Tag Archives: Keith Butler

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Rooney: We’ll Remain A 3-4 Under Butler

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Steelers president Art Rooney II spoke with local media today about the state of the team, and made one thing perfectly clear: the Steelers will remain a 3-4 defense under Keith Butler.

Many fans hoped or expected the defensive scheme to change when Dick LeBeau stepped away, but as Butler indicated last week, and Rooney confirms this morning, the team will remain a 3-4 defense.

https://twitter.com/EdBouchette/status/557931430559621121

“I don’t see any dramatic changes to the design of the defense,” said Rooney. This shouldn’t be a surprise. Surely Butler will put his stamp on the defense, but after coaching under LeBeau for so long, very little change should be expected.

Art II said that improving the defense during the offseason is a priority, but praised the unit for improving throughout last season. “All things considered, and with some of the personnel changes that we went through, over the course of the season they got better and that’s what you strive to do.”

When asked about former defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, Rooney said he was sorry to see him go. “It was a difficult situation,” said Rooney via Kaboly of the Trib. “Personally, I would’ve loved to see Dick stay. Look, Dick made a decision. The words he used to describe what he wanted to do were his words. I am not going to dispute that. Those were the words he used”

“I was sorry to see Dick go, but as we all know, these things happen in this business,” he added.

 

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Butler On Being 3-4 Or 4-3

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Keith Butler was named Steelers defensive coordinator today. A move which has been anticipated for many years. One question that has been on the minds of many Steelers fans lately is- Will Keith Butler’s scheme differ from Dick LeBeau’s scheme, and if so, how much?

Bob Labriola of Steelers.com spoke with Butler today, and asked a few questions to get a better understanding of what the new coordinator’s defensive philosophy is.

“It’s not much different than most people’s philosophy would be. We definitely have to stop the run, we have to make offenses one-dimensional if we can, and we have to put pressure on the quarterback. If we can do those things, then we can help the offense. We have to get the ball back for the offense – that’s our main goal,” said Butler.

I like it. I like it.

When asked if he’s a 3-4 guy, Butler says, “I would consider myself a whatever-it-takes-to-win guy.”

“If it’s a 3-4, that’s fine, if that fits your players. I think you have to be able to fit your defense around the players you have. With what offenses are doing nowadays in the National Football League, they’re playing a lot of three wide receivers and a tight end and a running back, for the most part. In those situations, we’re going to be in kind of a 4-3 anyway, but we’re still going to be able to run the 3-4 also. It gives you a little bit more versatility, I think.”

Sounds good. Sounds good.

Butler goes on to say that the 3-4 is important due to what offenses are doing today.

“I think there’s still a place for it is because you also have to be versatile as a defense as offenses are trying to be versatile. So we don’t want to blow it up and say we won’t run the 3-4 anymore. We will run the 3-4, but we will run some 4-3 also, in our sub-package.”

Makes sense. Though, isn’t that essentially what the Steelers have been doing defensively?

The Steelers will not hold a press conference to announce their new DC. I’m sure however that we’ll hear much more from Butler in the coming days and weeks, and will soon grow as tired as him from hearing 4-3 questions.

 

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Steelers Officially Name Keith Butler New Defensive Coordinator

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In what will come to be known as the most shocking, most surprising bombshell announcement in the history of the Steelers organization, the Steelers have announced that Keith Butler will be the new defensive coordinator. Sorry for the satire, I couldn’t help myself.

I reported earlier that the team planned to make the announcement as soon as today, but didn’t expect it to be before lunch.

Butler has been long ordained as the heir to Dick LeBeau’s throne. The team has either blocked interview requests with the longtime linebacker’s coach, or he has turned down interviews for other defensive coordinator positions over the past several years.

Don’t expect Butler to turn things completely upside down, but don’t be surprised if the defense looks different from what you’re used to. While some are calling Butler “LeBeau Jr.”, that’s most likely not the case at all.

With Butler being promoted to DC, there is now a vacancy at linebacker’s coach. The only two likely candidates that spring to mind are Defensive Assistants Jerry Olsavsky and Joey Porter, with Olsavsky being the more likely of the two. It shouldn’t be long before we find out.

 

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Keith Butler Likely To Be Announced New Defensive Coordinator Soon

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The Steelers are expected to announce the new defensive coordinator soon, possibly as soon as today according to reports. When Dick LeBeau was forced out stepped down this weekend, the Steelers organization surely wasn’t as surprised as some reports would have us believe.

It has essentially been a forgone conclusion (for some time) that longtime linebackers coach Keith Butler will take Dick LeBeau’s headset on the Steelers sideline. While a lot of people had fun speculating what big name the Steelers might bring in, it was reported yesterday that the team has no plans to bring in outside candidates.

According to WTAE, Butler met with Coach Tomlin yesterday, and a 3 year deal is being finalized. The announcement might come as soon as today. So, what do we know about Butler?

