Amanda Butler’s earliest memories live under humming bright lights and in front of flickering scoreboards in gyms feeling like a damp towel, humidity clinging to everything. The shrill blast of a whistle cutting through chatter. The sharp scent of lacquer rising from honey-colored hardwood. The slap of sneakers and the echo of girls’ voices chasing each other off cinderblock walls.
Her first heroes were the young women on her mother’s high school team, who showed her what “normal” looked like — early mornings, hard practices, full gyms that cared about girls’ basketball.
That’s where Butler’s love for the game started – in a Mount Juliet, Tennessee, community where her mom and her grandmother played, and girls’ sports often drew more fans than the boys. It’s from that lineage of women who were always hooping that Butler now steps into the next chapter of her long coaching journey at the College of Charleston, where she became the ninth coach in program history on March 31.
“One of my favorite quotes is, ‘nothing great is ever accomplished alone,'” Butler said to The IX Basketball during a recent Zoom call. “There have been so many people that have been part of my journey that were setting me up for success that I didn’t even realize … Now there are a lot of things happening now with visibility and opportunities for girls that didn’t necessarily exist when I was 12 years old, but they did in my community. Girls’ basketball was important, and the gym was full, and you were part of something special.”
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Butler comes to Charleston after being part of something special the last two seasons as an assistant coach at Louisville, where she helped lead the Cardinals to two straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Sweet 16 appearance this year. Louisville went 51-19 during her two years on staff.
Those results are part of a much longer story.
Among some of her highlights during a distinguished 31-year career, Butler was named the 2019 Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year after leading Clemson to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 16 years. She also led her alma mater, Florida, to four NCAA Tournaments. In 10 years in Gainesville, Butler averaged 19 wins per season and accounted for six of the program’s 15 20-win seasons.
It was at Florida where the foundation of her coaching identity truly began to take shape.
As a player for the Gators, Butler’s mentor and former coach Carol Ross noticed something unique about her. Butler finished her career with 401 assists and a natural ability to lead others.
“She got me ready to coach, even when I didn’t know I was going to coach,” Butler said. “Then she gave me my first job. She’s my mentor. She yelled and screamed at me. Made me a better competitor. She’s still my first call when I don’t know what to do, or there’s great news to share. She’s been a huge part of my journey.”
That influence carried beyond wins and losses.
In quiet gyms, with only the ball bouncing off the floor and voices echoing across the facility, Butler built her reputation as a teacher of the game. Her passion for working with student-athletes has resulted in numerous WNBA players, Olympians, and multiple All-Conference performers she’s helped develop.
Creating something special also takes work. Decorating her office is secondary to building a program, working with returnees, hiring assistant coaches, and hosting recruits. She’s survived the early weeks on enthusiasm, faith, and Diet Dr Pepper.
“It’s been an amazing whirlwind,” Butler said of the grind. “The timing of and the excitement around a press conference and meeting all the new people that are going to be your coworkers, putting together a staff, and then, boom, portal opens. And you know, you’re trying to manage that from both sides. It’s been a lot of early mornings, late nights, and blessings on blessings on blessings. I have enjoyed all the people of College of Charleston, which has made the transition easy for my staff and me.”
Butler arrived with a deep appreciation for the CAA long before she accepted the job. She also had a familiarity with the conference because one of her former assistant coaches from Clemson is Priscilla Edwards-Lloyd, who is the current head coach at Northeastern. Throughout her coaching career, Butler has had friends coach in the conference. She likens the CAA to her first head-coaching stop at UNC Charlotte in the old Atlantic 10 Conference.
“This league and this opportunity really remind me of that,” Butler said. “It’s very basketball-centric. Basketball fans, great cities, and awesome areas with many recruitable student-athletes and fan bases that care about their men’s and women’s basketball teams. And frankly, that’s why I’m here. I know a lot about the league and did as much research as I possibly could as this started to unfold as a real opportunity in my life.”
