Breaking New Secondary Coach: John Butler

[Driveway Jordan]

This looks like an upgrade to me. Huskers just got better. Fuck it.

100% THIS. I don't know what Rhule promised him to get him here or what the back story is, but we 100% upgraded the secondary coach position. This guy is elite.

As far as recruiting goes...since we have a professional in charge, he is not going to let guys hang around if they can't carry water in recruiting their position group.

 

[Driveway Jordan]

They were still in purgatory in ‘14 and their defense got significantly better

James Franklin effect. Lol.

 

[vailhusker]

100% THIS. I don't know what Rhule promised him to get him here or what the back story is, but we 100% upgraded the secondary coach position. This guy is elite.

As far as recruiting goes...since we have a professional in charge, he is not going to let guys hang around if they can't carry water in recruiting their position group.

The days of having 30 DBs and a good part of them being projects is probably coming to an end.

 

[Irv]

The days of having 30 DBs and a good part of them being projects is probably coming to an end.

Could free up space for another tight end or two.

 

[LoudHogRider]

Could free up space for another tight end or two.

I'll head down to Tractor Supply and pick a few up. We grow 'em like weeds around here.

 

[SOHusker11]

 

[1HuskerDad]

 

[Toe]

They were still in purgatory in ‘14 and their defense got significantly better

The NCAA lifted their penalties in '14.

NCAA slowly restores Penn St. scholarships

The NCAA announced Tuesday it will reduce the unprecedented sanctions against Penn State by gradually restoring scholarships starting next season. Officials would also not rule out future modifications such as reducing the four-year postseason ban.

www.espn.com

N.C.A.A. Decides to Roll Back Sanctions Against Penn State (Published 2014)

By restoring Penn State’s bowl eligibility and full complement of scholarships, the N.C.A.A. launched the program that was shamed by a sexual-abuse scandal on a course to normalcy.

www.nytimes.com

 

[HuskerDocCo]

My mud flaps are quiverin with this news

 

[BIG TONE SOPRANO]

It seems we upgraded

 

[mrmac429]

It seems we upgraded

I agree!

 

[Stan Raymond]

It seems we upgraded

Coaching, development, potential future DC, I agree.
Recruiting, talent identification, unknown right now.

 

[Boondock_St_Sker]

Good job Dean finding the 30 year old connection -

The Dean reach for clicks is phenomenal

 

[Blakejc]

Coaching might be an upgrade

Coaching, development, potential future DC, I agree.
Recruiting, talent identification, unknown right now.

Pretty spot on, but it’s a huge loss. Butler may be a better coach, but I don’t think Rhule trusted anyone more on his staff than Cooper. Butler can’t replicate that relationship and that trust. And if coaches are known for playing the guys they can trust over talent, you know that’s how they operate with their coaches, too. It’s gonna take some time to build that with Butler.

I’m also curious how much say, if any, Tony White had in this hire. Butler is gonna be reporting to White a lot more than he’ll be reporting to Rhule.

 

[BIG TONE SOPRANO]

Coaching might be an upgrade

Pretty spot on, but it’s a huge loss. Butler may be a better coach, but I don’t think Rhule trusted anyone more on his staff than Cooper. Butler can’t replicate that relationship and that trust. And if coaches are known for playing the guys they can trust over talent, you know that’s how they operate with their coaches, too. It’s gonna take some time to build that with Butler.

I’m also curious how much say, if any, Tony White had in this hire. Butler is gonna be reporting to White a lot more than he’ll be reporting to Rhule.

Change is good. So a guy that he trusts that is not a better coach than the one they just hired is better? Help me understand. It blows me away we can’t all be on the same page on this shit

 

[JankTheTank]

Coaching might be an upgrade

Pretty spot on, but it’s a huge loss. Butler may be a better coach, but I don’t think Rhule trusted anyone more on his staff than Cooper. Butler can’t replicate that relationship and that trust. And if coaches are known for playing the guys they can trust over talent, you know that’s how they operate with their coaches, too. It’s gonna take some time to build that with Butler.

I’m also curious how much say, if any, Tony White had in this hire. Butler is gonna be reporting to White a lot more than he’ll be reporting to Rhule.

The thing I try and remember is that Cooper wasn't always an on-field assistant coach under Rhule. At Temple he had a Director of External Operations role, and after a year at Miami, he came back with a Director of Player Development. It wasn't until Baylor that he got the chance to have an on-field role. Before that time, Rhule had coaches like Fran Brown working the secondary along with Phil Snow coaching safeties. If Cooper was that big of an asset even back then, it's possible to still replace some of his capabilities in a separate position.

At the time of his resignation, Cooper had definitely evolved into a multifaceted component in Rhule's operation, leaving him without A. a defensive backs coach along with B. a film-burning recruiting wunderkind.

I think it's fine that Butler's hire is a damn perfect solve for just A. It could very well be an upgrade there. And it also potentially solves for an eventual C. when Tony White leaves.

