Head Coach Butch Estes

Surrounded by a cast of 21 players on the preseason roster, Butch Estes begins his second season as Guilford’s head men’s basketball coach. Estes’ first recruiting class yielded 12 freshmen and provides the bulk of the Quakers’ new junior varsity team. The JV team, Division I opposition and an increased presence in the Greensboro community are three methods Estes will use to restore the Quakers’ proud tradition.

Estes knows a thing or two about success. He starts his 15th season as a head coach with a 233-203 career coaching record. Before his selection as Guilford’s 13th head men’s basketball coach in May 1999, the 1971 UNC Chapel Hill graduate guided Division I Furman University to a 135-122 record in nine seasons and graduated 26 of his 27 players who completed their eligibility. The Paladins went 20-9 in 1990-91 and reached the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) for the only time in the program’s 88-season history. The High Point, NC, native resigned from Furman and returned to coaching in 1998 as the head boys’ basketball coach at St. Joseph’s High School in Greenville, SC. He has also worked as a commentator for the Fox Sports South television network and called three of the past four NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championship games.

A two-time Southern Conference Coach of the Year, Estes ranks third among Furman’s men’s basketball coaches in career victories. After a 10-17 record in his first season, Estes collected his first coach of the year prize in 1987 by guiding Furman to a 17-12 mark, the program’s first winning season since 1980. Estes captured his second Southern Conference Coach of the Year honor in 1990-91 after helping the Paladins to their first 20-win campaign and conference title in 10 years. Furman recorded its first perfect home record (13-0) in 16 years that season, including a home triumph over 10th-ranked East Tennessee State. The Paladins’ 1990-91 performance earned Estes his second South Carolina Coach of the Year accolade, as selected by the Greenville Tipoff Club.

Estes picked up his first state Coach of the Year prize after his third of five seasons at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC. He backed up the award with two more 20-win seasons, including the 1984-85 campaign that saw Presbyterian post a school-record 25 victories and earn a number-13 national ranking. In his final season at Presbyterian, Estes took the Blue Hose to a 24-8 mark and reached the finals of the NAIA District 6 Tournament.

Following a successful playing career at High Point Central High School, Estes enrolled at UNC Chapel Hill where he played one season of freshman basketball. He remained in Coach Dean Smith’s program as a student assistant to Bill Guthridge in the Tar Heels’ junior varsity team for his remaining college years. He graduated in 1971 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and moved on to The Citadel where he worked alongside Les Robinson as a graduate assistant coach.

After receiving his master’s degree in administrative education from The Citadel in 1973, Estes coached four seasons at East Carolina University (1973-77) and three years at Rice University (1977-80). While at Rice, he worked under Mike Schuler, who later coached Seattle and Los Angeles in the NBA, and recruited future NBA All-Star Ricky Pierce.