Butch Thompson was named Auburn's head baseball coach on October 22, 2015 and enters his ninth season at the helm of the program in 2024. 

Thompson, who spent three seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Auburn from 2006-08, returned to the Plains after seven seasons at Mississippi State as both associate head coach and pitching coach.

A native of Amory, Miss., Thompson has coached 33 Division I All-Americans and 46 all-conference performers. He has seen 21 of his former pitchers make their MLB debut, including 14 since 2014. Thompson has also turned 39 pitchers who went undrafted out of high school into MLB draft picks, including the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft in Casey Mize and five hurlers who were taken in the top 12 rounds in 2022.

Thompson has had 39 players drafted in his Auburn tenure, including 18 in the top 10 rounds and eight in the top three rounds. Prior to Thompson's arrival, the Tigers did not have a player selected in the top three rounds from 2008-15. The 2023 MLB Draft marked the fifth straight season multiple players were selected in the top 10 rounds - Cole Foster (3rd) and Bryson Ware (8th) - marking the longest such streak in program history. The Tigers also had at least one player drafted in the top five rounds for a record eight straight seasons under Thompson. 

Along with his pitching pedigree, Thompson is also considered one of the top recruiters in the country. Since 2003, he has secured 16 recruiting classes that were ranked in the top 10 by either Baseball America or Perfect Game, including the program record No. 4 class in 2017 and No. 5 early signing class in 2023. His classes signed from 2006-08 at Auburn each ranked in the top 18 nationally, including the No. 5 class in 2008, which included All-American and SEC Player of the Year Hunter Morris.

In 31 years of coaching at the collegiate level, including 22 in the Southeastern Conference, Thompson has coached nine College World Series participants, including leading the Tigers to the program's first trip to the College World Series in 22 years in 2019 and taking the team back for the second time in three postseasons in 2022. Auburn was one of six programs to appear in two of three College World Series from 2019-22, and Thompson became one of five active SEC coaches to take their program to a pair of College World Series in a three-year span. Thompson has also coached one national champion and a national runner-up, won nine conference championships and made 19 postseason appearances. He has also served as an assistant under three National Coach of the Year recipients.

Thompson was named the 2006 Fellowship of Christian Athletes SEC Coach of the Year while at Auburn and the 2014 Baseball America and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) National Assistant Coach of the Year while at Mississippi State.

Thanks to a second-half run for the record books, the 2023 season saw Auburn earn its second straight regional host bid for the first time in program history. The Tigers became one of five programs in the country and two in the SEC to host each of the last two seasons, joined by Florida, Miami, Oklahoma State and Stanford, and the regional appearances marked the program's fifth in the last six postseasons under Thompson. Prior to Thompson's arrival, the Tigers made five tournament appearances in 14 seasons from 2002-15.

Auburn posted a league-best 12-3 record in the final five weeks of conference play and finished the SEC season with 17 wins, the most since winning the SEC West in 2010. The Tigers finished top five in the league in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2002-03. The 12-3 stretch was the program's best since also going 12-3 in the final 15 games of the 2010 season and the nine-game SEC winning streak at the end of the regular season and first game of the SEC Tournament was the team's longest since 1995. Auburn ultimately finished the season ranked No. 23 by Perfect Game, marking the sixth time since 2017 the team finished the season ranked in a top 25 poll.

The 2022 season marked one of the most successful in recent program history. Along with the aforementioned return to the College World Series for the second time in a span of three postseasons, the Tigers went 43-22 overall and 16-13 in SEC play. The 43 wins were tied for the most since 1999, and the winning conference record marked the Tigers' third under Thompson after doing so just once from 2004-15. 

Auburn went 37-18 in the regular season and lost back-to-back games on just three occasions before being selected as a regional host for the first time since 2010. The Tigers welcomed UCLA, Florida State and Southeastern Louisiana to Plainsman Park and proceeded to outscore the three foes 51-18 in three regional contests. The regional sweep marked the program's third straight to go along with postseason appearances in 2018 and 2019. The Tigers have outscored the opponent 117-43 during the span and are one of 10 programs to advance to the Super Regional round in three of the last four postseasons. 

After becoming the first time to defeat Oregon State in a home super regional by taking down the Beavers in a dramatic winner-take-all game three, Auburn moved on to Omaha and secured the program's first College World Series win since 1997. The Tigers are the only team to win a pair of road super regionals in the last three tournaments. 

Thompson's fifth and sixth seasons with the program in 2020 and 2021 were affected by the COVID-19 outbreak that impacted sports across the globe. The Tigers posted a 25-27 overall record in 2021, but went 7-5 in the last three SEC series to clinch a berth in the conference tournament for the fourth straight season. It marked the first time Auburn had been to four straight SEC Tournaments since 2010-13.

The year prior, the Tigers returned seven of nine everyday position players and nine pitchers who threw 30 or more innings from the CWS team. The team was set to enter SEC play with a 13-5 overall record before the season was abruptly halted and later cancelled. 

The 2019 season was a historic one as the team made its third straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001-03. From there, Auburn became the only program to swept a regional on the road in each of the last two seasons before also becoming the first team to defeat North Carolina in a Chapel Hill Super Regional, punching its ticket to Omaha for the first time since 1997.

