Story Courtesy John Dedman, Butler Athletics
Emerson Kampen, a 2013 Butler graduate who previously spent nine years on the Bulldogs coaching staff, has returned to the program as an assistant coach.
Kampen and new head coach Ronald Nored (along with current Vice President and Director of Athletics Grant Leiendecker) were teammates at Butler, members of the program’s back-to-back national championship game teams in 2010 and 2011.
“EK is a Bulldog through and through,” said Nored. “He’s been a great leader on successful Butler teams as both a player and a coach. EK has a great feel for the game and a direct approach that resonates with players and allows them to improve quickly. It means a lot to me personally to have a teammate and such a good friend alongside me as we build this program. It’s great to bring EK, Kylie and their family back to Hinkle, a place that means so much to all of us.”
Kampen returns to Butler after spending the last four years overseeing successful business ventures alongside another of his Butler teammates, Gordon Hayward. Previously, Kampen’s nine-season coaching run at Butler came on staffs under head coaches LaVall Jordan, Chris Holtmann and Brandon Miller.
From 2017-22, Kampen was an assistant coach under Jordan, serving as the program’s defensive coordinator. The 2019-20 Bulldogs finished the season 22-9 and ranked in the Top 25 of both national polls. The Bulldogs were included in every 2020 NCAA Tournament projection before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the remainder of the season. It would have marked Butler’s sixth consecutive postseason appearance with Kampen on the staff.
Butler climbed to No. 5 in both national polls earlier in the 2019-20 season, the highest in-season ranking in program history. The Bulldogs hung their hat on defense, holding opponents to only 62.1 points per game, the 11th-best mark nationally. Kamar Baldwin earned All-BIG EAST honors and was a finalist for the 2020 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award, finishing his career fourth on Butler’s all-time scoring list with just under 2,000 career points.
Following the 2019-20 season, Kampen was named a member of the 2020 National Association of Basketball Coaches 30-Under-30 Team, representing 30 of the most outstanding men’s college basketball coaches under the age of 30.
Kampen was heavily involved in securing the (then) highest-rated recruiting class in program history, featuring five standouts who arrived on campus in the summer of 2020.
The 2017-18 Bulldogs earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament where Butler defeated Arkansas in the opening round. The Bulldogs finished the season with a 21-14 record. In his second season as a member of Jordan’s staff, the Bulldogs earned a 2019 NIT berth.
Kampen spent two seasons (2015-17) as the program’s basketball analyst under former Holtmann. The 2016-17 team posted a 25-9 record, a second-place finish in the BIG EAST, and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2011. The BIG EAST finish was Butler’s best since joining the conference prior to the 2013-14 season. Kampen helped the 2015-16 Bulldogs to a record of 22-11 and a second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the second round.
Kampen began the 2014-15 season as a graduate assistant for the Bulldogs. He stepped in to fill an assistant coach position when Holtmann was elevated to head coach just prior to the start of the season, and he helped the Bulldogs to a 23-11 season, a tie for second place in the BIG EAST and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Butler advanced to the Round of 32.
He began his coaching career during the 2013-14 season as a graduate assistant, handling a variety of administrative and on-court duties on Miller’s staff.
A former Yorktown (Ind.) High School basketball standout, Kampen was a four-year letterwinner and five-year team member (2008-13) with the Bulldogs. He played on Butler’s two Final Four teams, and he served as a co-captain of the Bulldogs’ 2012-13 team, which posted a 27-9 record and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. During his five seasons at Butler, the Bulldogs compiled a 136-45 record and made five straight postseason tournament appearances.
Kampen earned a marketing degree from Butler in 2013. He and his wife, Kylie (also a Butler graduate), have five children: Emerson IV, Kallen, Kole, Klay, and Kendall. Emerson IV, the couple’s first child, tragically passed away in 2016 after being diagnosed with Leigh’s Disease, a terminal, genetic disease. He was eight months old.
