On March 20, 2013, the Butler administration announced that the school would join the Big East, and moved to the new league July 1, 2013.

Until moving to the "high-major" Big East Conference in 2013, the Butler basketball program had been considered one of the best "mid-major" basketball programs, having won at least 20 games and reached postseason play twelve of the last fourteen seasons, including appearances in nine NCAA tournaments where the Bulldogs reached the Sweet Sixteen in 2003 and 2007, as well as back-to-back Final Four and championship game appearances in 2010 and 2011.

The Bulldogs did not return to the post-season until 2009 and 2010 under head coach Beth Couture, who led the team to four consecutive 20-win seasons in 2008 through 2011.

The Bulldogs have appeared in three Division II playoff games, the last in 1991 when it lost to eventual national champion Pittsburg State 26–16.

Butler capped its decade of dominance, seven league titles in ten years with three playoff berths, by winning another conference championship in 1994.

The Dawgs were led by the great Arnold Mickens who broke numerous NCAA Division I rushing records, including eight straight 200 yard performances during the campaign.

In 2013, Butler became the first PFL team to compete in the FCS playoffs after the conference was given an automatic invitation, losing in the first round to Tennessee State.

Both Butler and Valparaiso compete in the NCAA FCS (formerly division I-AA), non-scholarship Pioneer Football League.

The college's fraternities and sororities vied in yearly ticket sales, parade float, house decoration, and Relay Queen competitions.

In addition to the participation of legendary American Olympians Jesse Owens, Glenn Cunningham, Ralph Metcalfe, and IU's Don Lash, the Butler Relays saw ten world records set or tied during the meet's decade-long run.

When Phillips became head track and field coach at Purdue University in 1938, Lawrence Holmes directed the relays for one year.

Butler alumnus and former world two mile (3 km) record holder Ray Sears staged the games from 1939 until the fieldhouse was dedicated to military use in 1942.

The Butler Relays were not reinstituted after World War II because of the expense and the basketball program's influence over fieldhouse scheduling.

The Bulldogs also had 34 win seasons in 2002 and 2003, surpassing the 30 win season totals in 1998 and 2000. Notable alumni of the program include middle reliever pitcher Pat Neshek (2001), who played for the Minnesota Twins from 2006 to 2010, the St. Louis Cardinals where he was selected for the 2014 MLB All-Star Game, and currently the Philadelphia Phillies.

Both teams have frequently qualified for nationals in recent years, placing individuals as high as 3rd (Mark Tucker, 2003).

All-Americans from the Butler Cross Country Team include Julius Mwangi, Justin Young, Fraser Thompson (a Rhodes Scholar), Mark Tucker, Olly Laws, Andrew Baker, Callum Hawkins, Mara Olson, Katie Clark, Erik Peterson, Olivia Pratt, and Euan Makepeace.

It was clear from the earliest days that athletics was destined to play a major role in shaping Butler University.

When the school moved to its current Fairview campus location, two of the first structures completed were a 15,000-seat fieldhouse and a 36,000-seat football stadium.

The original stadium had seating for 36,000 and hosted games versus the likes of the Four Horsemen from Notre Dame and Red Grange from Illinois.

A 2006 renovation of the stadium included seating for 7,500, larger sidelines, and field turf, allowing it to host football, soccer, and other events.

The legends of Indiana basketball, from Oscar Robertson to George McGinnis to Larry Bird, all played in the Fieldhouse at one time or another.

The state final depicted in the 1986 movie Hoosiers, loosely based on the Milan Miracle story, was shot in Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Other facilities include Varsity Field, which serves as one of the homes of the Butler men's and women's soccer teams.

The field features brick dugouts for both the home and visiting benches, a bullpen area and batting cages located down the first base line out of play and spectator seating for up to 500 people.

All of the Butler tennis teams' home matches during the winter and early spring take place inside the bubble, which is located behind Hinkle Fieldhouse off of 52nd Street.

Hinkle served as a teacher, coach and athletic administrator for nearly half a century and compiled more than 1,000 victories with the school's football, basketball and baseball teams.

Before a big game against the rival Franklin "Baptists", the Butler Collegian was trying to conceive of a way to fire people up when "Shimmy", a bulldog owned by one of the fraternities, wandered into their office.

Shimmy inspired cartoonist George Dickson to draw a bulldog labeled "Butler" taking a bite out of John the Baptist.

To date, there have been four dogs to carry the name "Blue", the university's primary color, with the fourth officially assuming mascot duties for the 2020–21 school year.

[17] On March 20, 2013, the Butler administration announced that the school would join the reconfigured Big East,[2] and moved to the new conference on July 1, 2013.