The Tigers hit a walk-off, three-run home run with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth inning against No. 3 Georgia Tech to advance to its third straight regional final before turning around the following day to advance to its second straight super regional for the first time ever. A week later, the Tigers found themselves in a decisive game three of a super regional for the second straight season and scored 13 runs in the first inning in Chapel Hill to secure its spot in the College World Series. 

Auburn won 15 straight games early in the season - tied for the third longest winning streak in program history - and became the third team in program history to start a season 20-2 or better, joining the 1997 and 1999 teams. The Tigers ultimately finished the season ranked as high as No. 8 in the country, tied for the third highest final ranking in program history and its highest mark since finishing the 1997 season ranked No. 5. 

In his third on The Plains, Thompson led the Tigers to arguably the most successful season since the turn of the century. The team’s 43 wins were the most in a season since 2010 and tied for the seventh most in program history. Additionally, Thompson not only took the team to back-to-back NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2002-03, but he also led the team to its first Super Regional since 1999 and second in program history. Auburn forced No. 1 Florida to extra innings in a winner-take-all game three, but ultimately came up just short of advancing to Omaha for the first time since 1997.

Under Thompson’s guidance, Mize became the first No. 1 overall draft pick in program history and fifth in the history of the Southeastern Conference. Mize also became just the second two-time All-American and consensus All-American in program history, and was named a finalist for both the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy.

The success of the 2018 season also saw a record number of Tigers earn All-SEC and Freshman All-American honors. The All-SEC honorees included Mize (First Team), Will Holland (Second Team), Tanner Burns (Freshman Team), Cody Greenhill (Freshman Team), Edouard Julien (Freshman Team), Steven Williams (Freshman Team) and Luke Jarvis (Defensive Team). Burns, Greenhill, Julien and Williams were also tabbed Freshman All-Americans by multiple publications.

Thompson's second season at Auburn saw the Tigers reach heights unseen in nearly two decades on the Plains. Auburn climbed as high as No. 4 in the national rankings during the 2017 season and earned a bid to the NCAA Tallahassee Regional, Thompson's first postseason berth in two seasons as a Division I head coach. The Tigers advanced to the championship game in Tallahassee, earning wins over UCF and Tennessee Tech along the way, and finished the season with a 37-26 overall record.

Auburn's 16-14 mark in SEC play in 2017 was its best conference record since 2010 and saw the Tigers double their league win total from the previous season. Included in the season was a sweep of eventual national champion Florida and series victories over Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi State and Ole Miss.

The 2017 Tigers boasted a 1-2 pitching punch that rivaled the best in the country in Thompson and Mize. Mize, named an All-American by three different publications, ranked third in the SEC with a 2.04 ERA and had the nation's best strikeout-to-walk ratio at 12.1 (109 strikeouts, 9 walks). Thompson was sixth in the SEC with a 2.41 ERA and opened the season with a school-record 23.2 consecutive scoreless innings pitched. Thompson would be drafted in the third round by the Chicago Cubs, Auburn's highest draft pick since 2004. In all, four Tigers were selected in the 2017 MLB Draft.

In seven seasons at MSU, Thompson made four NCAA regional trips, two Super Regionals, won the SEC Tournament and advanced to the College World Series finishing as NCAA runner-up in 2013. In three of the last four seasons, the Bulldogs' staff ERA finished no higher than 3.06. Thompson's 2013 pitching staff was one of two nationally to finish in the top 15 in ERA, strikeouts per nine innings and hits allowed per nine innings.

In addition to his experience at Auburn and Mississippi State, Thompson also spent five seasons at Georgia from 2002-05, including a trip to the College World Series in 2004. While there he guided the development of future Major Leaguers Josh Fields, Mitchell Boggs and Brooks Brown.

Thompson launched his coaching career as pitching coach and top assistant at Huntingdon College (Ala.) in 1993, before returning to his alma mater in Birmingham, where he helped lead the Panthers to back-to-back Southern States Conference championships and in 1995 coached BSC to its first NAIA World Series berth.

Thompson left BSC briefly to serve as head coach at Jefferson State Community College in Birmingham in 1997. While at JSCC, he was honored as the Regional Tournament Coach of the Year, the ABCA Alabama Junior College Coach of the Year and the Southeast Region Coach of the Year after guiding JSCC to a 39-21 mark, the AJCAA Region 22 State Championship and a third-place finish in the NJCAA Division II World Series.

He returned to Birmingham-Southern as top assistant the following season, beginning a four-year run during the most successful span in BSC baseball history. The Panthers won 196 games and four TranSouth Conference championships and made three-consecutive appearances in the NAIA World Series. BSC's 2001 team posted a school-best 55-11 mark and captured the NAIA National Championship.

In 2002, Thompson joined the SEC baseball coaching fraternity as a pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Georgia and has been a part of the league for the past 17 seasons.

Thompson currently serves as the large-school representative for the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association and is an All-American committee member representing the Southeast Region for the ABCA. Thompson has also spent the last two seasons as a member of the NCAA Division I Baseball Regional Advisory Committee. 

Thompson prepped at Amory (Miss.) High School and later starred as a pitcher at Itawamba (Miss.) Community College from 1989-90. On Oct. 25, 2014, Thompson was inducted into the ICC Athletic Hall of Fame.

He earned a bachelor's degree in history at BSC in 1992 and completed a master's degree in sports administration at UAB in 1996. He is married to the former Robin Ashe of Birmingham, Ala., and they are the parents of three daughters - Anna, Olivia and Madelyn Gail - and grandparents of Mary Gail Moreman.