Nebraska is nearing completion of key defensive coaching hires, as reported by Brandon Marcello of CBSSports/247Sports. The Huskers are expected to promote John Butler to full-time defensive coordinator while also hiring longtime defensive coordinator Phil Snow as an associate head coach. Snow has previously worked with head coach Matt Rhule at the Carolina Panthers and has held positions at Baylor and Temple. These developments were initially reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Additionally, Husker head coach Matt Rhule plans to bring in Terry Bradden, former assistant defensive line coach for the Kansas City Chiefs, to fill the same role in Lincoln, replacing Terrance Knighton, who has moved to Florida State. Bradden has spent eight seasons with the Chiefs, the last four as the assistant defensive line coach, and he previously worked at Bethune-Cookman and Florida Atlantic.
The transition of Butler to defensive coordinator, taking over from Tony White, will likely be the most significant change discussed, though Snow’s addition is also noteworthy. Butler joined Nebraska after a decade in the NFL, where he coached the secondary. During the 2024 regular season, he served as the secondary coach and passing game coordinator for the defense.
Rhule has had a chance to watch Butler work some bowl practices already as Nebraska prepares for the Pinstripe Bowl against Boston College on Dec. 28. And Butler has had the chance this fall to adjust back from coaching NFL players to those in college, as he had last done in 2013 when he was a defensive coordinator for Penn State. Coincidentally, the head coach of that PSU team was Bill O’Brien, who is now leading upcoming opponent Boston College.
“You’re coaching a 32-year-old Micah Hyde versus an 18-year-old Caleb Benning; that’s a 14-year difference in not only life experience but football experience,” Butler said last month during a Huskers Radio Network interview of adjusting. “So you just have to understand and I’ve had some good conversations with Matt (Rhule) about that … ‘He’s like, ‘Hey John, you have to readjust your eyes a little bit and understand that, don’t ever lower your expectations but there’s a certain level of development that you just got to keep focusing on.’
“And take the small victories because I think we have a good core group of young players that now I’ve been here four months, I see the development now, where initially I was like, ‘Oh, OK, we’ve got a long way to go…”
Rhule said last week that the 51-year-old Butler would run the defense heading to the bowl game and made it clear then he was a candidate for the job going forward. The head coach had said he didn’t feel a hurried timetable to name the full-time occupant of the spot – only to get it right.
“He’s done a great job in the season of putting together passing game plans and stuff with Tony, so he’ll take that,” Rhule said last Wednesday. “I’ll talk to some different people. I have talked to some people. I had a lot of players come in and voice their opinions. A lot of guys love John on the team. It’s one reason why we hired John, so we’ll how it goes.”
Rhule apparently had a healthy amount of interest in the job.
“I’m talking about sitting current power (conference) coordinators,” he said last Wednesday of coaches who reached out to him about the opening.
Don’t expect Nebraska to stray too far from the schemes it has been using.
“I think what’s important to me is I like the way we play defense. I like this defense. I like these fronts. I like the multiplicity of what we did,” Rhule said. “We did some different things against Iowa which I thought was great so I don’t want to switch to something different. I want to do this defense. Whoever that is, I don’t want to make that decision for the short term where we all feel good about it. I don’t want to make a splashy hire.”
Rhule’s track record has been to have good defensive football teams no matter who is holding the DC position.
He told the team last week he’s had two defensive coordinators in his 12 years of coaching and both guys were Broyles Award finalists.
One of those Broyles Award finalists Rhule mentioned was Snow, who has long been a trusted connection of Nebraska’s head coach. The 68-year-old Snow served at Rhule’s defensive coordinator at both Temple, Baylor and in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers.
“You guys got to understand, Matt was G.A. for me in 2001 at UCLA, right?” Snow said on an appearance on 365 Sports earlier this fall. He was good-naturedly answering a question about how both coaches would get after each other while working together. “So Matt and I, we love each other, but we would get after each other on occasion. So we had a lot of fun together. And I think the players liked it. We were competitive.”
During that podcast, Snow added, “Matt’s the same (with his staff now). He’ll challenge them and they’ll challenge him. I think the players like that. Everybody’s on the player, right? But the coaches are on each other and the players can see how competitive he is. They like that.”
He was a consultant throughout 2024 for the Huskers and was a senior defensive analyst for the Chicago Bears in 2023 after his time coaching alongside Rhule.
Nebraska has also brought back Phil Simpson into the program. He will work with outside linebackers and has strong ties to the Miami area with recruiting, having been a high school coach there. Simpson was a critical piece in NU’s successful haul from the city in the 2023 recruiting class before heading to Florida State for one year.
“If he can come back to Nebraska that would be great for me. I’d be very happy,” said Husker signee Cortez Mills on Monday just before Simpson made his move back to NU official. Simpson coached Mills during his high school career. “Because my mom really trusts Coach Simp with my life, because he already showed what he can do for me since I was in high school. And my mom has got a whole lot of faith in him.”
Rhule is bullish on the defense, although Nebraska will have to find some strong additions on the D-line after losing five players who were in the rotation in some form to the portal so far.
But the head coach pointed out, while he has love for those coaches who departed, he’s had good D-line play with five different coaches having led it.
Now it’s apparently Bradden.
And for that big spot of DC, Butler.
“The next defensive coordinator will be a great defensive coordinator,” Rhule said last week. “We will play defense.”
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