New DC

Waldo said:
But we have tape and 12 games to base and formulate our opinions of Butler.
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Did I miss where Butler was the DC for those 12 games? 
 

Not to mention White’s defense had a lot to do with how the secondary played. Butler consistently had studs playing for him when he coached in Buffalo. Sure this isn’t the big time hire some wanted, but Rhule is making moves and that I can appreciate!

 
SWIHusker said:
Did I miss where Butler was the DC for those 12 games? 
 

Not to mention White’s defense had a lot to do with how the secondary played. Butler consistently had studs playing for him when he coached in Buffalo. Sure this isn’t the big time hire some wanted, but Rhule is making moves and that I can appreciate!
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So you’re going to state that Butler wasn’t the DC and then bring up his success in Buffalo as a non DC with studs that don’t correlate to our current roster. Got it 

 
SWIHusker said:
Did I miss where Butler was the DC for those 12 games? 
 

Not to mention White’s defense had a lot to do with how the secondary played. Butler consistently had studs playing for him when he coached in Buffalo. Sure this isn’t the big time hire some wanted, but Rhule is making moves and that I can appreciate!
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He had to make moves regardless smh.  I just don't understand how their is so much optimism around Butler being promoted.  Yes he has NFL experience so does Rhule and look how that turned out.  Im not saying that is going to be the case with Butler but how can anybody remotely feel good on how our defense is going to be next year?  For me I'm going to watch the bowl game and if Nebraska defense game plan/calling sucks then your going to hear excuses as to why it sucked not having players, not enough time to prepare, yada yada same old story.

 
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Decked said:
Satterfield and Foley still being employed is crazy. There are better coaches in the state at the high school level. 
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Foley and Barthel contracts are up at the end of December. I am guessing thats the play is to let them coach the bowl game and ride off in the sunset. No clue on Satt but I am guessing he will be out at some point as well. 

 
Huskerfollower4life said:
He had to make moves regardless smh.  I just don't understand how there is so much optimism around Butler being promoted.  Yes he has NFL experience so does Rhule and look how that turned out.  Im not saying that is going to be the case with Butler but how can anybody remotely feel good on how our defense is going to be next year?  For me I'm going to watch the bowl game and if Nebraska defense game plan/calling sucks then your going to hear excuses as to why it sucked not having players, not enough time to prepare, yada yada same old story.
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So you are going to base your opinion on a single game with a defense that was pretty medium all year, starters in the portal, and limited prep?

Seems legit.

I don’t see any overly optimistic posts. Many are willing to wait and see. It’s the over the top weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth that is bizarre.

 
Toe said:
Poked in on a couple Penn State boards to see what they were saying about Butler. The responses were "lol," "good luck with that," and "Rhule won't make it past year three."
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HuskerNation1 said:
This was the same sentiment South Carolina fans had toward Satterfield before we hired him.  Unless Butler is one of the best recruiters in the country, I have no idea what Rhule sees in him. He has 1 year of experience as a DC for Penn State and they finished 60th in total defense, giving up over 26 points a game.  In 2012 Penn State finished 16th in total defense and in 2014 they finished 7th in total defense, but the year Butler led the group they finished 60th.  

Meanwhile Jim Leonhard led the Wisconsin defense from 2017 to 2022 which had two top 5 finished in total defense and consistently was in the top 20.  I simply do not understand Rhule's hiring decisions.  

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/years/2013-team-defense.html
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And as well all know, coaches never learn anything and stay exactly the same for 10 years. The Satterfield reactions were worth listening to because that's where he was immediately prior. I don't care what Penn State fans think about a coach they had back when half of them were still mad they fired Joe Paterno. Their offense ranked worse than their defense in 2013, it was a mediocre team all around.

FWIW most of the media guys around here don't think Leonhard is coming back to college anytime soon. And I understand he has the years of P5 DC experience which is a big difference, but it is pretty funny that people are mad that we hired an NFL DB coach/passing game coordinator in Butler and are suggesting we instead hire Leonhard from the exact same role. 

