2024 CRCA National Head Coach of the Year
Soren Butler, a two-time All-American at Alaska Fairbanks, was named the head coach of the Georgia Southern rifle program in April of 2022 to lead the Eagles. Butler, who was a coach at perennial national power West Virginia five seasons prior to Georgia Southern, brings a strong background in shooting, technical coaching and administration to Statesboro.
In his first year as the head coach, Butler helped the Eagles improve by almost 42 points in team aggregate average (27 points in smallbore; 15 in air rifle) as they claimed the Southern Conference overall and smallbore titles. As a team, Georgia Southern had its highest ranking in program history. The Eagles were led by Addy Burrow, who recorded the top 12 highest individual aggregate scores in school history, set the school record in smallbore with a 589 and earned SoCon Smallbore and Air Rifle Athlete of the Year honors. Burrow was named an All-American in smallbore, air rifle and aggregate en route to earning a spot in the NCAA Air Rifle Championship. At the 2023 SoCon Championships, Amy Visconti won the smallbore title as the Eagles took all three medal spots.Â
In his second year, the Eagles went 15-2 overall and swept all three titles at the  Southern Conference Championship, a first in the modern history of the SoCon. The squad was ranked as high as third in the country and finished as a top 10 team in the country, just missing the NCAA Championships. Four Eagles qualified as All-Americans with Emma Pohlmann winning SoCon Athlete of the Year in smallbore and air rifle while winning both individual titles. The team as a whole improved its smallbore team average over 35 points and its air rifle team average nearly 33 points for an aggregate increase of over 68 points. For his efforts, she was voted the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) Head Coach of the Year.
Butler continued to drive the program upwards in the 2024-25 season as the Eagles won their fourth straight SoCon title with Tori Watts taking individual honors in both smallbore and air rifle. In both finals, the top five finishers were all Georgia Southern shooters, a first in conference history. Emme Walrath was voted SoCon Co-Freshman of the Year and Butler was voted SoCon Co-Coach of the Year. He also helped lead the Eagles to the NCAA Championships for the first appearance for the team in program history as the Eagles placed fifth in the final meet.Â
A native of Casselton, North Dakota, Butler was named assistant coach at WVU on June 26, 2019. In that time, the Mountaineers qualified for the NCAA Championships all three seasons, finishing fourth in 2021 and sixth this past season. The 2020 Championships were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his final season in Morgantown, Butler helped lead the Mountaineers to a sixth-place finish at the 2022 NCAA Championships. Eight members of the West Virginia team took home a combined 15 All-America honors from the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA), and senior Verena Zaisberger received the NCAA’s Elite 90 Award for Division I Rifle, the sport’s top academic honor. West Virginia posted a 12-1 overall mark, 7-1 in the Great American Rifle Conference (GARC), and a runner-up finish at the conference championships.
In 2020-21, the Mountaineers hoisted their conference-best 14th GARC title while compiling a 7-1 mark in the regular season. WVU finished fourth at the 2021 NCAA Championships and saw the nine shooters earn 22 All-America honors from the CRCA.
With a shortened 2019-20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, WVU’s final competition was at the 2020 GARC Championship. At the season’s end, eight shooters earned a combined 21 National Rifle Association (NRA) and College Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) All-America honors. It’s the first time WVU has had over 20 All-America honors in one season since 2016. The Mountaineers finished the regular season with a 9-1 mark, including a 7-1 league record, and ranked No. 3 nationally. Sarah Osborn completed the conference championships with the second-best combined score, earning 583 smallbore and 597 air rifle for an aggregate score of 1,180. Osborn’s air rifle total was a personal best.
Butler’s appointment followed a two-year stint as the program’s graduate assistant (2017-19). He helped the Mountaineers secure back-to-back runner-up finishes at the NCAA Championships (2018 and 2019) in those two seasons and earned consecutive Great America Rifle Conference (GARC) regular-season and championship titles. Additionally, the Mountaineers compiled a perfect 26-0 record.
In 2018-19, WVU finished second at the NCAA Championships at the WVU Coliseum with a 4,692 mark. Butler played an instrumental role in helping the Mountaineers host the first-ever NCAA Championships in Morgantown, and a record two-day crowd of 2,215 fans was in attendance. WVU claimed its sixth consecutive GARC regular-season title that same season and earned its 10th straight GARC Championship title. Ginny Thrasher successfully defended her air rifle title for the third consecutive season, while Morgan Phillips won the smallbore title. Additionally, Thrasher was named the GARC Shooter of the Year and Outstanding Senior. The Mountaineers finished the season at 13-0 (8-0 GARC), the team’s fourth consecutive undefeated season and fifth unblemished record in six years.
With Butler’s help in 2017-18, the Mountaineers finished second at the NCAA Championships with a 4,708 score and won the air rifle title with a 2,381 total. Phillips won her second consecutive NCAA smallbore title, becoming just the second WVU student-athlete to win back-to-back smallbore championships. WVU claimed its fifth consecutive GARC regular-season crown and won its ninth consecutive GARC Championship. Thrasher swept the GARC individual titles, and Elizabeth Gratz was named the GARC Outstanding Senior. The Mountaineers finished the 2017-18 season at 13-0 (9-0 GARC) and set NCAA records for aggregate score (4,742) and smallbore score (2,356) in a win at Murray State on Nov. 12, 2017.
In his five seasons at WVU, Butler coached 15 student-athletes to 94 CRCA All-America honors and had three earn Google Cloud Academic All-America accolades. Thrasher, who won the 2016 Olympic Gold Medal, was one of three Mountaineers to capture four NCAA national titles under his watch.
A four-year letterwinner at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Butler was a two-time NRA All-American with the Nanooks. He shot at the 2016 and 2017 NCAA Championships, where he finished tied for eighth overall in smallbore (582) and air rifle (592). Butler also claimed the Patriot Rifle Conference Championship smallbore title as a senior, shooting a career-high 589.
The 2016-17 team co-captain and MVP won the Nanooks’ Joe Tremarello Sportsmanship Award in consecutive seasons (2015-16 and 2016-17). He finished his collegiate shooting career with highs of 594 air rifle and 589 smallbore.
Butler earned his bachelor’s degree in general business from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in May 2016 and his Master’s of Business Administration (M.B.A.) in May 2017, also from UAF. He earned a master’s degree in sport management from West Virginia University in May 2019.
Butler and his wife, Rachel, were married in May of 2025 and reside in Statesboro. Rachel is the former head rifle coach at Nebraska and Ole Miss who claimed an individual NCAA Championship in smallbore in 2015 and earned seven All-American honors over the course of her career at Nebraska.
The Butler File
Birthday: May 23
Hometown: Casselton, N.D.
Family: Wife, Rachel
Education: Alaska Fairbanks, 2016 (Bachelor’s); Alaska Fairbanks, 2017 (Master’s); West Virginia, 2019 (Master’s)
Shooting Career:
Alaska Fairbanks, 2012-17
Two-time NRA All-American
Coaching History:
2017-19: West Virginia - Graduate Assistant
2019-22: West Virginia - Assistant Coach
2022-present: Georgia Southern - Head Coach
NCAA Team Appearances:
2025
NCAA Individual Appearances:
2023: Addy Burrown (air rifle)
2024: Emma Pohlmann (air rifle)
Titles:
2023: SoCon Smallbore Team
2023: SoCon Overall
2024: SoCon Smallbore Team
2024: SoCon Air Rifle Team
2024: SoCon Overall
2025: SoCon Smallbore Team
2025: SoCon Air Rifle Team
2025: SoCon Overall
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