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Butler Jumps Into 'Dream Job' With Vigor

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By ANDY STAPLES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 6, 2007

GAINESVILLE - Susie Gardner needed an assistant coach in 1997, so she inquired about a young assistant who grew up in Gardner's tiny hometown of Mount Juliet, Tenn. Gardner, then coach at Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tenn., placed a call to University of Florida coach Carol Ross to ask about the former Gators guard then serving as Ross' third assistant.

"Carol just went on and on and on," Gardner said.

So Gardner hired Amanda Butler, the ex-point guard who in 1993 took 10 numbing injections to her face to soothe the pain of a broken nose suffered a day earlier so she could help Florida beat Florida State. Ten years after that phone call to Ross, Gardner works for Butler.

Butler returned to her alma mater in April to try to rebuild a program that sank to the depths of the Southeastern Conference during the final season of Carolyn Peck's tenure. One of her first calls was to Gardner, who had been forced out after four seasons at Arkansas. Butler wanted an assistant who knew the conference.

"This has been her dream job," Gardner said, "since she was my assistant at Austin Peay."

Most of Butler's next calls went to recruits. Peck's greatest flaw was her inability to recruit SEC-caliber players to Gainesville. Butler, who played on the first Florida teams to make the NCAA Tournament, spent much of her first six months on the job trying to convince players they can help make the Gators an annual fixture in the tournament again.

On the recruiting trail, Butler - who made the women's NIT twice in two seasons as Charlotte's coach - sold visions of SEC titles, Final Fours and national titles. Meanwhile, back at the basketball complex, Butler had to convince her current players that they should embrace a difficult schedule despite the 9-22 record they posted last season.

"Our schedule will be the toughest schedule in the history of the program. We are very excited about that," Butler said. "Eighteen postseason teams from last year that we will have an opportunity to measure ourselves against."

The current Gators will have to work to measure up. At 6-foot-3, junior college transfer Aneika Henry gives Florida the size in the post it lacked last year. Also, the up-tempo style Butler has promised to bring should suit the talents of veterans Sha Brooks and Depree Bowden.

Butler refuses to set a timetable for the resurrection of the program. She expects some growing pains, but she also will demand more from Florida's current players. She'll sell them on the idea that they may lay the groundwork for something special.

"It's the beginning of a dream," Butler said. "Our dream will come true when we're actually cutting down nets and putting those crystal balls in the trophy case."

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