Just a bit longer than two weeks after they parted ways with Audra Smith, Clemson is close to an agreement with Amanda Butler to become the new women’s basketball head coach, multiple sources tell High Post Hoops. Butler spent last season as an analyst for the SEC Network after being fired as the head coach of Florida following the 2016-17 season.
The hiring of Butler is certainly an interesting one as the former Gator never could get her alma mater over the hump. She amassed a solid 190-136 record and appeared in four NCAA tournaments in 10 seasons, but went 71-85 in the SEC and never make it out of the first weekend of the tournament.
As for her new program, Clemson hasn’t had a winning season since 2003-07 when they went 17-12 (7-9) under legendary coach Jim Davis. The Tigers went 52-99 in five season under Smith, going just 9-70 in the ACC.
In fact since the departure of Davis, the program’s all-time winningest coach, the team has gone 136-191 overall and 35-162 in the ACC. The highest finish in the ACC since 2005 is 9th place.
Prior to leading Florida, Butler spent two years at Charlotte where she went 40-22 (22-8), earning the A10 Coach of the Year award in 2006 when the 49ers won the conference. She then took over Florida after the school fired Carolyn Peck.
In addition to serving as a TV analyst last season, Butler spent several weeks shadowing head coach Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics, a move that drew a lot of media attention after the fact.
Clemson is one of four team’s in the ACC that will be under new guidance this season, as Boston College, Virginia and Pittsburgh all had their head coaches depart this spring. Boston College parted ways with Erik Johnson after five seasons and recently hired Joanna Bernabei-McNamee away from Albany to lead the Eagles.
Virginia saw their head coach Joanna Boyle retire suddenly after leading the Cavaliers to the second round of the NCAA tournament due to issues with her adopted daughter’s legal status. Boyle went 129–99 (53-61) in seven seasons.
Pittsburgh let go of Suzie McConnell-Serio after five seasons during which the former point guard great amassed a record of 67-87 (22-58).
The hiring of Butler marks the 15th new head coach among NCAA D1 schools this season with 23 schools still with openings as of the release of this story.
Other’s seriously considered for the job according to theclemsoninsider.com were Elon head coach Charlotte Smith and Lander head coach Kevin Pederson.