Only a few days before the Blue-White game Penn State defensive coordinator John Butler could be seen walking a large loop around an empty practice field. Cell phone up to his ear, Butler intently talked to whomever was on the other end of the line before finally hanging up, finishing his walk, and heading back inside the Lasch Building.
Anyone who has seen Butler in action at a game or during practice knows that “quiet” isn’t a word usually associated with him. Often one of the first to find a referee after a bad call and always the loudest coach during practice, Butler doesn’t shy away from using his voice to the best of its ability.
Having taken over defensive coordinator duties following the departure of Ted Roof, Butler insists that he’ll be the same as he has always been on the sideline, even if he has many more responsibilities.
“I’ll never change who I am,” Butler said following the Blue White game. “Who I am has gotten me to this point and now you have to focus your energies in certain capacities, now I have to spread my energy around a little bit more but God blessed me with a loud voice and I think a quick mind.”
“That’s just who I am, I’m not someone who coaches with a coffee cup in my hand, I’m a vocal guy, I’m a hands on guy, and that’s the way it’ll always be.”
Butler is faced with the task of retooling the defense following the loss of players like Michael Mauti and Gerald Hodges. While outstanding players like those are not easy to find, other leaders on defense like Adrian Amos are ready to step into the play-making role. That’s one thing that has made Butler’s transition just a little bit easier.
“[The transition] has been good,” Butler said. “We have good players here, good staff, and we aren’t doing a whole lot different than what they had been doing. There are things that I believe in that maybe we’ve focused on a little bit more, but it really hasn’t been new at all or different at all.”
Penn State will likely use the dime and nickle packages this season, something that can help make up for the lack of depth at linebacker. However for the most part the defense will stay the same and is getting closer and closer to what Butler envisions.
“Everybody is always striving just to get better,” Butler said. “I want us to be a smart, physical, play-making, multiple defense. We want guys that are able to do multiple things and I think we’re developing to that, and we’re recruiting to that. If you look where we are now to where we were a year ago, and compare those two it’s not even close. Just because everything is the same, there is come continuity. Anytime there is change in an organization there is a grace period of getting adapted and getting used to what’s going on.”
“What I tell our guys is this is the third semester they’ve taken this class. They took it last spring, they took last fall, and now they’re taking it this spring. So it’s the third time with all the same stuff.”
“Just imagine you took a class in school three times in a row, a math or history class you’d know the same principles the same concepts from before. So now it’s advanced learning and you aren’t starting at square one, you’re starting at square 10.”
