Why Was John Butler Removed as Nebraska Football’s Defensive Coordinator? One Stat Makes It Completely Obvious

After the shellacking Nebraska experienced the past two games against Penn State and Iowa it was clear that changes likely needed to be made on the Nebraska coaching staff. There were a few top targets for Nebraska fans and high up on that list was Defensive Coordinator John Butler.

Now it is being reported, by Sean Callahan of Husker Online, that it will be officially announced later today that John Butler has been relieved of his duties and is no longer on the staff.

If you want to know why he was let go then I need to only point to one statistic. The Nebraska defense was ranked 135th in the country in Opponent Red Zone Conversion percentage. On thirty-one trips to the redzone, Nebraska’s opponents converted on thirty of those trips. That is a 96.77% conversion rate. You would think that on more than one occasion Nebraska’s opponents would have tripped up and somehow failed to convert. But nope. On those thirty-one trips, the Nebraska defense gave up 24 touchdowns (77.42%) and six field goals.

This conversion rate is a combination of youth on the defensive lines and the willingness to play with three down linemen on short yardage situations in the redzone. I know coaches will tell you that they can work with it but I just don’t see it.

But maybe I’m just too dumb to understand.

The most illuminating aspect of this 2025 season is that a football program can do a lot of things really well but in the Big Ten, if you are not able to stop the run then nothing else really matters. There was in my view a dramatic improvement on special teams as well as some smaller improvements on offense but it really didn’t matter in the end if you give up 77.24% touchdown conversion rates in the redzone.

That is an insane statistic. It was dead last in college football.

If you want a few comparisons. Indiana gave up five touchdowns (27.78%) when opponents made it to the redzone. Ohio State gave up seven touchdowns (35%). Those two teams are playing for the conference championship and are undefeated.

Conversely, Oregon gave up 18 touchdowns (75%) but they had an offense to back it up.

We can brag about the pass defense but all of that is meaningless if teams do not even have to throw the ball.