Gator Head Coach Amanda Butler's Inaugural Press Conference
Tuesday, April 17, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Amanda Butler was formally introduced as Florida's ninth women's basketball head coach at a press conference held in the F-Club on Tues., April 17th.
The following quotes are a sampling of what UF Athletics Director Jeremy Foley, Coach Butler and current members of the Gator squad had to say:
Jeremy Foley, University of Florida Athletics Director
Opening Statement:
“I would like to thank you all for coming. This is a proud day for the University of Florida for a lot of reasons. One of the proud reasons is because we're welcoming one of our own back home. We're thrilled that Amanda Butler is going to be our new women's basketball coach. I met Amanda for the first time, as a head coach, a week or so ago. Her enthusiasm, her passion, her energy level is what this program needs. Talking to people that know her, her work ethic – there's a lot of work to do in women's basketball and I think she fits perfectly. At the end of the day, that's what it's all about. I think she's a perfect fit for the University of Florida at this point and time and it certainly gives me a lot of pride and pleasure to introduce Amanda Butler as our women's basketball coach.”
Amanda Butler, University of Florida Women's Basketball Head Coach
Opening Statement:
“I had a little bit of an idea of what I thought this was going to feel like, standing up here in front of you guys. That idea is completely shot; it is no where close to, realistically, what I feel right now. The amount of emotion, the sense of pride – to say it's a dream come true doesn't even get there, it's not even close, because the magnitude of this moment for me personally, and just how deep my emotions run for (the University of) Florida is really hard to describe. It's nice to walk in the room and see so many familiar faces – Dr. Welch, Dr. Alexander, Dr. Grooms, Dr. Carodine – there are so many people here that are familiar faces. I appreciate you guys being here. So many new faces – Ann Marie (Rogers), not a new face, great to see you here, I appreciate it so much. All the new faces of everybody, just having so many Gators here together, on hand, it really makes me excited. I feel very humbled and very blessed to be standing here before you guys right now. Although, as I said, it isn't quite there, it is a dream come true for me and I hope that I get the opportunity to thank each one of you personally – come around the room and meet as many people as I can, if not today then certainly in the upcoming days and weeks, because it is an impressive group here.
“I want to start just by recognizing and thanking a few people, starting with Jeremy (Foley) and his staff – Lynda Tealer and everybody else. I appreciate the opportunity given to me by the university. I'm very grateful to Jeremy and (University President) Dr. Machen for believing that I'm the right person for the job. It definitely is, in my mind, the right fit. I'm excited about it and just thrilled to be given the chance. There are so many incredible things that have happened in the Gator Nation over the past couple years and all those things are a reflection of the leadership here at this university and athletic department. We have the best in the business, that's all there is to it, and I'm very, very proud to be part of that family.
“My parents are here, Barbara and Steve Butler, they came down from Tennessee – I appreciate the administration for having them here. I have a very supportive duo whose pride in the Gators and Gator passion hasn't diminished at all. Just one quick story to demonstrate that to you. My mom text messaged me, which is funny enough in itself, to let me know that everybody in the neighborhood had gotten together in the street and they were toasting me, of course with Gatorade, after the Friday announcement. So, I'm very glad they're here and thank them for the things that I have and for being so supportive.
“Also, just wanted to mention real quickly the family that I left in Charlotte and how thankful I am to them. I got to get up every morning and coach a group of young ladies that worked very hard for me. Judy Rose, the Athletic Director, Chancellor Phil Dubois, who were very supportive, and Chancellor Jim Woodward, who, with Judy Rose, gave me the opportunity to sit in that head seat for the first time and that is something that I will always be thankful for and never forget.
“Also, I had the good fortune of working with some incredible people – some incredible head coaches who definitely have molded me and shaped me and brought me, in a large part, to this point where I am right now. At the top of that list, I think most of you guys are familiar with Carol Ross, the former Gators coach here. She has been instrumental in everything that has happened to me professionally and I am very grateful for her friendship. The role she has played in my life certainly has been a positive one. Susie Gardner, who happens to be here today, was my boss at Austin Peay and Katie Meier, my boss at Charlotte, both of them, besides Carol, have had a tremendous impact on my life and I'm very grateful for that and the opportunities they gave me as an assistant coach and certainly the impact that all of them have had on me reaches far beyond the basketball court and my career and I'm very, very appreciative to those relationships.
