David Woods/IndyStar
INDIANAPOLIS – Butler opened basketball practice Monday with a fourth coach in six seasons. Yet to hear the players tell it, it was Bulldog business as usual.
The new coach, LaVall Jordan, was beginning his freshman season at Butler 20 years ago under Barry Collier, now the athletic director. Collier is credited with introducing the Butler Way, and he credits those principles to Tony Hinkle, who coached the Bulldogs from 1921 through 1970.
That represents continuity older than 89-year-old Hinkle Fieldhouse.
“Really, it’s the same principles, obviously, with him playing here,” sophomore forward Sean McDermott said of the 38-year-old man the players call Coach Vall.