Staff Directory
- Title:
- ESPN+ Talent, Spftball Sport Oversight
- Phone:
- (318) 614-4513
Beyond 1894 Podcast | 122. Malcolm Butler: It's the People
Malcolm Butler enters his 28th year working within the Louisiana Tech Athletics Department, serving as the ESPN+ Voice of LA Tech for football, men’s basketball, softball and volleyball while also providing color commentary for women’s basketball. He also provides administrative oversight for the Bulldogs softball program and serves as curator of the Louisiana Tech Athletics Hall of Fame.
Now the third-longest tenured employee in Louisiana Tech Athletics, Butler spent his first 23 years at Tech leading the Athletics Strategic Communications Department (1999-2022) before transitioning into his current role in the summer of 2022.
After serving as the radio voice of Lady Techster basketball for two decades (2000-2020), Butler succeeded legendary LA Tech Athletics Hall of Fame broadcaster Dave Nitz as the radio play-by-play voice for Bulldog football and men’s basketball in 2021. He held those roles for four years before transitioning to ESPN+ beginning in the fall of 2025.
During his broadcasting career, Butler has called more Louisiana Tech athletic events on radio than anyone in school history other than Nitz. He also served as the radio voice of Tech softball from 2008-2025.
Butler has called more than 650 women’s basketball games, including 15 NCAA Tournament contests, and more than 800 softball games, including NCAA Regional appearances in 2008, 2017 and 2019. He served as the sideline reporter for Bulldogs football from 2013-2016 and hosted “Inside Tech Football,” “Inside Tech Basketball” and “Inside Tech Baseball” for more than a decade.
He was named the Louisiana Sports Writers Association State College Radio Broadcaster of the Year in 2017 after finishing as runner-up to Nitz in 2013 and 2016. Butler has placed among the top three in the contest seven times.
Butler also earned a pair of Golden Mic Awards for his softball broadcasting, winning Collegiate Softball’s Best Radio Call of the Year in 2022 and College Softball Radio Personality of the Year in 2023.
In addition to his broadcasting duties, Butler serves as the direct liaison between the Bulldogs softball program and Athletics Director Ryan Ivey. His responsibilities with the program include fundraising, personnel, program planning and facility development and enhancement. He also serves on the athletics executive staff, providing historical perspective and institutional knowledge.
Butler has served as the sport supervisor for softball since 2018 and previously oversaw the tennis program from 2013-2018. He led the search for the Bulldogs head softball coach in the summer of 2021, when Tech hired current coach Josh Taylor, who has twice been named Conference USA Coach of the Year (2022, 2024). Butler also led the search that resulted in the hiring of former tennis coach Amanda Stone, who was named the 2023 Conference USA Coach of the Year.
Butler began his Louisiana Tech career in July 1999 as assistant athletic media relations director. He was promoted to director just four months later and served in that capacity until the fall of 2007, when he was promoted to associate athletics director. He was promoted to senior associate athletics director in the summer of 2021.
His 23-year tenure in the LA Tech Strategic Communications Department is the second longest in school history, trailing only LA Tech Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Keith Prince, who served 24 years.
The Ruston native served as the primary media contact for football (1999-2008), women’s basketball (1999-2021) and softball (2003-2022), while also serving as the primary contact for numerous other Tech programs during his tenure. Butler served on the executive teams of former athletics directors Tommy McClelland and Eric Wood during his final 11 years as a full-time administrator.
During Butler’s tenure leading the department, Louisiana Tech Strategic Communications proved to be one of the most successful operations in the state, earning more than 100 awards in the annual Louisiana Sports Writers Association sports information directors contest, second only to LSU. Butler personally earned 48 awards, the most among sports information directors in the state during that span, including first-place honors for media guides, game notes, feature writing and radio play-by-play.
Butler served as host media coordinator for three NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament first- and second-round sites hosted by Louisiana Tech (2000, 2001 and 2003). He also served as host media coordinator for the 2008 Western Athletic Conference Baseball Championship, the 2013 WAC Softball Championship, the 2021 Conference USA Baseball Championship, and the 2022 Conference USA Softball Championship hosted by Louisiana Tech.
In addition to his broadcasting and administrative roles, Butler serves as curator of the Louisiana Tech Athletics Hall of Fame and as a member of the Hall of Fame Selection Committee. He has also served as emcee or co-emcee for numerous Louisiana Tech Athletics events throughout his career, including Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, sport-specific fundraisers, summer athletics tours and other department events.
A 1994 graduate of Louisiana Tech’s journalism program, Butler served as sports editor and editor of The Tech Talk, the university’s student newspaper. He received the Wiley W. Hilburn Jr. Award as Louisiana Tech’s outstanding journalism student in 1994 and was the recipient of the Kerry Garland Memorial Scholarship presented by the Shreveport Journalism Foundation. He also received the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Student Award in 1994.
Butler was a longtime member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (now College Sports Communicators), Louisiana Sports Writers Association, United States Basketball Writers Association and Football Writers Association of America. He served as vice chair of the LSWA Sports Information Directors Committee in 2019-2020.
In the fall of 2024, Butler was named a Ruston High School Distinguished Alumnus by the Ruston High School Alumni Association. He was honored by LA Tech Sports Properties and Louisiana Tech Athletics in March 2025 for 25 years of broadcasting Tech athletic events.
Outside of his role at Louisiana Tech, Butler serves as co-publisher of the Lincoln Parish Journal, a digital news publication covering Lincoln Parish. He has earned numerous awards in the LSWA annual writing contest, including runner-up honors for Class II Prep Writer of the Year in 2024 and 2025 and Class II Columnist of the Year in 2024, 2025 and 2026.
