Butler University Athletics

Alex Barlow, who earned Academic All-America honors during his playing career at Butler and has spent the last eight seasons with the Boston Celtics organization, joined Thad Matta's staff as an assistant coach prior to the 2023-24 season. In his two seasons with the Bulldogs, Barlow has helped Butler to a postseason berth as the team made the 2024 NIT and the field for the inaugural College Basketball Crown in 2025. 
 
Barlow most recently served as the head coach of the Celtics’ G-League affiliate, guiding the Maine Celtics to 30 wins across the Showcase and regular season, and the team’s first playoff berth since 2017. Barlow was just the third coach in franchise history to reach 30 wins in a season. During his time in Maine, he has helped to develop NBA players, including Robert Williams, Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet and Luka Samanic. Barlow also coached former Butler standout Kamar Baldwin in Maine during the 2022-23 season.
 
Barlow joined the Celtics organization as a video assistant under former Butler head coach Brad Stevens in 2015, serving in that role for two seasons. He also spent the 2018-19 season in Boston, working primarily with Celtics then-rookie Robert Williams.
 
His time in the G-League included one season as an assistant coach (2017-18) and three seasons as the associate head coach (2019-20 through 2021-22) before he was promoted to head coach for the 2022-23 season.
 
Barlow, with an eye toward a future career in coaching, chose to walk on at Butler under Stevens. He earned a scholarship later in his playing career, helping the Bulldogs to NCAA Tournament appearances in both 2013 (in Stevens’ final season at Butler) and 2015. He earned a reputation as a gritty defender and his 187 career steals are fourth on Butler’s all-time list. The point guard handed out 274 assists during his Butler career, which is among the Top 20 in Butler history. During the 2014-15 season, Barlow was named second-team Academic All-America, won the Senior CLASS Award, was named the BIG EAST Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year (which he was also awarded in 2013-14), and was voted as the BIG EAST Sportsmanship Award recipient for men’s basketball. He played in all 100 games over his final three seasons at Butler, starting 88 of those contests.
 
Barlow and his wife, Belle, have two children, son Colton and daughter Addison. Belle was also a standout student-athlete at Butler. She was an AVCA All-Region honoree as a volleyball player who then started for the Bulldogs' women's basketball program for two seasons once she exhausted her volleyball eligibility.