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Bob Butehorn

  • NCAA Championship Appearances – 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016
  • ASUN Championship Appearances – 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
  • ASUN Regular Season Champions – 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
  • ASUN Tournament Champions – 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016
  • Top 25 Appearances – 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016
  • Ranked as high as No. 11 nationally (2016)
  • NSCAA South Region Coach of the Year - 2012
  • ASUN Coach of the Year – 2009, 2011, 2015
  • Coached ASUN Player of the Year – 2015, 2016
  • Coached ASUN Defensive Player of the Year – 2010, 2015
  • Coached ASUN Freshman of the Year – 2011, 2012, 2013
  • 23 ASUN All-Conference First Team Selections
  • 17 ASUN All-Conference Second Team Selections
  • 23 ASUN All-Freshmen Selections
  • Coached 49 ASUN All-Academic Honorees
  • One MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List honoree - 2011
  • One College Soccer News Preseason All-American - 2011
  • One Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award national finalist – 2011
  • One Lowe's Senior CLASS All-America first team selection - 2011
  • Voting panelist for NSCAA and Soccer Times National Rankings Committees

In just 10 seasons as men’s soccer head coach, Bob Butehorn has built the FGCU program from the ground up, growing it into a rising program in the South Region, leading it to an unprecedented six-straight ASUN Conference regular-season championships from 2010-15 and four NCAA Tournament appearances in only six years of eligibility.

Butehorn’s resume includes over 20 years of collegiate coaching experience, but his work at FGCU has arguably been his finest. Hired a year prior to the program's inaugural season in 2007, Butehorn has guided the Eagles to a 95-62-23 overall record in 10 seasons, including a dominant 52-18-7 mark in the ASUN. Under his direction, FGCU has spent a number of weeks in the national rankings by multiple media outlets, landing as high as No. 11 in the country in the official NSCAA poll during the 2016 regular season.

An eye for talent and a true teacher of the game, Butehorn has coached 63 ASUN All-Conference selections since FGCU started its program and joined the league in 2007.

FGCU owned the longest home regular-season conference unbeaten streak in the nation from 2008-16. Butehorn's clubs did not lost a home regular-season ASUN game over eight years, a stretch of 29 in a row in which the Eagles were unbeaten (26-0-3).
 
The Eagles also have an incredible overall record of 40-5-5 in all ASUN regular-season games since the start of the 2010 season. All four of those conference losses have come on the road, and out of a possible 150 points that could have been earned in that time, the Green and Blue have claimed an impressive 125 of them (83.3 percent).

Butehorn had three players move on to the professional ranks following the 2015 season. Rodrigo Saravia was selected with the 19th pick in the First Round of the MLS SuperDraft by Columbus Crew SC, Aaron Guillen signed a Homegrown Contract with FC Dallas and Nathan Ingham inked a deal with FC Edmonton. In addition to Butehorn being named ASUN Co-Coach of the year in 2015, Saravia was tabbed as the ASUN Player of the Year, Guillen was the ASUN Defensive Player of the Year and Ingham was the ASUN Goalkeeper of the Year.

The Eagles claimed their sixth-straight ASUN regular-season title in 2015 with a 4-0-1 league mark and finished 7-4-3 overall. FGCU played one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country, including games against three of the top-10 ranked teams nationally in the RPI. The Green and Blue were nationally ranked on several occasions, and climbed as high as No. 19 in the country.
 
In 2014, Butehorn guided FGCU to its third NCAA Tournament appearance in only four seasons of Division-I postseason eligibility, losing 1-0 on a goal in the 86th minute of the opening round at Coastal Carolina. The goal was the first allowed in regulation play of FGCU’s three NCAA Tournament games and came with just 4:49 remaining as the Eagles’ backline had kept the nation’s highest-scoring offense off the scoreboard until that point.
 
The Eagles (8-7-5 in 2014) utilized a grueling non-conference schedule in which they played seven top-100 RPI teams to help prepare them for a then-unprecedented fifth-straight ASUN regular-season title, an honor they shared with Lipscomb by virtue of a 4-1-1 league record. FGCU went on to defeat UNF in the A-Sun Championship title game, 1-0, to earn its automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. Butehorn had a program-record eight players named to ASUN all-conference teams, including four First Team members, two Second Team selections and two All-Freshmen picks, in addition to three Academic Team recognitions.

In 2013, Butehorn coached the ASUN Freshman of the Year for the third straight year. In total, Butehorn coached seven all-conference members, including three First Team selections, two Second Team picks and two All-Freshman members as FGCU claimed a fourth-straight ASUN regular-season title. After the starting the season 0-5-1, the young Eagles - who did not have a senior on their roster - went 8-1-1 over their final 10 regular-season games.

