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Matt Rhule explains promotion of John Butler to Nebraska defensive coordinator

On3 imageby:Sam Gillenwater12/27/24

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Jeff Hanisch | USA TODAY Sports

With Tony White heading to Tallahassee, Matt Rhule promoted John Butler, their secondary coach and pass game coordinator, to being the defensive coordinator at Nebraska.

With that, Rhule explained why he was the hire for the ‘Huskers on the defensive side of the football. That’s especially so since, during the interview process, he realized what a big role that it was for them as well as for the other possible candidates.

“I interviewed probably five people, six people. There were a lot of parameters to me that mattered, the least of which was the optics, you know. I was like, I didn’t care about making a splash or anything like that. I wanted to make the right decision. As I’ve said, you know, Coach Kevin McGarry, who’s been here the last couple of years? You know, I think he told one of the candidates that coming here is, like, a defensive coordinator’s dream. You know, we practice a certain way, we play a certain way,” Rhule said. “So I wanted to get the right person. I talked to a lot of great candidates. There was a ton of interest from sitting defensive coordinators.”

For Rhule, the right candidate would have been someone who could make their defense better overall. Nebraska has maintained a top 20 scoring defense and has been good against the run through the past two seasons. However, to do what Nebraska is wanting to do, being better against the pass will be important, which would be a key for Butler after working in their secondary this fall with it all over his resumé over three decades in college and the pros.

“I thought I really liked what we’ve done the last two years, you know,” said Rhule. “I thought we maybe took a step back defensively a little bit this year in some areas. But I like what we’ve done. I like the overall general philosophy.”

“But, to win moving forward, and this is something that a mentor of mine, Phil Snow, said to me. He said, you know, Matt, to win moving forward, you know, the things we’re doing, the havoc that we’re creating is great on, you know, first and second down. To be great moving forward on third down, you know, some of the, some of the stuff that we’ve done in the NFL, you know, third-down packages, second-and-long packages versus the teams who can really throw it? Like, you know, we can go out and play good against Iowa but, you know, Iowa is a running team. You know, to be able to stop the offenses that we’re going to need to stop? That can drop back and spin the ball? We’re going to need some advanced, I think, defense on third down, two-minute, red zone.”

Butler was not only qualified in that, though. The Cornhuskers had several players on the team state that they wanted him to be the hire. Although that didn’t make the decision for Rhule, it certainly had an effect on the process.

“There was a lot of outpouring from our current players, guys I really respect,” Rhule noted. “You know, I’m not going to make that decision because of that. But I think they felt like, some of the current guys in the secondary felt like, after three or four years in college, John had brought a professionalism and a next-level mentality to them that they thought was going to prepare them for the next level. Some of them had no business – you know, they’re leaving so they didn’t have to say that to me.”

Nebraska has had two of the better defenses in the country over the two-year tenure of Rhule. Butler will now look to continue that work with the unit now being his to call next fall after his hire.

“I think it was just a combination of who can add to what we’re already doing at a high level, who can bring some things secondary-wise to really help us. And who, after working with John for a year, I thought he was really, really professional, really good to work with,” Rhule said. “Excited for him.”