Butler's Mike Helmer enters his fourth season at the head of the Butler women's program, leading the Grizzlies to 20 wins and appearance in the Region VI Tournament at Wichita State's Koch Arena.

Helmer spent seven years at South, the first four as an assistant with the boy’s program and the past three as the girl’s head coach. In his three years, he compiled a record of 58-21, falling in the 6A state championship game in 2006 and losing in the quarterfinals of the 2007 tournament. This past season, South went 15-7 and lost to Goddard in the finals of the sub-state tournament.

“I’m extremely excited about the opportunity,” Helmer said. “It’s definitely been a dream of mine to get an opportunity to coach at the college level and Butler Community College has such a great reputation in athletics as a whole, that I think this is a perfect opportunity and a good fit.”

“We are excited that Mike is a part of our basketball program,” Athletic Director Todd Carter said. “We look forward to him bringing some much-needed leadership and stability to our women’s basketball program. He comes from a family with a history of basketball excellence in the state of Kansas.

“Mike understands the importance of recruiting locally, which is necessary for us to compete for conference and regional championships,” Carter said.

Before going to South, Helmer spent eight years managing a personal training facility in Lawrence. He also coached AAU basketball with the Kansas City Premier and worked with basketball camps at the University of Kansas.

Helmer is a native of Marion and played collegiate basketball at Pratt and then at Kansas Wesleyan.

Helmer and his wife, Kristina, have two sons, Anderson and Carson.

Andy Hamilton

Andy Hamilton, a former Jayhawk Conference head coach with a track record of success, joins Butler as an assistant.

The 2011-12 season marks Hamilton’s seventh at the collegiate level. As an Assistant Coach, Hamilton is 104-35 (75%) and has won four conference championships, three NJCAA National Academic Team of the Year accolades, two NJCAA All Americans, and a host of NJCAA Academic All-Americans. In addition, an Andy Hamilton coached team has never posted below a 3.0 Team GPA.

Hamilton comes to Butler from Newman University where he was the top assistant for the women’s basketball program. The 2010-11 season marked the beginning of a new era of Newman Women’s Basketball, as Hamilton helped lead the Lady Jets to new heights with the remarkable turnaround. The Lady Jets finished the season as Heartland Conference Champions with a record of 19-7.  The Lady Jets also had a team GPA of a 3.1.

Before his stint at Newman University, Hamilton was the Head Women's Basketball Coach and Assistant Athletic Director at Allen County Community College in Iola, Kansas. He took over as head coach of the Red Devils just before the start of the 2008 fall semester, and mentored his program to develop a more holistic approach toward the concept of being a student-athlete. Under Hamilton, the 2008-09 Red Devil squad posted a 3.0 team grade point average, including four players who earned a 3.4 GPA or higher.

Prior to Allen County, Hamilton served three seasons as the Assistant Women's Basketball Coach at Northern Oklahoma College at Enid, where he helped lead the Lady Jets to one of the most successful points in program history. During those three years, NOC won two Bi-State West Championships, and earned three NJCAA National Academic Team of the Year accolades. During the 2007-08 season, Hamilton helped the Jets set a new program standard by winning 24 regular season games. NOC won nearly 78 percent of its games during Hamilton's tenure, with 97 percent of its players graduating.

Hamilton began his coaching career at Edmond Memorial High School in Edmond, Okla., where he was an Assistant Boys Basketball Coach for one season.

The Oklahoma native, Hamilton and his wife, Ashley, have a son named Maddox and a daughter named Lyndley.