Just a few months after his collegiate playing career ended, Ethan Morton is back on campus in a new role.

The former Butler basketball star on Friday was officially named the Illinois State Director of Basketball Operations for the Redbirds’ men’s basketball team. Morton graduated in the spring from Colorado State as a graduate senior after one year there, helping the Rams to the NCAA Tournament in March after four years at Purdue where he made the NCAA national championship game.

Morton said Sunday while on the road to Normal, Ill., he is excited to work with Redbirds head coach Ryan Pedon, who recruited Morton out of Butler when Pedon was an assistant coach at Ohio State. Morton said declining the Buckeyes offer was one of the toughest calls he had to make because of the relationship Pedon built with him, his dad and Butler head coach Matt Clement.

They chatted whenever Morton’s Purdue team faced OSU in Big Ten games. And when Pedon called two weeks ago to talk about the opening, Morton said he was willing to hear him out.

“When he recruited me, he was one of my favorite people to interact with,” Morton said. “My dad used to say all the time, and he brought it up to me this week, I think we always knew this would come back (full circle with Pedon).”

Colorado State guard Ethan Morton shouts in celebration during a college men's basketball game this season. Submitted photo

Morton said he was driving to a workout while still attempting to play professionally overseas when Pedon called. Morton told “Eye on Sports” in April he hoped to play overseas at some point or become a coach.

“It was a combination of the offer was really great and I didn’t have a ton of traction on the playing side,” he said. “The program’s in a great spot. ... They feel like they have a chance to be pretty good this year.”

The Redbirds went 22-14 last year, won a game in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and then won a postseason title in the Purple College Basketball Invitational.

Morton is still figuring out his responsibilities; he tentatively starts at ISU on Tuesday but is trying to quick find an apartment and settle in with just a few months before the season starts. He’ll help on the coaching side, with administrative and scheduling duties, with NIL work and will be on the floor for practice and games.

He hopes to be a college head coach one day.

“I also know, and I’m honest with myself, I think I can be a way better coach than I was a player,” Morton said, adding he hopes in 10-15 years to coach at Pitt, or in the NCAA Tournament or for a national championship. “I’m crazy enough to think I can do all that as a coach.”

Morton scored a collegiate career high 11 points in CSU’s Mountain West Conference Tournament championship game win in March. That followed four years at Purdue, where he played in 132 games and made more NCAA Tournament appearances, including the title game in 2024.

Before that, he was a standout for the Golden Tornado who scored more than 2,000 points and became a top-100 recruit in the nation. The Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year in 2020 led Butler to a second-round PIAA Class 6A tournament win before the rest of the season was canceled at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Butler Eagle named him the No. 3 best male athlete from Butler County from the past 25 years in July, and the 2020 Tornado team was voted No. 22.