't take long for Butler University's athletics director Barry Collier to make his decision on who will replace Brad Stevens as head coach. Stevens was announced as the new head coach of the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, completely shocking the college basketball and world of sports with his decision.

Former Bulldog guard Brandon Miller has officially been promoted and
named the next men's head basketball coach of the Butler Bulldogs as of today, July 6th, at a mid-afternoon press conference at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Miller played a key role as a starting guard and was the leading scorer (11.9 points) on a 27-6 Butler squad that made a magical NCAA Tournament run to the Sweet 16 in 2003.

Following graduation at Butler, Miller joined former Butler head coach Thad Matta at Xavier during the 2003-04 season, starting out as the Musketeers' video intern. Two years later, he was brought on Matta's staff at Ohio State for the next six seasons from 2006-2012 as an assistant coach (3 years), director of basketball operations (2 years) and video coordinator (one year). While on Matta's staff, the Buckeyes grabbed four Big Ten crowns, made three Sweet 16's and a trip to the 2007 national championship game.

Soon after Butler's exit last season of the NCAA Tournament's third-round, Miller was brought in to be a part of Brad Stevens' staff as an assistant coach. He got his first opportunity to coach under Stevens during the 2007-08 season, when the Bulldogs finished with a remarkable 30-4 record.

 He spent the 2012-13 season as a special assistant at Illinois to head coach John Groce before accepting an assistant coaching position at Butler in April.

As a player, Brandon Miller achieved many accolades in his three-year career on the court as a Bulldog. After transferring to Butler from Southwest Missouri State, he was forced to sit out a year by NCAA rules. From 2000-03, Miller started 97 consecutive games and became one of just eight Butler players to score more than 1,000 career points in just three seasons. Probably his most distinguished award as a player, Brandon received the 2003 Chip Hilton Award, which sums up what would be college basketball's national mental attitude award.

A New Castle, Indiana native, Miller is proud to take over the storied program that he's helped build from the beginning of this great Butler basketball story. He brings back to Butler his wife Holly and their two young sons Michael and Mason.

Many probably hit the panic button as soon as Brad Stevens left to be the head coach of the Boston Celtics. Fear not Butler Bulldog faithful. Brandon Miller will take off right from where Brad Stevens left. The recruits are staying with their commitments to Butler University and the men's basketball program as originally promised.

Miller still has to put his staff together, but at this point in time, it looks like current assistants Terry Johnson and Michael Lewis will stay put on Miller's bench.

Stevens shocks Butler and becomes new Celtics coach

Just two days removed from one of the biggest days in Butler University history and things would shift gears even more surrounding the men's basketball program. The school had just become one of three new members of the Big East conference on Monday, July 1st, along with Xavier and Creighton.

The bigger news has shocked the Butler basketball nation, along with the world of college basketball and left it stunned on what will happen next. Hea
d coach Brad Stevens has decided to leave the sidelines at Hinkle Fieldhouse and take his chances at the NBA and become the next head coach of the Boston Celtics.

An extremely gutsy and bold move on his part, but when money is put out on the table, it speaks volumes. No specifics of his contract with Boston have been disclosed so far, but if it made him leave his beloved job at Butler, it must be lucrative enough that lure him to Beantown.


Stevens, a 36-year old native of Zionsville, Indiana, has obviously always had his goals set extremely high. Making five NCAA Tournaments, a CBI tourney appearance, but more importantly back-to-back NCAA championship National Runner-up finishes in 2010 and 2011. He's done something with the Butler basketball program in the NCAA Tournament that no one could have predicted would have happened.

Compiling an amazing 166-49 record in his first six seasons as head coach, never winning less than 22 games in a season, Stevens was on the fast track to becoming the next great college basketball coach in America. Already regarded as one of the best around, Stevens hesitated none when it came time to decide. Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics owners made their way to Indianapolis on Wednesday to put the icing on the cake and Stevens accepted their deal to coach the storied Celtics franchise.

The next thing for Butler is who to bring in as the next coach. Do they hire a big name? Is hiring within the current coaching staff the right move for Butler athletic director Barry Collier? Those questions, amongst many others will be answering sooner rather than later hopefully.