In 2012, Butehorn led FGCU back to the NCAA Tournament as it claimed its second ASUN Tournament title in as many years eligible.

In addition to its first two NSCAA All-Region selections and the ASUN Defensive Player of the Year in 2010, the Green and Blue landed the ASUN Freshman of the Year in 2011. Also in 2011, Butehorn served as a U.S. Academy evaluator for the national playoffs in Frisco, Texas and was named to the NSCAA National Rankings Committee and the voting panel for Soccer Times.

During the 2011 season, Butehorn guided the Eagles into postseason competition in the program’s first year of eligibility. With a 12-6-2 overall record, FGCU won its second consecutive ASUN Conference regular season crown with a 7-1 league mark while securing the A-Sun Tournament No. 1 overall seed. Butehorn’s Eagles earned the ASUN’s automatic NCAA Championship berth after clinching the league tournament title with a pair of one-goal victories over No. 4 Mercer (2-1) and No. 6 ETSU (1-0), becoming the first conference team on the men's side since 2004 to claim both the regular season and tournament titles in the same year.

Earning his second ASUN Coach of the Year honor in 2011, Butehorn instructed the ASUN Freshman of the Year in Xavier Silva, a MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List selection and College Soccer News preseason third team All-American in Josey Portillo, and one of 10 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award national finalist in Adam Glick. The Green and Blue also landed three players on the ASUN First Team, and pair of athletes on the Second Team and All-Freshmen squad. Additionally, Glick and Deion Jones were also selected to the inaugural ASUN Academic All-Conference team.

The 2010 season opened with the program’s first-ever nationally ranked wins over #13 USF and #5 Ohio State with the victory over the Bulls snapping their 30-game home unbeaten streak. The momentum of a great non-conference schedule propelled the Blue and Green into an undefeated 9-0 mark in the ASUN where they out-scored their opponents by a staggering 26-2 margin. FGCU was just one of five schools in the nation to finish with an unblemished conference mark. The Eagles finished the season ranked #20 in the final Soccer America Top 25 poll and No. 34 in the final NCAA RPI.

Butehorn’s influence also helped a league-best seven players earn ASUN all-conference honors in 2010, including a pair of NSCAA All-South Region selections and the ASUN Defensive Player of the Year. Glick took home the league’s top defensive honor after guiding the Eagles to nine shutouts while leading the ASUN in five major categories. Portillo and Jones were also selected to the NSCAA All-South Region team for their efforts on the pitch in 2010, while Jones was also an ESPN Academic All-District 3 second team choice.

FGCU’s 2009 campaign was a tremendous stepping stone for the program as it marked the first time the Green and Blue finished with a winning record, holding an 8-7-1 mark. Butehorn coached the Eagles to wins in five of their final seven ASUN contests en route to finishing in sole possession of third place (6-3), just four points away from the top spot. Butehorn highlighted five different Eagles earning ASUN postseason honors, as he was named the Coach of the Year.

Butehorn has also placed a strong emphasis on hard work inside the classroom and in the community. Butehorn’s teams have received six NSCAA Team Academic Awards. Additionally, the Green and Blue have made an effort to help those less fortunate in the community by annually volunteering their time at the local Salvation Army.

Butehorn joined FGCU after spending five seasons as an assistant coach for the men’s soccer program at the University of Pennsylvania. He was also the head coach at Atlantic 10 member St. Bonaventure University from 1995-99. Taking over a program that had won just two games the season prior to his arrival, Butehorn led the Bonnies to school record 12 wins (12-6) in 1997, highlighted by a then-record seven victories in the A-10. He coached three All-Conference players, including the only Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year in school history, and led St. Bonaventure to a 34-32-4 record during his tenure.

Prior to leading the Bonnies, Butehorn served six years as an assistant coach for the University of Maryland, where he was an integral part of the turnaround of a program that eventually advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in 1994.

During his coaching career, Butehorn has served on the Atlantic 10 soccer committee, the NCAA Regional Selection Committee and the NSCAA Regional Ranking Committee for which he held the chairman position for two years (1997-98). He is also a member of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) and the United States Soccer Federation.

Butehorn has also coached numerous amateur players from the East Region as the Region I Festival Coach for the U.S. Soccer Federation. During his three-year tenure (1996-98) as a festival coach, Butehorn led the East squad to two gold medals and saw 12 of his players eventually join Major League Soccer teams.

His accreditations include a United States Soccer Federation "A" license and an U.S. Regional Soccer Clinician. Butehorn graduated from the University of Tampa in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in sports science/physical education. As a student-athlete at the University of Tampa, he was a member of the soccer team that won the 1981 NCAA National Soccer Championship. Butehorn finished his graduate work and earned his Master's degree at the University of Pennsylvania.

Butehorn along with his wife, Cindy, reside in Naples. The couple has two daughters: Madison and Jessica.