How Defensive Trends Led to John Butler’s Dismissal

Butler’s firing wasn’t about everything going wrong, just the wrong things in the Big Ten.

Former Nebraska defensive coordinator, John Butler, who was featured as an assistant coach on Matt Rhule's staff from 2024-2025. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Nebraska’s defensive collapse to close the regular season didn’t just cost the Huskers momentum heading into the offseason; it cost defensive coordinator John Butler his job. After just one year overseeing the Blackshirts, Butler was informed Monday that he would not be returning for the 2026 season.

Head coach Matt Rhule released a statement confirming the move, thanking Butler for his work and announcing that veteran assistant Phil Snow will handle defensive coordinator duties for the bowl game. A full search for a new coordinator is already underway.

Butler’s dismissal comes on the heels of back-to-back blowout losses to Penn State and Iowa, games in which Nebraska surrendered a combined 77 points and watched lingering issues in run defense, tackling, and situational football spiral out of control. The Huskers still finished 7–5, marking consecutive winning seasons for the first time in more than a decade, but the defensive regression, particularly late in the year, was too glaring to ignore.

This article dives into what improved, what fell apart, and ultimately, which defensive trends contributed to Butler’s exit after just one season.

Quiet Improvements Lost in the Noise

What Monday’s news ultimately comes down to isn’t that everything in Nebraska’s defense was broken, just the wrong things, especially for a program competing in the Big Ten. Butler, who arrived in 2024 as defensive backs coach before being promoted to defensive coordinator, delivered clear progress in his area of expertise. And that’s impossible to ignore.

In one season, Nebraska transformed from a mediocre pass defense in 2024 to an elite one in 2025. The Huskers improved from giving up 216.7 passing yards per game (65th nationally) to just 141.1, finishing the regular season second in the country. The change in scoring defense through the air was even more staggering: after allowing 23 passing touchdowns last year, Nebraska slashed that number to just seven this fall, despite facing several top-tier passing attacks.

And there were signature moments that backed up the numbers. None was bigger than Nebraska’s performance against USC, the nation’s No. 10 offense, where the Huskers allowed zero passing touchdowns and just 135 yards through the air. For context, the Trojans averaged nearly 300 passing yards per game on the season. That result wasn’t a fluke; it was the product of one of the most confident and experienced secondaries in the entire country.

Nebraska defensive back Andrew Marshall grabs an interception in front of USC wideout Ja'Kobi Lane. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

The 2025 defensive backfield lived up to the offseason hype and, in many ways, carried the identity of the defense. Ceyair Wright, who earned midseason All-American honors from The Athletic, anchored a veteran group that also included DeShon Singleton, Marques Buford Jr., and Malcolm Hartzog. Three of those defenders will exhaust their eligibility after the bowl game, making this season their final run through Lincoln, and they played like it.

But the progress wasn’t limited to the seniors. Nebraska leaned heavily on a trio of underclassmen who stepped into meaningful roles and never looked out of place. Redshirt freshmen Donovan Jones, Rex Guthrie, and Caleb Benning were trusted in various roles, with Jones and Guthrie logging some of the highest snap counts on the entire roster. Add in Andrew Marshall, who returns in 2026, and Hartzog, who will have another year of eligibility, and the foundation for next year’s secondary remains intact.

While Nebraska allowed 33 total touchdowns in 2025, only a small fraction came through the air. In terms of coverage, technique, and execution, Butler’s fingerprints were all over the unit’s improvement. And in a vacuum, the Huskers’ leap in pass defense would’ve been one of the program’s most encouraging trends this fall.

The Regression Nebraska Couldn’t Afford

For as much as Nebraska’s pass defense surged forward in 2025, the backbone of any quality Big Ten defense, the ability to stop the run, collapsed in dramatic fashion for the Big Red. A year after finishing 8th nationally in rushing defense, allowing just 101.2 yards per game, Nebraska plummeted to 96th, surrendering 172.6 yards per game on the ground. That’s not a dip. That’s an identity crisis. In the Big Ten, where games are routinely won between the tackles, that regression became the defining flaw of Butler’s lone season.

The efficiency numbers paint an even clearer picture. Nebraska gave up 4.8 yards per carry in 2025, a full yard-and-a-half worse than 2024’s 3.5 yards per rush. Last year’s defense allowed only six rushing touchdowns in 12 games. This year? Nebraska allowed at least two rushing touchdowns in all but one conference game, finishing with one of the worst red zone run defenses in the league. Opponents didn’t just run effectively; they ran confidently, repeatedly, and without hesitation.

And it wasn’t only the yardage totals. The Huskers struggled to create negative plays up front, a stark contrast from Tony White’s disruptive front a year ago. Nebraska defenders repeatedly found themselves washed out of gaps, losing leverage, and giving up consistent gains on seemingly every down. That left the defense living in shorter down and distances, where even an elite secondary had little opportunity to impact the game.

