Tony Skinn has hired former backcourt-mate Lamar Butler to be his director of player development at George Mason.
Butler, a 2006 Mason alum, was the East Region Most Outstanding Player in 2006, the year the Patriots made their historic run to the Final Four.
Over the past decade, Butler has worked with some of the most prominent high school and AAU programs in the nation, and has established himself as one of the top talent developers in the basketball-rich DMV.
“As my former teammate and former roommate, Lamar has played an important role in my life and is a huge piece of why I’m here,” said Skinn, who was hired last month to lead the basketball program at his alma mater. “As a coach, he’s worked tirelessly alongside Glenn Farello at Paul VI and found success at one of the top high school programs in the country. He’s extremely well connected in the DMV and can bring such important insight within our staff.”
Butler has served as an assistant coach at Paul VI since 2018, where he’s mentored a list of players that includes Trevor Keels (Duke/New York Knicks), Jeremy Roach (Duke), Deshawn-Harris Smith (Maryland) and Dug McDaniel (Michigan).
He began his coaching career at St. John’s High School in DC, where he served as an assistant coach for three seasons from 2014-17 and won a WCAC title with the Cadets.
In addition to his work at the high school level, Butler also worked for five seasons with the DC Thunder & Team Takeover 16U on the AAU circuit. During that stretch, Butler mentored a bevy of future high major players, including Armando Bacot (North Carolina), Hunter Dickinson (Michigan), Justin Moore (Villanova), Casey Morsell (NC State) and Anthony Cowan (Maryland).
“I’m excited for the opportunity to be back at Mason once again with Tony,” Butler said. “I’m ready to get started to help build the vision he has for the program. This experience will be special for me and I can’t wait to get started.”
Butler still holds the Mason career record for made three-pointers (295), ranks sixth in three-point percentage (39.2 percent) and 15th in scoring (1,488 points).
During the Patriots’ run to the Final Four, Butler averaged 14.4 points over the team’s five games while shooting 55.8 percent from the floor (24-of-43) and 45.8 percent from three (11-of-24). That included 19 points (6-of-11 FG, 4-of6 3FG) in the Elite Eight triumph over top-ranked Connecticut.
After graduating from George Mason with a degree in communications and a minor in business, Butler played five seasons of professional basketball, including stints in Turkey, the Czech Republic and the NBA G League.
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Chris Graham
