Ronald Nored’s road home to Butler was 14 years in the making
After climbing the coaching ranks across high school, the G League, and NBA, the former Bulldogs captain returns to lead his alma mater into a new era.
It didn’t take long for Ronald Nored to become a head basketball coach. Before graduating from Butler University in 2012 — and just a week after playing in his final game for the Bulldogs — the college senior already had his first job lined up.
Head coach of the Brownsburg High School Bulldogs.
But there has always been a pull for more.
Now, 14 years later, after putting in the work and coaching at every level — high school, college, G League, and NBA — Nored is returning to the place that is his second home:
Butler University.
On March 16, outgoing coach Thad Matta informed the team of his decision to retire from coaching, a stunning development. He plans to remain at the university as Special Assistant to the President and Athletic Director.
Nine days later, Nored was officially announced as the program’s next men’s basketball coach. It comes in the same month he celebrated his 36th birthday — and now, he has much more to celebrate.
He also has a long to-do list: player evaluation, recruiting, building a staff, and re-engaging the fan base.
But first, he’ll be formally introduced as head coach on Friday at a noon press conference held at Hinkle Fieldhouse. It is open to the public.
“The term ‘dream job’ doesn’t do justice to how I feel about the opportunity to lead the Butler program,” said Nored. “Butler is an incredibly special place. As a player, I poured blood, sweat and tears into this program. No one appreciates both the responsibility and the potential that comes with this position more than me.”
This opportunity opened four years after Butler moved on from another alum, LaVall Jordan. Nored, a Pacers assistant coach at the time under Rick Carlisle, was determined to get it. He made it known. Players and fellow coaches spoke up for him. He had a vision for what it would be like.
“As talented a young coach as I’ve ever been around,” Carlisle told Fieldhouse Files then. “With his knowledge of the game, ability to connect with people and head coaching experience, I certainly understand why they would have strong interest.”
Four years ago, longtime athletic director Barry Collier hired Matta.
This time was different.
It marked the first major hire by Collier’s successor, Grant Leiendecker.
“In a rapidly evolving college basketball landscape, our priority was identifying the absolute best leader to spearhead the future of Butler Basketball. Ronald Nored is that leader,” Leiendecker said.
“Ron is a relentless worker with an elite basketball IQ and a proven track record of developing talent at the highest level of basketball. He is the ultimate competitor, and he will cultivate that same quality within his team and staff. He is a gifted relationship builder who commands respect through his character and his craft.
“While he understands the soul of this university, we didn’t hire him for his history here — we hired him for his vision of what we can become and how we will get there.”
Leiendecker is in his second year as AD and knows Nored well from their three seasons as teammates, highlighted by back-to-back Final Four appearances in 2010 and 2011.
He can also lean on Gordon Hayward, the former Butler star who retired in 2024 after 14 NBA seasons and was named Executive Basketball Advisor last October.
Nored is close with Hayward. They were roommates at Butler, then together again for the 2020-21 NBA season in Charlotte. Nored was an assistant on James Borrego’s staff and they landed Hayward in free agency.
“Ron was a big part of getting Gordon there and making him feel comfortable in Charlotte and in our program,” Borrego said previously.
Nored was never the best athlete or scorer. But he was often the smartest player on the floor. Under coach Brad Stevens, he absorbed everything he could, earning minutes through defense, effort, and doing the dirty work.
That perspective shaped his coaching.
In connecting with younger guys in the NBA, he’s often discussed his own experience. Not everyone is going to be the superstar; not everyone is going to get 15 shots up per game. But if you want to earn consistent playing time, you’re going to have to work hard every day and earn it.
“I wasn’t very good, but I could play hard,” he told players. “So sharing a story about diving on the floor is an important thing.
During his senior season (2011–12), he served as co-captain and was named Butler’s Most Outstanding Male Athlete.
One year later, Stevens — then the new head coach of the Boston Celtics — brought Nored into coaching pros, first with the organization’s G League affiliate, then promoting him to a player development role one year later.