 
Husker in WI said:
And as well all know, coaches never learn anything and stay exactly the same for 10 years. The Satterfield reactions were worth listening to because that's where he was immediately prior. I don't care what Penn State fans think about a coach they had back when half of them were still mad they fired Joe Paterno. Their offense ranked worse than their defense in 2013, it was a mediocre team all around.

FWIW most of the media guys around here don't think Leonhard is coming back to college anytime soon. And I understand he has the years of P5 DC experience which is a big difference, but it is pretty funny that people are mad that we hired an NFL DB coach/passing game coordinator in Butler and are suggesting we instead hire Leonhard from the exact same role. 
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I am sure Butler has had some learnings over the past 10 years, but none of those learning occurred with him as the DC.  As I referenced earlier, there is a huge difference between being a position coach and being the leader of the entire defensive staff.  Rhule is taking a huge risk that Butler will excel as a DC when he really has no prior experience in that role outside of the bad 2013 year at PSU.  

Regarding Leonhard, I don't believe many are saying he is the only option but rather a top option.  Rhule even said he had many other P5 defensive coordinators reaching out to him. I simply do not understand why Rhule is not looking to bring in a more experienced DC so we can avoid on the job training.  Again, this feels like a very safe and lazy choice and not a choice of Rhule pushing to bring in the best DC possible.  

 
macroboy said:
I don’t see any overly optimistic posts. Many are willing to wait and see. It’s the over the top weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth that is bizarre.
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If you think the weeping, waling, and gnashing of the teeth now is bizarre, just wait until this crew uses every single touchdown we give up for the next year as proof that Butler is terrible and we should have hired their pet coach.

 
twofittyonred said:
I'm still under the impression that Rhule had someone in mind that passed for whatever reason and we are just rolling with butler..  lets not forget that Phil Snow has a very impressive defensive resume..
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It's possible somebody else had jumped to the top of Rhule's list recently, but it's also very clear Rhule has had Butler in mind for DC since he hired him initially. He even said as much when announcing him as the interim DC. I don't know why people find that so hard to believe. Whether fans like it or not, this has been Plan A since Cooper left and I don't think things going according to plan is bad. 

 
Husker in WI said:
It's possible somebody else had jumped to the top of Rhule's list recently, but it's also very clear Rhule has had Butler in mind for DC since he hired him initially. He even said as much when announcing him as the interim DC. I don't know why people find that so hard to believe. Whether fans like it or not, this has been Plan A since Cooper left and I don't think things going according to plan is bad. 
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You very well may be right that this was Rhule's plan all along.  But that still brings up a couple of key questions.

1.  Did Rhule want White out of the picture or did White indicate he wanted to leave?  If your theory is correct, then this was decided before the season when Butler was brought in.

2.  If Rhule knew he wanted to get a new DC, what data/experiences did he reference to say Butler was the best choice possible?

 
HuskerNation1 said:
You very well may be right that this was Rhule's plan all along.  But that still brings up a couple of key questions.

1.  Did Rhule want White out of the picture or did White indicate he wanted to leave?  If your theory is correct, then this was decided before the season when Butler was brought in.

2.  If Rhule knew he wanted to get a new DC, what data/experiences did he reference to say Butler was the best choice possible?
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  1. White almost took the USC DC job last offseason, and has clearly stated he wants to be a HC. It took a raise to keep him, and we put in a clause preventing him from taking other Big Ten DC jobs, but not preventing him from taking non-Big Ten DC jobs. We knew he was probably leaving after this year one way or another.



2. No idea, but I imagine it's a more robust process to settle on a choice than what we as fans do, which is just skimming team defensive numbers and then guessing at whether their DC would consider DC at Nebraska a promotion.

 
Husker in WI said:
It's possible somebody else had jumped to the top of Rhule's list recently, but it's also very clear Rhule has had Butler in mind for DC since he hired him initially. He even said as much when announcing him as the interim DC. I don't know why people find that so hard to believe. Whether fans like it or not, this has been Plan A since Cooper left and I don't think things going according to plan is bad. 
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I agree that butler was brought in as a backup plan if white left but if it was as cut and dry as you want to make it feel, Rhule would have just announced it as soon as white left...  He didn't, he said that he WAS talking to others and that he was surprised at the amount of interest in the position from power 5 coordinators.

 
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