Kristen Butler, a former SEC Player of the Year and record-setting professional softball player in both the United States and Japan, enters her eighth season as the Rutgers head softball coach in 2025 with the Scarlet Knights reaching historic new heights during her tenure.
Altogether under Butler's guidance, Rutgers has made a pair of National Invitational Softball Championship appearances with Scarlet Knights earning a total of 11 All-Region, 10 All-Big Ten, four All-Big Ten Freshman, two All-Big Ten Defense, 69 All-Academic Big Ten and 18 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honors. Scarlet Knights have also earned some of the country's most prestigious honors with Morgan Smith being named First Team All-America by Softball America and Second Team All-America by the NFCA and Payton Lincavage earning the Rawlings Golden Glove Award as the nation's top defensive third baseman. With Butler at the helm, RU has also set 15 team, individual and career school records including home runs, runs scored, RBIs and strikeouts.
During her tenure, Rutgers softball has also made major facility upgrades including a new stadium complex set to open for the 2026 campaign. Butler has also been the architect behind adding a new all-weather turf field, state-of-the-art video board, new bullpens, fencing and backstop, along with a modern, high-tech locker room at Jersey Mike's Arena and infrastructure to bring nationally televised games to the RU Softball Complex.
The 2024 season was one of the most prolific seasons in recent Scarlet Knight history with the team capturing back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time in program history, the most victories in Big Ten play, the most Big Ten series victories and the highest Big Ten Tournament seed since joining the league back in 2015. Rutgers saw its first-ever NFCA All-American in Morgan Smith along with team records in runs scored and RBIs, individual season records in runs and career records in home runs, RBIs, batting average, runs, walks and at-bats. The Scarlet Knights also captured series wins over Ohio State, Wisconsin and Minnesota for the first time in Big Ten action.
Altogether under Butler's guidance, Rutgers has made a pair of National Invitational Softball Championship appearances with Scarlet Knights earning a total of 10 All-Region, nine All-Big Ten, three All-Big Ten Freshman, two All-Big Ten Defense, 62 All-Academic Big Ten and 16 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honors. Scarlet Knights have also earned some of the country's most prestigious honors with Morgan Smith being named First Team All-America by Softball America and Second Team All-America by the NFCA in 2024 and Payton Lincavage earning the Rawlings Golden Glove Award as the nation's top defensive third baseman in 2023. With Butler at the helm, RU has also set 14 team, individual and career school records including home runs, runs scored, RBIs and strikeouts.
During her tenure, Rutgers softball has also made major facility upgrades including a new all-weather turf field, state-of-the-art video board, new bullpens, fencing and backstop at the Rutgers Softball Complex, along with a modern, high-tech locker room at Jersey Mike's Arena. Most recently, infrastructure was completed to bring nationally televised games to the RU Softball Complex with further upgrades to the home of the Scarlet Knights still planned.
Last season, the 2023 Scarlet Knights picked up a 30-win season for the first time since 1994 ending the year at 32-25 overall with its best start since 1980, its first top 25 victory since 2012 and a school record 288 runs. The Scarlet Knights opened the year at 8-0 for the first time in 43 seasons and finished the nonconference schedule at 23-11. RU returned to the Big Ten Tournament behind a victory over No. 18/19 and Big Ten champion Northwestern, along with series sweeps of Illinois and Maryland. The Scarlet Knights earned five conference post-season honors with three named Second Team All-Big along with nods to the all-defense and all-freshman team. Outfielder/pitcher Morgan Smith and Kyleigh Sand were also named All-Region honorees, while third baseman Payton Lincavage was bestowed the prestigious Rawlings Golden Glove Award as the nation's top third baseman having committed only one error during Big Ten play. In addition to recognizing RU's talent on the field, the Scarlet Knights were honored in the classroom with a record 17 Big Ten All-Academic accolades and three members of the squad named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team.
