The Butler Bulldogs football program is the intercollegiate

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

team for

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study within six colleges in the arts, business, communic ...

located in the U.S. state of

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. The team competes in the

NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Sponsored by the National Collegiate ...

(FCS) and is a member of the

Pioneer Football League The Pioneer Football League (PFL) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the United States. The conference participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I Fo ...

(PFL). Butler's first football team was fielded in 1887. The team plays its home games at the 7,500 seat

Bud and Jackie Sellick Bowl } Bud and Jackie Sellick Bowl is a multi-purpose stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It opened in 1928 and is home to the Butler University Bulldogs football and soccer teams. The original seating was 36,000. It held games against the ...

(historically Butler Bowl) in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

. The Bulldogs are coached by Kevin Lynch.

History

Classifications

* 1962–1972:

NCAA College Division The NCAA College Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at a lower level of college sports. The NCAA initially divided schools into a College Division and a ...

* 1973–1992:

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

* 1993–present: NCAA Division I–AA/FCS

Conference memberships

*1884–1915: Independent *1916–1917: Indiana College Athletic League *1918–1931: Independent *1932–1933:

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...

*1934–1947:

Indiana Intercollegiate Conference The Indiana Intercollegiate Conference (IIC) was an American college athletic conference formed in 1922 to govern intercollegiate competition in male sports in the state of Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern Unit ...

*1947–1949:

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

*1951–1989:

Heartland Collegiate Conference The Heartland Collegiate Conference (HCC) was an NCAA Division II athletic conference that operated from 1978 to 1990. It was formed in June 1978 as the successor to the Indiana Collegiate Conference (ICC), after the ICC made up for membership lo ...

*1990–1992:

Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference The Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference (MIFC) was a football-only NCAA Division II conference active for nine seasons in the 1990s. The creation of the MIFC was announced in February 1989. The conference play began in September 1990. Th ...

*1993–present:

Notable former players

Notable alumni include: *

Bill Lynch Bill Lynch (born June 12, 1954) is a former American football coach. He was most recently the head football coach at DePauw University, a position he held in 2004 and re-assumed in December 2012 until his retirement after the 2019 season. Lynch ...

Arnold Mickens Arnold Lee Mickens Jr. (October 12, 1972 – January 18, 2022) was an American professional football running back who played one season with the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Indiana Univ ...

Chris Salvi Chris Salvi (born June 22, 1989) is an American former college and professional football safety. He played college football at Butler and Notre Dame, and played professionally in the Italian Football League (IFL). Early life Salvi grew up in La ...

*Joseph "The Gentle Giant" Holzmer *David "Mr. Automatic" Lang

Championships

Football Conference championships

Playoff appearances

NCAA Division I-AA/FCS playoffs

The Bulldogs have appeared in the FCS playoffs once, with an overall record of 0–1.

NCAA Division II playoffs

The Bulldogs made three appearances in the Division II playoffs, with a combined record of 0–3.

PFL Gridiron Classic results

From 2006 through 2009, the PFL and Northeast Conference (NEC) staged the Gridiron Classic, an exempted postseason football game that matched the champions of the two conferences which were technically members of Division I FCS, but which were not the recipients of automatic invitations to the football championship playoff at the time. The Bulldogs appeared in the PFL Gridiron Classic once, with an overall record of 1–0.

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of April 24, 2025.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler Bulldogs Football American football teams established in 1887 1887 establishments in Indiana