Butler is winning the war of merchandise sales, leading the other three
schools in the Final Four. A victory tonight, sports marketers said, would increase those sales fivefold.
As is the case at Duke, Butler graduates about 90 percent of its players. As is the case at Duke, there’s more than mere lip
service paid to the classroom at Butler.
Indiana and Purdue may be the state's traditional basketball powerhouses, but it's little Butler—enrollment 4,200—that's big time now. Butler is writing a Hollywood hoops script, a sequel to "Hoosiers."
A debate rages over how Butler's spot in the Final Four will blunt the event's economic impact. But predicting the Final Four's true impact is fraught with unknowns.
Butler University basketball coach Brad Stevens has an annual base pay of $350,000 with another $37,851 in benefits and deferred
compensation. Not bad for a 33-year-old. But it’s no comparison to what big-time men’s college basketball coaches make.
Itâ??s all about the whole, not the parts. They cut and move, move, move on offense. They defend like their scholarships depend on it.
Mediocrity in the athletic department was tolerated by the administration, winning wasn’t a priority and Tony Hinkle’s
five principles—humility, passion, unity, servanthood and thankfulness—had not been adopted as “The Butler
Way.”
Butler University is planning to raise as much as $12 million to modernize Hinkle Fieldhouse, the home of its Bulldogs basketball
team.
Fans decked out in blue crowded Monument Circle and spilled onto Meridian Street in downtown Indianapolis, cheering on the
hometown Butler Bulldogs as they prepare for their first NCAA Final Four. Check out our photo gallery here.
The biggest chance Brad Stevens ever took, the best game plan he ever drew up, had nothing to do with a prized recruit or
some brilliant set of Xs and Os scrawled out on a greaseboard. It came on the day he decided to quit his job at Eli Lilly
and
Co. and to pursue his first love, basketball.
Butler's triumph has likely eliminated some of the direct visitor spending the city would have seen if Syracuse or Kansas
State would have made it to Indy for this year's Final Four. But corporate excitement could wipe away that loss.
About eight hours after Butler beat second-seeded Kansas State 63-56 to reach the first Final Four in school history, the
Bulldogs returned home to a large crowd and loud cheers.
Besides an immediate bump in apparel sales, the university is expecting a jump in student applications, alumni contributions
and season-ticket sales, as well.
Butler's stellar on-court performance drew big crowds to Hinkle Fieldhouse this season. But some still wonder if the Bulldogs
will have enough financially to retain Brad Stevens as coach.
Big name speakers coming to central Indiana.
Count Butler University basketball on the short list of teams that could make it to the Final Four.
Local TV station WNDY Channel 23 announced Friday that it will broadcast 13 Butler University men’s basketball games this
season, starting with the Bulldogs’ Nov. 21 game at the University of Evansville.
A little more than six months before the 2010 NCAA men’s Final Four is set to tip off at Lucas Oil Stadium, the NCAA
has not yet finalized a rental deal for the facility. While officials for the NCAA and Local Organizing Committee,
the group charged with operating the event in Indianapolis, downplay any problems, sports business experts say it is unusual
not to have an agreement pinned down in the months leading up to the event.
In five years, Butler University President Bobby Fong wants to vault his school into the top 10 of the nation’s master’s
universities—schools that offer bachelor’s and master’s degrees but few doctorates.
Students going into and out of Indiana’s teacher education programs tend to score below average on standardized test scores.
And national data indicate the gap is entirely attributable to those headed into elementary education.