Butler was a linebacker for the Seahawks from 1978-1987. He took a coaching position at Memphis in 1990. He served various roles there including coaching linebackers, defensive ends, and special teams. Butler is credited with designing a surprise 3-4 alignment that helped Memphis upset the Volunteers, led by Peyton Manning at the time.

Butler left U of M to take the defensive coordinator position at Arkansas State in 1998. After one year there, he moved up to the NFL and took a linebackers coaching position with the Cleveland Browns. While there, he worked with some familiar names- Bruce Arians (OC), Romeo Crennel (DC), Todd Bowles (secondary), and Chuck Pagano (secondary). The Browns ran a base 4-3 during those years.

In 2003, he was hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Since his arrival, he’s been the linebacker’s coach, and has led some pretty distinguished linebackers over the past dozen years.

There is a belief that Steelers ownership is forcing LeBeau’s replacement on Tomlin. Butler predates Tomlin in Pittsburgh, and it was reported a few years back that Butler had a gentleman’s agreement with the team ensuring that he would replace Dick LeBeau when he stepped away.

The hole in this narrative is that Tomlin knows Keith Butler very well. Aside from being his manager for the last several years, he knew Butler before the NFL. Mike Tomlin also worked at Memphis and Arkansas St. with Keith Butler. He was a defensive backs coach for the Red Wolves while Butler was the defensive coordinator.

Ultimately, I think Steelers fans should be excited about Butler taking the clipboard. He’s got some huge shoes to fill, but he’s studied under LeBeau for years, and has worked in a variety of defensive systems. His hire should hopefully equate to a smooth transition into the next era of Steelers defense.

Ray Horton Hired As Titans DC, Butler Never Interviewed

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Ray Horton has been hired as the new defensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans. Despite all of the fluff that was spun about this story by various outlets, the Titans never even requested permission to interview Keith Butler. As I wrote on Monday, the hype around Butler didn’t really make too much sense, but the story grew legs quickly. One prominent Steelers blogger actually “guaranteed” he would interview wherever Whiz landed. Anyway…

The Whisenhunt/Horton relationship makes perfect sense, and the two joining up in Tennessee seemed very likely. It wouldn’t surprise me if Whiz had his mind set on him as DC while he was interviewing for head coaching jobs. Horton is highly regarded as a defensive coordinator in the league, and was Whisenhunt’s coordinator in Arizona 2011 and 2012.

Horton joined the Steelers in 2004 as an assistant defensive backs coach, before being promoted to defensive backs coach in 2007. Horton runs a 3-4 defensive base, so it will be interesting to see how, and to what extent it’s implemented in Tennessee.

Losing Keith Butler To Whisenhunt Seems Unlikely

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There have been stories circulating suggesting that the Steelers may lose LB Coach Keith Butler when Ken Whisenhunt landed a head coaching job. It was just announced that the Tennessee Titans have hired him as their new head coach, but the likelihood of him luring Butler away from the Steelers is small. Let’s take a deeper look at why it isn’t very likely.

Gerry Dulac of the Post Gazette writes, “There is a good possibility Whisenhunt will try to hire Steelers linebackers coach Keith Butler as his defensive coordinator, something he tried to do in 2007 when he left the Steelers to become head coach in Arizona.”

There’s a long history of teams (namely the Cardinals) seeking permission to interview Butler, and ultimately being denied by the Steelers brass or spurned by Butler himself. He was a candidate for the Colts defensive coordinator position two years ago, but reportedly changed his mind the day before the interview after meeting with Art Rooney II and Coach Tomlin. According to Jerry Dulac at the time, he and the team made a gentleman’s agreement in 2009 making him the next defensive coordinator when(ever) Dick LeBeau decides to hang up his clipboard. If that was indeed true, it can be safely assumed that Butler isn’t going to leave now after waiting this long. The end is certainly almost here. Dick LeBeau will be 77 this year. Having said that, it should come as no surprise that a gentleman’s agreement in the NFL doesn’t amount to much at the end of the day.

Ultimately though, Butler is a 3-4 guy and the Titans are predominately a 4-3 team. The Titans defense was formidable last year. It’s not as though they struggled and are in need of a complete overhaul. The contracts of both defensive coordinator Jerry Gray and senior assistant Gregg Williams expired last week though, so the Titans will need to find a defensive coordinator. Will Wiz want to scrap the 4-3 when the pieces are there and working? Furthermore, will he want to take a chance again on a positional coach who hasn’t been a defensive coordinator in the NFL? These questions may be moot if the Steelers decide (as they have done in the past) to decline requests to interview him.

There are  a lot of candidates in the pool for Whiz to consider, and as Mike Silver said today, Whiz was reportedly discussing options with San Diego assistants recently. Butler isn’t the only guy he knows.