Men's Basketball

The Marian University Ancilla Chargers are excited to announce the hiring of Aaron Butcher as their Men's Basketball Head Coach, effective immediately. Coach Butcher brings more than ten years of college coaching experience to the Chargers, including eight seasons as a collegiate Head Coach, plus he previously served as the Chargers' lead man from October of 2012 through April of 2018.

"In his first tenure, Coach Butcher led the Chargers to being one of the top programs in the NJCAA," exclaimed Marian Ancilla Athletic Director Kyle Allison. "Through conversations with him, he is intent on injecting that level of competitiveness into the student-athletes he works with daily. We are more than excited to welcome Coach Butcher back to MUAC, and there is already a buzz on campus for our Men's Basketball program with Coach Butcher returning to lead."

While at the helm during his first stint with Marian University Ancilla, Coach Butcher amassed a record of 113-65 over six seasons, including significant improvement from season to season, plus he helped to provide a lot of 'firsts' for the program. "Looking back at my coaching career, some of the best memories I have are as the Head Coach at Ancilla College," commented Butcher. "Those memories, combined with the improvements Marian University has made since acquiring Ancilla College, make it really appealing to come back and build on what we had previously accomplished."

In his most recent season at Marian Ancilla, the 2017-2018 season, the Chargers finished 29-3, they were 17-1 in the MCCAA (Michigan Community College Athletic Association), becoming conference champions for the first time in program history, and they achieved the ranking of #1 in the nation for the first time in program history. Due to their success that season, Coach Butcher was named the MCCAA Western Division Coach of the Year and the overall MCCAA Conference Coach of the Year.

In his five seasons on the Charger sideline leading up to that run, they improved from 8-18 during his first season (2012-2013), to 13-15 (2013-2014), 17-13 (2014-2015), 20-10 (2015-2016), and 26-6 (2016-2017). They were ranked 22^nd in the country in NJCAA Division-II during the 2014-2015 season, which was the program's first-ever national ranking. They were ranked as high as 14^th in 2015-2016 and 6^th in 2016-2017.

After leaving the Chargers in the Spring of 2018, Coach Butcher accepted the same position at Northern Oklahoma College, where he helped them improve their win total immediately, they advanced to the region semi-finals during the 2018-2019 season, and academically the team posted its highest GPA since the 2014-2015 season.

Coach Butcher then returned to Indiana, accepting an administrative position as Athletic Director at nearby Tippecanoe Valley High School from August of 2020 through June of 2022. Despite remaining in athletics, he was getting the "itch" to coach again, so he accepted the position of Varsity Head Coach at Hobart High School, where he has served in that capacity for the last two seasons, helping them to one of their more successful stretches in recent memory.

As for his next chapter at Marian Ancilla, Butcher added, "moving forward, our program will be built on the same core values…unselfishness, accountability, humility, respect, and servanthood…that helped us build this same program to a #1 National Ranking in 2018. We will recruit talented, high-character guys and look forward to getting Marian Ancilla back to the top of the MCCAA, while helping our guys move on to great 4-year programs after they have finished their time with us. I am really impressed with the vision that Athletic Director Kyle Allison and the rest of the administration have for Marian Ancilla athletics and can't wait to play my part in helping them fulfill that vision."