Northwestern quarterback Preston Stone gets a pass away under pressure from Nebraska's Williams Nwaneri on Oct. 25, 2025. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Situational football further exposed the problem. Nebraska finished 14th in the Big Ten in rushing yards allowed per game, and opponents took full advantage by controlling tempo, extending drives, and minimizing the need to test the Huskers through the air. It’s no secret why Nebraska allowed 33 total touchdowns this season. The inability to generate stops on the ground meant opponents dictated terms, especially late in the season against more physical teams.

The late-season collapse added an exclamation point. Nebraska entered November allowing 15 rushing touchdowns through eight games, okay numbers, but the closing two contests told a vastly different story. Penn State, a program in turmoil after firing its head coach, put up 37 points. Iowa, owner of the 120th-ranked offense, hung 40 points on Nebraska and gashed the Blackshirts for a season-high 379 total yards. These weren’t elite offenses finding ways to score; they were struggling units exploiting the same fatal flaw over and over.

In the end, Nebraska’s defensive regression wasn’t defined by one bad statistic or one bad afternoon. It was defined by imbalance. The Huskers built one of the nation’s best pass defenses but failed to pair it with a front seven capable of competing in a league built on physicality. When the Big Ten asked its annual question: Can you stop the run? Nebraska didn’t have an answer. And that, more than anything else, is what ultimately led Matt Rhule to decide a change was necessary at defensive coordinator.

John Butler during the Michigan game where Nebraska surrendered 286 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Where the Blueprint Failed

Apart from letting the numbers tell the story, Nebraska’s defense, whether limited by scheme, personnel, or both, operated like a unit better suited for another conference. The 2024 version of the Blackshirts had real promise, but the staff never truly retooled the position groups that decide games in the Big Ten.

Losing cornerstone linemen like Nash Hutmacher and Ty Robinson, along with physical linebackers such as MJ Sherman and Mkai Gbayor, was always going to create a talent and experience void. Instead of having replacements ready or adjusting the scheme to match the next wave of players, Nebraska went younger, smaller, and cheaper. Those choices, layered together, led to where the program stands today.

The elite secondary was a genuine bright spot, but in this league, it has to be the luxury, not the trait you lean on to survive. Against Michigan, Penn State, Iowa, and the teams built for November football, dominance at the line of scrimmage still separates true contenders from the rest. And while this story centers on the defense, Nebraska wasn’t even average up front on either side of the ball. That reality cut the legs out from under everything else they tried to do.

Whether the shortcomings fall more on Butler, a first-year coordinator with limited input in the roster he inherited, or on deeper, longer-running miscalculations from decisionmakers above him, the result is the same: as of Dec. 1, Nebraska is once again searching for its third defensive coordinator in as many seasons. And if the Huskers want to stop repeating this cycle, the next hire must be more than a quick fix, it has to be a recalibration of identity.

Which leads directly into the most important question of the offseason: What does Nebraska actually need in its next defensive coordinator?

Nebraska associate head coach turned interim defensive coordinator Phil Snow. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

The Coordinator Nebraska Needs

Whether it was White or Butler, certain areas of Nebraska’s defense have ranked among the nation’s best in all three years of the Matt Rhule era. Yet despite those bright spots, building a complete defense has continued to slip through this staff’s grasp.

What Nebraska truly needs, perhaps even more urgently than choosing the right coordinator, is an honest look in the mirror at the identity this program has built. For three seasons, fans have watched an emphasis on adding offensive weapons and elite defensive backs. But the teams that win in this conference don’t win because of the players who attract the headlines. They win because of the players who don’t. They win up front. They win with size, depth, and a relentless ability to control the game where it matters most.

Entering 2026, Rhule must embrace that reality, or hire a defensive coordinator who already does. The next hire doesn’t need to be splashy or headline-grabbing. It simply needs to fit. And if Nebraska misses again, the consequences will likely reach far beyond another coordinator search.

Former Nebraska defensive coordinator, Tony White, who led the Blackshirts in 2023 and 2024. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Rhule’s job security isn’t in question after his contract extension, but something even more important is: the trust of a fan base that has invested time, hope, money, and belief into a program that, for the better part of 20 years, hasn't been paying them back. Words and promises only carry a program so far. As year four approaches, the Huskers must show more than progress; they need to prove it.

And that’s where the optimism still matters. Rhule has shown he can build culture, develop players, and recruit at a high level. The foundation isn’t broken. But this next decision will determine whether Nebraska finally turns the corner from “almost there” to a team built to contend in the Big Ten, week after week, year after year.

If Rhule nails this hire, it won’t just change the defense; it could define the next chapter of Nebraska football. And if you managed to make it to the end of this article, you're well aware he isn't the only one interested in seeing how it pans out.

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