Amanda Butler Biography

Amanda Butler has been involved with the Florida Gators for much of her life. She played for the women’s basketball team from 1990-1994, and was an honor student when she graduated. She has become one of the most beloved women’s basketball coaches in Florida Gators’ history. She is only 38 years old, but has already racked up an impressive 15 year coaching record.

Butler grew up in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee as the daughter of Stephen and Barbara Butler. She played basketball at Mt. Juliet high School, where she was granted All-District Honors for 3 years, as well as All-Mid-State honors. She had amassed over 1400 points when her high school career ended, earning her looks from Florida’s program.

Butler’s first coaching shot actually came at the University of Florida, where she was offered an assistant coaching position by then head coach Carol Ross. After two seasons helping Ross, she was hired by the Austin Peay State University as a recruiter. This was the major turning point in her career, as Butler showed herself to be a fantastic recruiter in all facets of the game.

Her first head coaching position came at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. She gained the position by inheriting it from her previous mentor Katie Meier after Meier left to coach at the University of Miami. In her only two years as the head coach in Charlotte, Butler managed to lead the team to an overall record of 40-22. This was good enough to get the team births in the WNIT for both seasons.

After seeing her remarkable work with the North Carolina program, the University of Florida decided that it was time for Butler to return home. When Butler arrived in Florida, she immediately showed just how skilled she really was. In only two seasons, she managed to bring Florida back to prosperity by tying its most wins in a single season record at 24, as well as leading her team to the NCAA Tournament. She also became the first head coach at Florida to ever lead the team to consecutive postseason appearances in her first two seasons.

By accomplishing all of this, Butler cemented Florida’s spot in the final Top-25 poll that season. This was historic, as this made Butler only the 24th woman to play for a Top-25 team and coach a Top-25 team in history. The fact that she played for the same team that she later coached cemented her in even more exclusive company, as she became one of only 6 women to ever achieve such a feat.

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