As for B., this hire didn't need to solve for that. Rhule could make additional hires to attempt to replace Cooper's recruiting eye. Maybe the team is at a point where they no longer need to look for diamonds in the rough. Or maybe Garret McGuire sees this as an opportunity to take on a bit more responsibility and start burning through more Texas high school film. That's an assistant that will likely be seeing additional responsibilites through his career. Maybe Rhule hires Bill Busch as an assistant special teams coordinator or assistant defensive backs coach, or just general "defensive assistant" title and gives him Foley's recruiting hallpass.

And/or perhaps Rhule hires a couple more high school head coaches and works them into his on-field assistants with the intention that yes, these guys have headsets during games and practices, and will likely become full time assistants under Rhule in due time, but they're primary directive for now is to become experts on every god damn player in the state they came from.

Cooper's departure can be a loss, but there's multiple ways to make up for his departure. Butler looks to fix a big portion of that and fix an eventual future problem. Meanwhile, the 10-assistant ceiling being eliminated gives Rhule 1,000s of ways to solve for B.

 

[Blakejc]

Change is good. So a guy that he trusts that is not a better coach than the one they just hired is better? Help me understand.

Butler may be a better coach, but Cooper was Rhule’s right hand man. He gave him a ton of responsibility and freedom. Butler ain’t replacing that on day 1. I hope that makes sense, I can’t explain it any simpler if not.

I also don’t want to discredit Cooper’s ability as a coach, because a lot of dudes got better under his watch. Singleton and T. Hill specifically.

To be clear, I’m sure our secondary will be fine and play at a high level. I just think Rhule is going to have to spend more of his hours doing stuff that he once delegated to Cooper. Or find someone else to groom who can eventually take that over.

 

[BIG TONE SOPRANO]

The thing I try and remember is that Cooper wasn't always an on-field assistant coach under Rhule. At Temple he had a Director of External Operations role, and after a year at Miami, he came back with a Director of Player Development. It wasn't until Baylor that he got the chance to have an on-field role. Before that time, Rhule had coaches like Fran Brown working the secondary along with Phil Snow coaching safeties. If Cooper was that big of an asset even back then, it's possible to still replace some of his capabilities in a separate position.

At the time of his resignation, Cooper had definitely evolved into a multifaceted component in Rhule's operation, leaving him without A. a defensive backs coach along with B. a film-burning recruiting wunderkind.

I think it's fine that Butler's hire is a damn perfect solve for just A. It could very well be an upgrade there. And it also potentially solves for an eventual C. when Tony White leaves.

As for B., this hire didn't need to solve for that. Rhule could make additional hires to attempt to replace Cooper's recruiting eye. Maybe the team is at a point where they no longer need to look for diamonds in the rough. Or maybe Garret McGuire sees this as an opportunity to take on a bit more responsibility and start burning through more Texas high school film. That's an assistant that will likely be seeing additional responsibilites through his career. Maybe Rhule hires Bill Busch as an assistant special teams coordinator or assistant defensive backs coach, or just general "defensive assistant" title and gives him Foley's recruiting hallpass.

And/or perhaps Rhule hires a couple more high school head coaches and works them into his on-field assistants with the intention that yes, these guys have headsets during games and practices, and will likely become full time assistants under Rhule in due time, but they're primary directive for now is to become experts on every god damn player in the state they came from.

Cooper's departure can be a loss, but there's multiple ways to make up for his departure. Butler looks to fix a big portion of that and fix an eventual future problem. Meanwhile, the 10-assistant ceiling being eliminated gives Rhule 1,000s of ways to solve for B.

Good stuff. We will be fine.

 

[NSECTA4]

Coaching might be an upgrade

Pretty spot on, but it’s a huge loss. Butler may be a better coach, but I don’t think Rhule trusted anyone more on his staff than Cooper. Butler can’t replicate that relationship and that trust. And if coaches are known for playing the guys they can trust over talent, you know that’s how they operate with their coaches, too. It’s gonna take some time to build that with Butler.

I’m also curious how much say, if any, Tony White had in this hire. Butler is gonna be reporting to White a lot more than he’ll be reporting to Rhule.

My concern with Cooper is that he was lauded over and over by Coach Rhule for his ability to identify hidden gems.

Yet, here we were going into last December’s signing period and again going into the summer borderline desperate to land a transfer CB.

Why is that? Lack of development? What is the ROI on the hidden gems identified by Cooper?

Jalen Lloyd is one. The LB recruit out of Stillwater unrecruited by the state schools didn’t last his first semester IIRC. Any others?

 

[Blakejc]

My concern with Cooper is that he was lauded over and over by Coach Rhule for his ability to identify hidden gems.

Yet, here we were going into last December’s signing period and again going into the summer borderline desperate to land a transfer CB.

Why is that? Lack of development? What is the ROI on the hidden gems identified by Cooper?

Jalen Lloyd is one. The LB recruit out of Stillwater unrecruited by the state schools didn’t last his first semester IIRC. Any others?

Takes more than a year, man. Sheesh.

The test will be if some of these 3 stars he recruited/identified eventually turn into draft picks. Time will tell. And maybe now there’s a better coach in place to develop those guys that are raw.