SMSU Athletics Hall of Honor
Butch Raymond (director of athletics, 1997-2004) served as SMSU’s director of athletics for seven years and helped oversee a department that became a consistent contender on the field of competition not only in the conference, but regionally as well.
Raymond helped in adding athletics programs to the department, which increased the number of participating student-athletes, and also was instrumental in raising scholarship dollars for SMSU by initializing a corporate sponsor program. He was very active with the NCAA during his tenure at SMSU, including serving as the national chairman for NCAA Division II men’s basketball for two seasons.
SMSU athletic teams won 11 NSIC championships during his time at SMSU, with 10 of the championships coming in the last four years of his tenure. Seven SMSU teams qualified for NCAA postseason play (the first in school history) during his last four years, including the 2001 SMSU men’s basketball team which captured the North Central Region title and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight.
He resigned from SMSU in 2004 to become the commissioner of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
Butch and wife, Linnea, live in Eagan, Minn. He has three children, two step-children and 13 grandchildren.
