Butler Benton, Purdue Football’s executive director of player personnel, joined head coach Barry Odom’s staff in November 2025 after spending nearly two seasons at UCLA as executive director of player personnel.
Benton arrived in Westwood with more than 12 years of experience at the Division I level, including the past 10 working directly in personnel and recruiting at FBS schools UCLA, Notre Dame, Arkansas, Georgia Southern and Michigan State.
During his only full recruiting cycle at UCLA, Benton helped bring in a Top 20 transfer portal class that also cracked the Top 5 of the Big Ten, according to 247Sports. The Bruins’ 2025 class featured 29 transfers to go along with 22 high school signees.
Benton spent the 2023 season as the assistant athletic director for player personnel at Notre Dame. With the Fighting Irish, he was responsible for roster management and evaluation, as well as management of the recruiting and scouting departments. Notre Dame’s 2024 recruiting class was Top 10 in the country that year. Many of those high school and transfer signees helped the Irish reach a CFP Championship berth in 2024.
Benton spent the previous two seasons at Arkansas alongside Odom, who was serving as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. The duo helped the Razorbacks to a combined 16-10 record and two bowl wins. On the recruiting front, Benton helped Arkansas import back-to-back Top 30 classes, including the No. 22 class for the 2023 season, according to 247Sports. Arkansas also added two of the highest rated recruits in school history from the transfer portal in Drew Sanders and Jaden Haselwood during Benton’s tenure.
Earlier in his career, Benton held personnel roles at Georgia Southern and Michigan State. He began his administrative journey at Kent State and Notre Dame. Benton also served as director of student-athlete enrichment at the University of New Orleans.
As a player, Benton earned four letters at Cincinnati as a running back for head coaches Brian Kelly and Mark Dantonio. He totaled 2,084 all-purpose yards and 13 touchdowns during his collegiate career with the Bearcats.
Benton earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in finance from Cincinnati in 2008 before adding a master’s in sport and recreation management from Kent State in 2013.