“There's one other group that I just want to recognize and mention before I start talking about the future a little bit. Three of those people are sitting right here – Depree (Bowden), Sha (Brooks) and Marshae (Dotson). Those are the current players, and I think in our business, you have to understand that you don't get to coach unless there are students to coach. Everything that you do as a coach and as an athletic association and as a university is about them. I appreciate you guys being here. I get to meet the rest of the team for the first time face-to-face after this. I'm very excited about that and cannot wait to get out onto the court, which will certainly happen very soon.
“There's one quality that I think is very striking about this program from top to bottom when you're talking about coaching or leadership or whatever, and that is that the people here want to be great. They are seeking greatness, they are pursuing greatness in everything they do, and that is something that is very telling and striking. It's something that you can feel. You walk into any facility here, on this campus, and you meet the head coaches and their staff and their athletes and it's something that you can feel and that's very special. That, combined with the amount of work they put in – there's a commitment and desire to be the best at everything they do and that has obviously produced some great results. The hardware that you can find in a lot of these buildings, turns out most of the time to be national championships, a lot of conference championships, a lot of national rankings. The aspect of being among the nations elite – I am very honored and very humbled to be shoulder-to-shoulder with what I think are the nation's elite and I'm excited about the fact that one of the best resources I have here at Florida, with as many resources as there are, the best resource is going to be the people and the co-workers that I'll have the opportunity to sit with and talk with and learn from. I'm fired up about the challenges of the SEC and the upcoming season and I know there are going to be many.
“I have an incredible staff that has joined me here – we already have them in place and I'm going to ask them to stand up in just a second – very fortunate that the great people that worked with me at Charlotte have decided to be Gators. If they could just stand up right fast and be recognized – Brenda Kirkpatrick, Edwina Johnson, Janna Magette, and David Lowery. I'm very glad that they have taken this challenge and have joined me here. One other staff member, who has already gotten a little bit of attention, is Susie Gardner. Some of you might recognize Susie, she coached at Austin Peay State University and I was an assistant under her. She was most recently leading the program at Arkansas. So, I'm very glad and even more than that, very confident, about the challenges that we have ahead of us. They're all fantastic people whose fingerprints are going to be all over the success of this program in the future. We have a shared vision of success, and we know over time, and after a lot of hard work, it is going to be something that is going to be very rewarding. We're going to get in the gym and develop the players that we already have and we're going to go out and find student-athletes that compliment the players that we already have and really just get after it and get to work. There's just no two ways about it. There's no secret to success, it's through trying, it's through hard work, it's through commitment and demonstrations of your desire to be the best and that's what we want to be, that's the competitive level that we aspire to reach – is to be the best. We're going to play hard, we're going to play aggressive, we're going to play fast, and we're going to compete everyday; everyday at practice, everyday in the weight room, every opportunity that we have, we're going to compete. That is something that you're going to see from this team because I want us to pursue that greatness that I mentioned already and to display that desire that I think burdens a lot of programs that is so apparent here. We have the most dedicated and passionate fans of anywhere in the country and up until last week, I think I fell into that category – I was a dedicated and passionate fan. I think that the style of play and the things that we're trying to do and the things that we can get done here are going to be something that those Gator fans are going to be proud about and will give them something to cheer about and give them something to be excited about. We're going to give them reasons to come see us play, and come back and see us play. That is a goal of mine. Lastly, I think we're going to open up that Lady Gator history book and we're going to write new chapters, and that is certainly something that we aspire to do, something we will do, something that is definitely going to happen here and I'm excited about the opportunity to do it.
“I appreciate all you guys being here today. I look forward to answering your questions, I look forward to hopefully all of you being at our games. I can't wait to get started and all that's left to do is roll up our sleeves and do that. I appreciate the opportunity to get up here and speak. It's very hard for me just to say 'I'm excited' and that be it, but it's going to be an incredible challenge, it's going to be a fun journey, and it's going to be very rewarding at the end of it. I hope that you guys will join us on that journey. I'm excited, I'm fired up, let's go. Go Gators!”
