Stability. It’s what many search of their skilled and private lives. Not everybody can discover it.
Keith Butler discovered that in Pittsburgh, although. It’s what prompted him to hitch the teaching workers of the Pittsburgh Steelers within the first place, and it’s what stored him round by means of the top of his teaching profession, too.
Showing in a podcast interview with Talegate Sports activities on YouTube to debate his profession that spanned from faculty to the NFL as each a participant and a coach, Butler revealed why he took the job supply from the Steelers in 2003, leaving the Cleveland Browns after 4 years.
“My contract was up, after which Invoice Cowher referred to as me and requested me to come back over to interview for the job,” Butler stated of his transfer to Pittsburgh, based on video through the present’s YouTube web page. “So, my thought course of in that, too, was, ‘Hey, the Pittsburgh Steelers are secure as they arrive within the NFL.’
“And that made an enormous distinction to me by way of the place I wished to go and what I wished to do.”
After 4 seasons with the Browns because the linebackers coach, Butler’s contract was up and the Browns had been present process vital adjustments. That opened the door for the Steelers to swoop in. Invoice Cowher gave him an interview, Butler nailed it and landed the linebackers coach job, and the remainder is historical past.
From 2003 by means of the 2015 season, Butler was the Steelers’ linebackers coach. In that point, Butler helped the Steelers win Tremendous Bowls XL and XLIII, creating some nice linebackers within the course of, from Joey Porter and Clark Haggans to LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison, and extra.
Whereas in that teaching function, Butler was beginning to generate some buzz across the NFL, particularly after Cowher retired and the Steelers employed Mike Tomlin as the pinnacle coach. Because of Butler’s earlier expertise with Tomlin in faculty relationship again to their time at Memphis and Arkansas State collectively, the linebackers coach caught round.
Ultimately that was him changing into the defensive coordinator in 2016 for the Steelers. However previous to that point, Butler had some curiosity elsewhere, together with from the Tennessee Titans and coach Ken Whisenhunt to be the defensive coordinator.
Staying in a secure setting like Pittsburgh was the transfer for Butler although.
“I had a few totally different affords by way of being a defensive coordinator elsewhere apart from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ken Whisenhunt provided me a job in Nashville [Titans]. And he additionally provided a job on the Arizona Cardinals when he was there,” Butler stated of the curiosity he had elsewhere. “And we ended up beating Arizona Cardinals in Tremendous Bowl 43 within the Tremendous Bowl. So, I ended up staying at Pittsburgh all that point, after which it ended up being 19 years in Pittsburgh.
“I’ve obtained three sons and we gained two Tremendous Bowls. I used to be gonna strive. I assumed the perfect probability for us to win the Tremendous Bowl was at Pittsburgh than some other place within the NFL. In order that’s the explanation I stayed there the entire time.”
Throughout Butler’s teaching profession, that perception of Pittsburgh being the perfect probability to win a Tremendous Bowl was typically true. Butler went to 3 Tremendous Bowls in his 19 years with the Steeler and gained two of them.
In that span, the Steelers constantly had an amazing protection, and that nice protection was pushed by the work his outdoors linebackers did getting after the quarterback and setting the sting as run defenders.
Even all these years later, the surface linebacker place stays the important thing cog within the engine of the Steelers’ 3-4 protection. That can by no means change.
Although he had affords to go away and get that defensive coordinator function after toiling beneath Dick LeBeau, Butler by no means made the transfer. He was rewarded for it, and was in a position to construct fairly the life in Pittsburgh, too.
Take a look at the complete interview with Butler beneath.
