John Butler adjusting to life as Nebraska’s DBs coach

John Butler didn’t bring a car to Lincoln, and he doesn’t want one.

Since touching down in the city one month ago, the Huskers’ defensive backs coach has enjoyed the freedom of walking from his downtown hotel across campus to his office in the Osborne Legacy Complex.

Considering Butler arrived at Nebraska with plenty to do and little time to work with, his attitude reflects it — all football, all the time.

“I’m not worried about the car, I’m not worried about where I’m going to live, I’m not worried about all that stuff,” Butler said in his first chat with the media Tuesday.

A longtime secondary coach who spent the better part of the previous decade coaching in the NFL, Butler ended a six-year stint with the Buffalo Bills in February. Jobs were filled both collegiately and professionally throughout the spring, and Butler remained unemployed, content with perhaps taking a year off from coaching.

“I was just a regular dude,” Butler said.

Then Matt Rhule came calling.

Butler said it would be an understatement to call Rhule’s message “out of the blue” as the Nebraska head coach approached him about taking a position on staff following Evan Cooper’s resignation.

As Butler pondered, he began to feel an itch to return to coaching and quickly cut his vacation short to do so.

“I’d had a lot of time to decompress and think about where I was, (so) it really came down to the perfect timing and the perfect place,” Butler said.

Butler arrived in Lincoln on July 7, three-and-a-half weeks before the Huskers were set to open fall camp. He immediately set out to learn about the personnel he’d be coaching, the 3-3-5 defensive system he’d be coaching them in and the ins and outs of the program.

So far, so good in all aspects. Butler is impressed with the veteran-heavy secondary he’s inherited, particularly senior cornerback Tommi Hill, whose long arms, speed and pass coverage skills remind Butler of the traits he looked for in NFL defensive backs.

The Husker players have quickly adapted to their new position coach too.

Isaac Gifford previously said Butler is “down to business,” while Malcolm Hartzog said on Tuesday that Butler “knows football” and DeShon Singleton added that the coach is detailed and “quick-paced” in his teaching style.

It’s also impressive that Butler has quickly adapted to the principles of Nebraska’s existing defensive setup. Throughout his nearly 30-year coaching career, Butler said he’s worked within 4-3, 3-4 and a 4-2-5 nickel defensive schemes — but never the 3-3-5 system implemented by defensive coordinator Tony White that he said is “so unique.”

“When I came here, it was all about, ‘I’m going to learn this defense and keep my mouth shut, and really try to figure out what’s going on and how the pieces of the puzzle work,’” Butler said. “And then when the time comes, based on things I’ve done in the past, I can interject with Tony in our conversations about how maybe I can help it. But right now it’s really about me learning it, teaching it and refining it.”

The opportunity to place five defensive backs on the field excites Butler, as does the ongoing process of fully learning and conquering a new defensive system. With the versatility to try different personnel packages or coverage assignments, Butler is eager to see the 3-3-5 defense in action.

“The thing that I love about it is just the versatility and the flexibility that it provides you as a defensive coach to come up with solutions and answers,” Butler said.

Many years prior, Butler had gleaned an initial impression of what a Rhule-coached program looked like. A trio of Buffalo Bills — Tyler Matakevich and Dion Dawkins (Temple) and Terrel Bernard (Baylor) — who’d played under Rhule told Butler of the culture-building, toughness and togetherness they’d experienced in college.

“All the things that I believe in,” Butler said.

It’s those traits, and the opportunity to coach at a storied program such as Nebraska, that drove Butler to return to the college ranks. If there were any concerns he might quickly jump ship for another NFL job, Butler dispelled them by saying his time at Nebraska will not be “a placeholder” for a different position.

After getting a month-long crash course in Nebraska football, the newest member of the coaching staff has finally begun settling in.

“He’s been doing a great job, he adds a different dynamic to the room, and it’s always good when people bring in different ideas,” defensive line coach Terrance Knighton said of Butler. “He’s a fiery guy, super detailed.”

The start of fall camp naturally brings excitement, but Butler knows that long days are ahead. The grind of coaching — late nights at the office, the stress of in-season work and weeks away from the family — isn’t lost on him after several months without it.

Turning his Huskers into ball-hawking defenders will be a key goal for Butler in the coming weeks, something the coach said is a “mindset and a mentality.”

If not for the intervention of Nebraska’s head coach, Butler might have spent the last several weeks freely going about his days, laying on the beach or traveling the country.

Instead, Nebraska’s newest assistant coach has spent his days watching film and coaching technique — and is right at home in doing so.

“Living at the beach is not a bad thing, but this is better,” Butler said. “… I guess I’m sharp enough to say that the opportunity was sitting right in front of my face, (so) don’t let it pass me by.”