Butler Athletics has removed the interim designation from men's tennis coach Sam Miles. Butler Vice President/Director of Athletics Barry Collier made the announcement Wednesday, April 21.

After three seasons as an assistant coach at Butler, Miles was named interim head coach of the men's tennis program in August of 2019.

"Sam has proven himself to be highly capable of leading a successful program," said Collier. "Against the difficult circumstances of the pandemic which has impacted the last two seasons, Sam's leadership has resulted in our student-athletes continuing to have a rewarding experience with strong performances both on the courts and in the classroom. Removing the interim tag shows the confidence we have in Sam and we are excited that he will continue to lead our program moving forward."

The Bulldogs are 7-7 so far during the 2021 season and head into this weekend's BIG EAST Championships as the No. 4 seed. In his first year leading the program in an interim capacity (2019-20), Miles led the Bulldogs to an 11-8 record before the season was cut short on March 14, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As an assistant, Miles helped the Bulldog captured the 2017 BIG EAST title and the team set a single-season record with 21 wins during the 2019 campaign. Butler finished tenth in the ITA rankings for the Ohio Valley region in both 2017 and 2019.