The 2022 season saw Butler's Scarlet Knights qualify for its second National Invitational Softball Championship after jumping out to the best start in program history. The year began with RU opening at 10-3 for the best opening for the program since 1981, a year in which the Scarlet Knights advanced to the AIAW College World Series. After two challenging years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rutgers surpassed its win total from the previous season a mere three weeks into the year and also put together an eight-game win streak, the longest for the Scarlet Knights since 1994. Outfielder Gabrielle Callaway and shortstop Kyleigh Sand were named First Team All-Big Ten, RU's first-ever first team honorees since the Scarlet Knights joined the league. The duo were also named First Team All-Great Lakes Region marking two Scarlet Knight first team all-region selections for the first time since 1994. As a team, RU finished the 2022 campaign with the most strikeouts in history (305), fifth in doubles (73), eighth in runs (238) and ninth in RBIs (212).
In her inaugural season in 2019, Butler led the Scarlet Knights to its best season since 2015 with 29 overall wins and 11 in conference play in 2019. Rutgers qualified for its first non-conference postseason tournament since 1996 by participating in the National Invitational Softball Championship, setting a school record for single-season home runs in the process and earning its highest seed in the Big Ten Tournament since joining the conference in 2015. Under Butler's tutelage, three Scarlet Knights were honored in the NFCA All-Region awards, marking just the third time in Rutgers softball history that at least three Scarlet Knights have been named to All-Region teams, and the first time since 1999.
Prior to making her way to the state university of New Jersey, Butler spent four years turning around the program as head coach at Toledo while earning the 2018 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year honor. Under Butler's guidance, the Rockets enjoyed their best four-year stretch since the late 1990s with 104 overall victories. Toledo reached the 30-win plateau in 2018 for the first time since 1995 and earned a share of the MAC West regular season title with a 16-7 league record, marking its first such championship since 1992. Butler was subsequently named the MAC Coach of the Year.
There is a litany of "first since" statements on Butler's resume at Toledo. After taking over a program that averaged 15.5 wins per during from 2005-14, Butler skyrocketed Toldeo's win average to 26 per year between 2015-18. In 2018, the team played postseason softball for the first time since 1992 with an appearance in the National Invitational Softball Championship, resulting in the Rockets' first postseason win since 1989. The 2016 Rockets finished the regular season on a 13-game winning streak, the longest unbeaten stretch since 1992. Toledo also finished 2016 with its first winning MAC record (12-11) since 1997 and highest conference winning percentage (.522) since 1996. Butler also produced and mentored a MAC Freshman of the Year, six All-MAC First Team selections, an NFCA All-Region pick and two MAC All-Freshman honorees. Following the 2017 season, Toledo had its first player signed to the National Pro Fastpitch League as Chandler Rice joined Butler's former club, the Akron Racers.
The success on the diamond was paralleled in the classroom with 27 selections to the Academic All-MAC Team during Butler's four years at UT. Academic achievement has been a staple of Butler's career going back to her playing days, when she was a four-time NFCA Scholar-Athlete and a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection.
Championships and honors have been a part of nearly every stop coaching stop Butler has made including being a part of the 2014 Charleston Southern team that won the Big South championship and booked a trip to the NCAA Regionals and the 2012 Mississippi Valley State program that boasted the Southwestern Athletic Conference Coaching Staff of the Year while going undefeated in regular season conference play and through the conference tournament.
The Orlando, Florida native was a four-year starter for the University of Florida from 2003-06, primarily playing catcher. Butler, who was named one of the Gators All-Time Greatest Players, was voted the 2006 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year after setting a new program single-season home run record and still ranks among the top ten in the category. Additionally, she continues to hold the record for most runners picked off (8) and runners caught stealing (22) in a season, as well as the career record for most runners caught stealing (61).
Butler joined the professional ranks following graduation as a member of the Akron Racers of the National Professional Fastpitch league, where she was named the Defensive Player of the Year in 2008. She continued her pro career in Japan with Denso Softball and collected another record as the first player to hit three home runs in a game. Butler then joined the Chicago Bandits of the NPF until she retired in 2015 after breaking the league's all-time records in both home runs and RBIs, and still remains in the Top 5 all-time in both categories.
Kristen and her husband, Marcus, are the parents of sons, Austin and Nolan, and a daughter, Kalli. Butler graduated cum laude from Florida with a degree in sport management before earning a Master's from Toledo in recreation and leisure administration in 2017.