Butler had also been paying attention to Charleston from Louisville.
During bracketology, there were moments when the Cardinals were projected alongside the Cougars, giving her another reason to study the program closely. The more she watched, the more the opportunity made sense.
Now, Butler is rebuilding the roster through the portal, even though some key pieces remained after former head coach Robin Harmony accepted the Pittsburgh job in March and took the Barbot twins with her. Charleston’s returning headliner is senior guard Tyja Beans, who averaged 10.0 points per game last season.
Anilys Rolon, Camila De Pool, and Aubrey Stevenson also return for the Cougars, providing some foundational pieces and institutional knowledge for Butler and her staff. In a transactional era, Butler’s work starts with people as much as schemes. She spent early workouts observing her returnees more than instructing while diligently building relationships with them.
While Butler is still assembling her roster, she has a vision for how the Cougars will play.
“On offense, we’re going to go until we’re stopped,” she said. “We want to move the ball, and we want to move bodies. On the other end, we want to do the most aggressive thing that makes sense. We want to play a style that’s really compelling to our fan base. We want to fill up TD Arena… where our fans are not only proud but entertained.”
She’s under no illusion about what awaits. The Cougars may have a new look, but as the reigning champions, they’ll remain the game circled on every schedule because the other 12 CAA programs have them in their crosshairs.
“I know that the league is going to be very challenging, which is why I’m in full portal combat mode right now,” Butler said. “There are formidable opponents and great coaches across the conference. It’s fun to be a part of it. I hope that I can add to it… and make the CAA not only proud but put us on the map even more in a more established way.”
For all her experience, Butler talks about this moment in college basketball like someone starting over. She keeps coming back to words like adaptability, creativity, and curiosity, pillars of sustainability and excellence. Butler also leans on conversations with friends in the WNBA, NBA, and overseas to learn how they manage rosters in a fluid era.
The rules may keep shifting, but her anchor is unchanged.
“Who you are and how you present that — that doesn’t change because of a transfer portal rule or a rev-share rule,” Butler said. “I love coaching. I love X’s and O’s. Now, I’ve also got to be pretty good at a spreadsheet, too.”
Butler plans to continue using what she’s learned from leaders she’s worked for, such as Susie Gardner, Katie Meyer, and Jeff Walz. Butler joked that she couldn’t name everyone who has helped her throughout her memorable career because the conversation would never end. She’s excited for the chance to keep the Cougars among the CAA’s elite.
“I just feel really fortunate and blessed by all the people that God’s put in my path, that have had a hand in everywhere that I’ve been,” Butler said. “We started this conversation where I just said, I’ve been really busy, but blessings on blessings on blessings, and that’s probably a good way to end it. When I think of the blessings, I’m thinking of the people.”
Between portal calls and campus visits, Butler’s trying to establish a program where that energy and care are felt every day by players, staff, and fans.
Decades removed from those packed gyms in Mount Juliet, Butler is still chasing the same feeling: bright lights, a full house, and women’s basketball that matters. The venues and titles have changed, but the mission hasn’t.
At Charleston, she’s building more than a roster; she’s trying to create the kind of program that once shaped her. A place where the whistle cuts through the noise, the gym is full, and some young girl in the stands realizes she’s watching her future heroes.
A look back at Hofstra’s Sterling Cinderella run
Hofstra guard Chloe Sterling couldn’t help but to keep pinching herself during the Pride’s remarkable run during last month’s CAA tournament. The Pride became the first No. 10 seed to advance to the conference championship game in league history. Hofstra was 20 minutes from shocking the world when it enjoyed a 33-30 halftime lead against top-seeded College of Charleston.
The moment held even more significant weight for Sterling, who was savoring the gift of playing a key role after returning from a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Sterling got injured late last season and returned to lead Hofstra in scoring (10.3 points per game) and assists (3.6). She sparkled during the CAA tournament by scoring double digits in three of the Pride’s four games in the CAA tournament.
