INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) -- First-year Butler men’s basketball head coach Ronald Nored is over three months away from tipping off the 2026-2027 season.
The 36-year-old is no stranger to Hinkle Fieldhouse. Nored helped lead the 2010 and 2011 Butler teams that made back-to-back national championship game appearances.
After graduating from Butler, Nored moved into coaching. He served as an assistant for several NBA teams, including the Indiana Pacers from 2021-2023, before returning to his alma mater.
Nored says his time on Rick Carlisle’s staff with the Pacers helped shape his approach now as the Bulldogs’ head coach.
“I think the thing that stands out the most as a head coach is really empowering the assistants to coach well,” Nored said. “To be able to use their voice and to have great ideas. There's a lot as a head coach that you're going through and learning, and to be able to have assistant coaches that are really thinking about how you can be better on a day-to-day basis is extremely helpful.”
As he prepares for the start of Butler’s regular season, Nored described during Wednesday’s practice what he wants his team’s identity to be.
“The thing we talk about most is being the hardest-playing team in the country,” Nored said. “We are trying to do that every single day. Some days we do it well, some days we're not doing it well, but for us it's just about getting better.”
Nored takes over a Butler program that has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2018. As he and his first-year staff guide the team through summer practices, he says he’s been encouraged by how his group has come together.
“I like our connectedness,” Nored said. “We have a really good group of guys. We were really intentional about creating that when we were building our team. Some of the things that we've done off the court have really showed that, and they've translated on the court as well.”
Incoming freshman and former Noblesville High School standout Baron Walker, who plays point guard just like Nored did during his four years with the Bulldogs, says he is already learning from his head coach.
“Seeing him be a point guard and really understanding him, just from the internet, amazing guy; but even meeting him in person, way better,” Walker said. “He's an amazing guy off the bat, not only on the court but off the court. He's going to make me a better individual, man, and basketball player.”
The Bulldogs begin the regular season on Nov. 2 against the Lafayette Leopards at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
