Story Courtesy: Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications
The Guilford College men’s basketball team is proud to welcome Bryce Butler as Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach entering the 2026-27 season, the program announced on Wednesday.
“We are excited to welcome Coach Butler to the program,” Head Men’s Basketball Coach, Jesse DeLoof said. “He is one of the most decorated players in West Liberty history, with tremendous success both playing and coaching the style of basketball we hang our hat on. We are thrilled to have his experience, knowledge, and passion joining our staff.”
Butler has a short-but-significant tenure in the coaching ranks. Last winter he took over as the top assistant coach with the Hempfield Area High School Boys Basketball team, helping guide them to their best season in a decade as the team finished 15-8 and made the postseason for the first time in seven seasons. Prior to that, he spent the winter of 2024-25 as the lead assistant coach at his alma mater, West Liberty University, helping WLU go 30-5, and win the Mountain East Conference (MEC) regular season championship on their way to winning the Atlantic Region and receive a berth to the Division-II Elite Eight.
Before turning to the bench, Butler enjoyed a collegiate career that saw him finish as one of the most-accomplished players to play in the vaunted Crutchfield system. West Liberty University never missed the Division-II NCAA Tournament over his four seasons as an undergraduate with the Hilltoppers, accruing a cumulative 107-17 record. The program swept MEC Regular Season titles throughout his career while also claiming a trio of MEC Tournament Championships. On the national stage, he helped lead WLU to a pair of Atlantic Regional Championships and berths to the Division-II Elite Eight, advancing to the National Title game in Evansville, Indiana in 2023. Individually, he was a two-time Bevo Francis Award Finalist earning major awards as the MEC Male Athlete of the Year, Atlantic Region Player of the Year, and MEC Men’s Basketball Player of the Year in both 2022 and 2023. Butler was named an All-American in each of those campaigns as well, making the Second Team in 2022 and the First Team in 2023 after receiving All-Atlantic Region and First Team All-MEC recognition those seasons. A near 2,000-point scorer as a Hilltopper alone, he ranks within the top-10 in scoring in the storied history of the Division-II power. Butler connected on 332 field goal makes in 2022-23 which stands as the program-record on his way to 829 points that season, the most by any junior in WLU history. An exemplary student-athlete on-and-off the court, Butler was selected as a team captain twice and was an Academic All-American in 2023.
Going on to utilize his final year of eligibility with Division-I College of Charleston, Butler moved into a reserve role and flourished. A team captain for the Cougars, he was named the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Sixth Man of the Year and led them to a CAA Regular Season and Tournament Championship en route to the NCAA Tournament in 2024.
Butler is a member of the West Liberty class of 2023, receiving his B.S. in sports management and marketing. At the College of Charleston, he completed his master’s degree in communications.