“One of the big reasons I came to Hofstra was to make history and accomplish things that haven’t been done yet,” Sterling told The IX Basketball after its quarterfinal victory over Campbell on March 13. “It’s a blessing. I mean, I always counted on God because there’s no way that I would be here without him.”
Hofstra’s tournament run was Hooisers-esque without the grand ending.
The Pride edged Towson in the first round on Emma von Essen’s 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds remaining. The Pride outscored Campbell, 11-6, over the final three minutes to eliminate to No. 2 seed. The next afternoon, Hofstra edged Drexel, 53-49, in overtime which was remarkable considering that Drexel swept the season series by a combined 43 points.
Throughout that magical run in Washington, D.C., veteran Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos-Atkinson couldn’t stop gushing about her teams’ resilience, character, and togetherness. The Pride entered the CAA tournament with eight wins, mainly because it went 1-8 in games decided by three points or less during the season.
“I’m so proud of this team,” Santos-Atkinson said to reporters following the Campbell victory. “Every single time I have an opportunity to talk about the character of the young ladies on this team, I’m going to do it. They continued to show up day after day after day. I always get the question, we went on a skid there in the middle of the season, you know, how do they just keep showing up? It’s the faith that they have in them, the faith that we have in something bigger.”
The run continued a pattern of unpredictability in the CAA tournament. While lower seeds Monmouth, Drexel, and William & Mary completed the job and won it, Hofstra’s unexpected journey through the bracket energized underdogs everywhere. The run by the Pride was the essence of March where everybody gets a second chance.
Sterling knows that better than anyone.
“I’m super appreciative for everything,” Sterling said. “Coach took a chance on me. These past two years have been my best years in college thus far and I’m happy. It didn’t end how I wanted it to end. I wanted a championship for the program really for coach. Hopefully, we continue to build up this family, build up this program to what it will be and it we will get one eventually.
“Our run was special. Getting here was something that was our goal the whole year and we came out here and we did it. “It’s sad that it didn’t end how we wanted it to, but I’m super proud of my team.”
Gamble returning for Monmouth
Christmas came early for Monmouth women’s basketball head coach Cait Wetmore when senior guard Gigi Gamble withdrew her name from the transfer portal earlier this week.
Gamble’s return along with Divine Dibula gives the Hawks the top two returning scorers in the CAA heading into the 2026-27 campaign. It also gives the Hawks instant swagger as they will be among the teams expected to contend for a CAA championship.
Gamble averaged 15.2 points per game and Dibula added 13.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per contest. The CAA’s most formidable inside-outside combination scored 44.1% of the Hawks’ total points last season. In their season-ending 74-68 setback to Cleveland State in the second round of the WNIT, Gamble and Dibula combined for 49 points.
Gamble lit up the scoreboard like a pinball machine during her first season at Monmouth. Her scoring average was the highest by a Monmouth player in 14 seasons. Gamble also finished the year with 10 games of 20 or more points, serving as the Hawks’ primary offensive catalyst throughout the campaign. Dibula had eight 20-point efforts this year and six double-doubles. She scored a career best 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds against Cleveland State.
They also return with the added benefit of postseason experience. The Hawks advanced to the second round of the WNIT for the second time in three years. This was Wetmore’s second season in charge of Monmouth and she presided over a team that engineered one of the most surprising seasons in the conference. Monmouth won 21 games for the fifth time in program history.
Monmouth put together one of the most balanced statistical profiles in the CAA. They led the league in field goal percentage at 41.2 percent, ranked second in rebounding margin (+4.1), and finished third in blocked shots with 115.
Just as important, they were the only team in the conference to place among the top four in both offensive and defensive field goal percentage, a reflection of their two-way consistency. The Hawks also held two opponents under 40 points and closed the season ranked among the top 40 nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 58.7 points per game.
The WNIT can be a springboard to success as the College of Charleston participated in this tournament in 2025 before winning the CAA crown and advancing to the NCAA tournament in 2026.
