July 26, 2002
Kit Cartwright, who served the past four seasons as offensive coordinator for the Bulldogs, has been named the 23rd head football coach at Butler University. Cartwright takes over for his former boss, Ken LaRose, who resigned this week to enter private business.
"Kit has been an integral part of Butler football during the past four years. His football knowledge and personal skills have earned the respect and support of the administration, his fellow coaches and the players," stated Butler Director of Athletics John Parry in announcing the hiring of Cartwright. "Butler football is in good hands with Kit leading the team."
Cartwright boasts 25 years of intercollegiate football coaching experience at 11 different universities. He has served on the football staff at four different Big Ten schools, and he's served as offensive coordinator at three other Division I institutions.
"I feel that I've prepared to be a head coach, and I'm anxious to tackle this challenge," said Cartwright, who is stepping into the head coaching ranks for the first time. "I'm very thankful to Ken (LaRose) for his guidance and support and to John Parry and (Butler President) Dr. (Bobby) Fong for their confidence in me. I believe that Butler has the right blend of academics and athletics, and I've always felt that this would be a great place to be a head coach."
Cartwright joined Butler's staff in July of 1998, following a one-year stint as passing game coordinator under head coach Bill Mallory at Indiana University. In four seasons as Butler's offensive coordinator, he helped the Bulldogs set 10 school offensive records. During the 2000 campaign, the Bulldogs set school single season records for points scored (356), passing yards (3,233) and total offense (4,530). Butler led the Pioneer Football League in team passing in both 2000 and 2001, and the Bulldogs ranked fifth in the NCAA Division I-AA in passing offense in 2000.
The new Butler head coach began his coaching career as defensive coordinator at Ohio Wesleyan University in 1977. He spent two years as a part-time coach at Penn State University (1978-spring 79), before taking an assistant coach position at Bowling Green State University (1979-82). He then served coaching stints at Purdue University (1983-86), Eastern Illinois University (1987-88), Colorado State University (1989-92), Ball State University (1993), the University of Michigan (1994-95) and Indiana. Cartwright was the offensive coordinator at Ball State and Eastern Illinois, in addition to Butler. He was quarterback and receivers coach at Michigan and defensive secondary and receivers coach at Purdue.
Cartwright has helped coach seven different teams to postseason bowl games. He was on the Penn State staff for the 1979 Sugar Bowl and with Bowling Green for the 1982 California Bowl. In 1984, he helped Purdue to the Peach Bowl, and then he helped guide Colorado State to the 1991 Freedom Bowl. He was with Ball State at the 1993 Las Vegas Bowl, helped Michigan to the 1994 Holiday Bowl and was with the Wolverines at the 1995 Alamo Bowl.
He further helped develop five All-American performers and several players who earned a spot in the NFL, including current New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady. For the past four years, he was the primary coach of quarterback DeWayne Ewing, who finished his collegiate career as the all-time leading passer in Butler and PFL history.
A native of Toledo, Ohio, Cartwright was a three-sport standout at Rogers High School. He attended Bowling Green, where he was a walk-on defensive back on the football team under coach Don Nehlen, who later served as head coach at West Virginia. He earned a B. S. degree from Bowling Green in 1976 and received a master's degree from Toledo in 1982.
Cartwright and his wife, Dawn, are the parents of a son, Michael, and two daughters, Kelly and Kristy.