He got off to a great start, far better than most, and his rapid rise continued.
After a stint at Northern Kentucky, Nored became head coach of the Brooklyn Nets’ G League team from 2016–18. He later joined three NBA staffs as an assistant: Charlotte (2018–21), Indiana (2021–23), and Atlanta (2023–26).
Now, in March 2026, he has landed what he calls a dream job.
Back in Indiana. Coaching his alma mater.
He carries “The Butler Way,” but also lessons from some of basketball’s sharpest minds — starting with Stevens, now president of the Celtics, the 2024 NBA champions.
“Brad is a great coach,” Nored said. “He encouraged all the guys to be the best they can be in whatever they wanted to do. We watched a great coach and so, in turn, you want to coach.”
For the past three seasons, Nored got a different perspective working for Quin Snyder with the Atlanta Hawks. Before Nored’s job at Butler became official, Snyder was excited to have him inform players during a morning film session in Detroit. They celebrated the moment together.
Nored and Leiendecker then returned to Indianapolis before heading back to Atlanta, where Nored gathered his family — his wife Danielle and their four children: Avery, Kai, Jude and Campbell.
Butler means everything to Nored. He tries to get back as often as he could — and almost always when his NBA team was in town to play the Pacers.
“Everybody here was so good to me,” Nored said.
It was a surprise when Nored left the Pacers in 2023, but sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone and go elsewhere before returning home.
“I’m really grateful for Coach Snyder for having me here and he’s given me a lot of great opportunities on our staff,” Nored told Fieldhouse Files at NBA Summer League in 2024. “I’m trying to do my best to serve our whole organization and do the things that we want. For our new guys to learn how to play within our system and our old guys to just continue to build the habits.”
He praised Snyder not just for his basketball mind, but his empathy.
“Quin, number one, is a great guy and an easy guy to work for,” Nored said. “The thing I like about him most is just how empathetic he is, how caring he is; how much he cares for the people around him and it’s great to learn from.”
Nored still has many friends at the Pacers, including Tyrese Haliburton. Nored used to work with the All-Star point guard during individual warmups before games, then watch film together before heading back to the locker room.
“I got nothing but love for Ron Nored and he holds a special, special place in my heart and has helped me develop a lot as a basketball player,” Haliburton said previously. “It’s always good to see him. I love him to death, love his family to death.
“What I enjoy about him is his honesty. He’s willing to tell the truth, how he feels about things and what he sees. I’m the same way. If he sees something, I know he was a point guard before and played at a high level. There’s times where he’ll tell me things that I don’t agree with and we’re able to have those conversations. It’s a great relationship that I’m thankful to have.”
Added point guard T.J. McConnell: “One of the best guys I’ve ever been around. He’s a great coach and an ever better person!! Players will love playing for him!!”
Nored has learned a lot over the last 14 years. About coaching. About himself. And about being true to yourself.
“I’m trying my best to be myself,” he said while with the Hawks. “I think other opportunities I’ve had, I’ve tried to like be another coach or try to do some things differently. We have a great group of players that are a lot of fun to coach and they’re easy to coach. And because of that, I can just be myself and coach the game.”
Nored is a player’s coach — built on relationships, accountability, and work ethic. Because he was a good defender, he’s often pigeonholed as a defensive coach. However, he’s made a conscious effort to become a more well-rounded coach, expanding his focus to offense and situational play.
The Big East is unforgiving. NIL has reshaped recruiting. Resources matter.
Butler averaged about 15 wins per season under Matta, with just one 20-win campaign in the last eight years. The program has not reached the NCAA Tournament since 2018.
“He’s committed to the players, committed to the craft and he loves the guys as one,” said former Ohio State Buckeye E.J. Liddell.
Now, Nored steps into a job defined by both pride and pressure — competing against Hall of Fame coaches like Dan Hurley (UConn) and Rick Pitino (St. John’s), and programs with far greater financial backing.
He understands what’s ahead.
It’s exactly what he’s been working toward.
For a long, long time.