ON THE TALENT LEVEL OF RECRUITS IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA
“There's a ton of talent in this state. If you look at the Final Four, there were several players from this state who were representing other universities in the Elite 8 and the Final Four and we want those kids to stay here. That's going to be our first goal in recruiting, to protect our home state. Then, from there, find talent in the other areas like (men's basketball coach) Billy (Donovan) has. The biggest thing is to find kids that fit, that understand some of the things that I described earlier – that pursuit of greatness, the work ethic and the desire. It's going to be those intangibles, besides the talent. We can all pick out the players in the gym who are the most talented, but finding the kids that fit with the Gator Way and understand the vision and have enough guts to say, 'I'm going to be the reason why the University of Florida is moving up.'”
ON HER MOST IMPORTANT CHALLENGE
“My most important priority is sitting right here (the current student-athletes). I have a team to coach and we can talk about recruiting and those sorts of things, and they're very important, but we have a group of young ladies right now who deserve my full attention and that's what they're going to get. Going back and forth between Gainesville and Charlotte and trying to find a home here and get my feet on the ground, it's going to be a little challenging at the beginning, but spending time with these young ladies and the rest of the team and building those relationships is first and foremost in my mind and what we need to do first.”
ON THE ROLE THAT SUSIE GARDNER HAS PLAYED IN HER COACHING CAREER AND THE DECISION TO BRING SUSIE TO FLORIDA
“It's been tremendous. When I was an assistant coach here at Florida, the staff was structured so that the third assistants couldn't recruit. So, Susie gave me my first opportunity to recruit and if you're going to advance in college basketball, you have to prove yourself on that front first. She gave me the opportunity and allowed me a lot of freedom within her program to grow and make mistakes, but also showed me how to do things. With her collective experiences – she's had SEC experience, she's had west coast experience, she's been in a lot of different places – I certainly have benefited a ton from her knowledge and I think all those things I just described are why she will be so great here. She has knowledge and experience of the SEC that I don't have and I think as a head coach you've got to go out and recruit assistant coaches who are going to make you better and Susie definitely does that.”
ON CAROL ROSS, FORMER FLORIDA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COACH
“She gives me advice weekly. Those of you that know Coach Ross know that she is a great decision maker. She is a very wise lady – very wise beyond her years. I think she rarely makes decisions that are wrong; they are very thorough and thought-out. I have certainly leaned on her heavily throughout this process, but that's not anything new. I've leaned on her heavily as a player, I've leaned on her heavily as an assistant coach and then I left her wing and went and got under Susie's wing. I was still in constant communication with her and she's been a valuable person in my life and role model and someone's who counsel I seek in a professional manner and even a personal one and she's a great friend and I'm very fortunate to be able to call her that.”
ON IF SHE FEELS MORE PRESSURE BECAUSE OF THE SUCCESS OF OTHER GATOR TEAMS
“No, I don't think I feel any more pressure from them than I would place on myself. Again, I think that's a positive for us, that's a positive thing, that's a attraction for the Marshae's and Sha's and Depree's of this program, because they want to be associated with the greatness that is already established here by those other programs and aspire to be one of those elite programs and put some trophies on the women's side of the basketball facility. So, pressure, no, absolutely not. Just another tool for us and another resource for us for recruiting.”
Depree Bowden (Junior)
On the hiring of Amanda Butler:
"We're moving forward and looking forward to what Coach Butler has in store for us. It's good to have a young coach because they're very enthusiastic. When I first met Coach Butler, I could tell that she wanted to win. She's just very enthusiastic and you get a sense that she wants to make each of us better."
On playing an up tempo style under Amanda Butler:
"We ran up tempo last year and I think that's very good for us. It's going to put more people in the stands. We're looking forward to that and playing the way that Coach Butler wants us to play."
Sha Brooks (Sophomore)
On her first impression of Amanda Butler:
"I think she's cool so far. We haven't had a lot of time to interact yet, but I think she's going to be great. The whole team was anxious to know who was going to be our head coach and we're ready to get going."
Marshae Dotson (Sophomore)
On the hiring of Amanda Butler and having a head coach again:
"It's overwhelming. We're trying to get used to having a coach again. It's great that we've got one. It's a long process and we're going to have to build a relationship with each of our new coaches, but I'm already looking forward to next season."
On Amanda Butler being a former Gator:
"It's great to keep it within the Gator Nation. That's cool that she knows what it's like to be here and what to expect."
