South Carolina special-teams coach John Butler will join Bill O’Brien’s staff at Penn State, multiple outlets, including Chris Clark of GamecockCentral.com, reported Wednesday.
There are conflicting reports as to which position Butler will coach, as he has experience coaching both special teams and various defensive positions.
Before joining South Carolina for the 2011 season, Butler had spent four years coaching linebackers and special teams at the University of Minnesota.
As special-teams coordinator, Butler put together one of the best units in the Big Ten. The Gophers averaged better than 22 yards per kick return in three of his four seasons and held their opponents to less than 20 yards per return in two seasons.
Minnesota’s punt coverage was one of the best in the country in 2008 and 2009, holding opponents to just 8.1 yards per return over that period.
Butler will likely take over the duties of Kermit Buggs, Penn State’s defensive-backs coach who announced on his Twitter feed that he was not retained by O’Brien. Generally speaking, the position of special-teams coach is the secondary title of a major positional coach. It seems likely, given Butler’s background in both defense and special teams, that he will be able to fill the void left behind by Buggs.
Butler is the eighth coach hired by O’Brien since Saturday and the sixth coach from outside of Penn State to be hired after O’Brien retained defensive-line coach Larry Johnson Sr. and linebacker coach Ron Vanderlinden.
As of early Wednesday afternoon, O’Brien has yet to hire a quarterback coach, which is the only remaining position open after Jay Paterno’s departure Tuesday afternoon. O’Brien had previously mentioned that he wanted to fill out his coaching staff by the end of the day Wednesday. Check back with StateCollege.com as this story develops.
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