After a successful 15-year stint, Butler volleyball coach Rick Younger has decided to retire.
Younger finishes his head coaching career with a record of 316-268, averaging 21 wins a season.
His finest year was in 2008, when the Grizzlies won a school-record 37 matches and were ranked as high as ninth nationally, finishing fourth in the Jayhawk East Conference.
Younger also led Butler to back-to-back 30-win seasons, going 31-7 in 2012 and 30-9 in 2013. Butler was nationally ranked in each of those seasons.
Butler volleyball moved from NJCAA Division II to Division I starting in 2014, which also brought a move from the Jayhawk East to the Jayhawk West.
This year, Younger led the Grizzlies to a third-place Jayhawk West Conference finish at 10-6. The finish is his highest and is believed to be the program record for most conference wins in a season.
The previous high was eight conference wins – set by the 1985 team that finished second in the league under Deb Sawtelle and the 1992 team that finished third under Dave Slayton.
Butler was 25-11 overall and hosted a first-round playoff match for the first time under Younger.
Younger also coached four NJCAA All-Americans – Crystal Blue in 2008, Demetria Williams in 2009, Brittany Brown in 2010 and Hanna Flaming in 2012.
Butler will begin the search for its next head coach immediately.