Florida Baseball Set to Hire Veteran SEC Assistant, Per Multiple Reports
GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Kevin O'Sullivan's staff for his 20th season with the Florida Gators is close to being finalized as the program is reportedly set to hire Oklahoma's Todd Butler as an assistant coach.
Butler, fresh off a national championship with the Sooners, spent the last three seasons with the program as a recruiting coordinator and assistant coach. Florida's interest in Butler was first reported by On3's Zach Abolverdi on Wednesday.
Todd Butler will be leaving Oklahoma per sources. He will be heading to @GatorsBB to join Kevin O'Sullivan staff. As @AYSSPORTS mentions he will be getting a pay raise in Gainesville.
- Andrew Riedell (@RiedellAndrew) June 25, 2026
Two home run hires for Sully and the Gators this offseason pic.twitter.com/eaZdAFGEZ8
Butler comes to Florida with over 30 years of coaching experience in the college baseball ranks, including 20 years within the SEC. Stints include assistant coaching gigs at Blinn College (1992), McNeese State (1993-94), Alabama (1995-2000, 2004-05), Missouri (2020) and Oklahoma (2023-26). He was also a head coach at McNeese State (2001-03) and Wichita State (2014-19), was an associate head coach at Arkansas (2006-13) and was the Senior Associate Athletics Director at McNeese State (2021-23).
He held recruiting coordinator duties during his stints with Arkansas,, where he signed five top-10 national recruiting classes, and Oklahoma. Throughout his entire career, Butler-coached teams have had 10 top-10 national recruiting classes while appearing in six College World Series, seven Super Regionals and 19 NCAA Tournaments.
The Sooners' title this season marked his first.
He also coached 36 total All-Americans and freshman All-Americans, 11 of which came during his tenure as Wichita State's head coach. Additionally, he coached 171 MLB Draft selections and 45 MLB players.
Butler replaces former Florida assistant Taylor Black, who left the program for a job at North Carolina State after the Gators' regional loss to Troy. He is the second new member on staff after Florida hired Oregon State pitching coach Rich Dorman to replace the fired David Kopp.
Florida is also expected to retain associate head coach and hitting coach Tom Slater, who will enter the second season of his second stint with the program.
After Florida's season-ending loss to Troy on June 1, O'Sullivan teased changes within the program.
"It's hard to put into words, honestly. You go into these things feeling fully confident that you're going to win, and when it doesn't turn out that way, and the way the last two games have turned, it's going to take a little while to digest it," he said. "But obviously it's my responsibility to figure out where we need to improve. I know that's coaches speak, but honestly we need to evaluate this because we have to be more consistent all the way around."
Florida has not announced Butler's hiring at the time of publishing.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/florida as Florida Baseball Set to Hire Veteran SEC Assistant, Per Multiple Reports.
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This story was originally published June 25, 2026 at 12:16 PM.