Butler, Patrick join SE Lauderdale

By By Tony Krausz / assistant sports editor
June 18, 2004
Southeast Lauderdale High School has brought in a combined six state championships with the school's latest hirings in the athletic department.
Baseball coach Chuck Butler and boys basketball coach Johnny Patrick joined the Tigers' athletic family Thursday night, after the new head coaches were approved by the Lauderdale County School Board.
Butler, who played baseball and football at Meridian High School from 1976-78 and baseball at Meridian Community College from 1979-80, returns home after working at Biloxi High School for the past 17 years.
The Meridian native was Biloxi's head baseball coach from 1987-2002. He won over 300 games during his stint with the Indians, capturing the Class 5A state championship in 1988.
Butler's Biloxi teams won eight division titles and qualified for the playoffs in 12 of his 15 seasons as head coach.
Patrick comes to Southeast from across the state line. He has taught at Sumter County for 29 years and coached there for 22.
The coaching veteran guided the Sumter County boys' basketball team for his entire coaching career.
Patrick won more than 450 games with the Wildcats in York, Ala., capturing the Alabama High School Athletic Association state basketball championship five times. He won four titles when Sumter County was a Class 4A program and won the Class 3A title this past season.
The coach's teams made the playoffs in 10 of the last 14 years, and Sumter County has been in the Final Four, Alabama changed its high school basketball format in 1994, in eight of the 10 years the new format has existed.
Butler takes over the baseball team from Jonathan Wells, who has moved to another position in the Lauderdale County school district.
Patrick replaces Ryan Miller as the boys head basketball coach. Miller will remain at Southeast Lauderdale as the head coach of the Lady Tigers softball team and assistant coach for the girls basketball team.
Butler, who hasn't coached baseball the last two seasons, said he was convinced by Burnham to come back to coaching.
Patrick admitted to knowing very little about the team he will be taking over, and he said he is not too familiar with the league he will be coaching in next season.
The former Sumter County coach said he will use the same philosophies with his new team that he used with his old squad.
Patrick prefers to play man-to-man defense, and he likes to push the ball on fastbreaks. He said offensively, he believes in slowing the game down and making numerous passes to get an open shot.
Patrick and Butler are the second and third new coaches Southeast has hired this year. Ty Trahan was introduced as the new head football coach in March.