Assistant coach John Butler takes job at Penn State
by Connor Tapp on Jan 11, 2012 3:08 PM EST
in South Carolina Gamecocks Football
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PrintIt's been confirmed that South Carolina assistant coach John Butler has accepted a job coaching defensive backs at Penn State, vacating the position of Special Teams/SPUR coach that that he occupied for just one season.
Initial reaction to Butler's departure has been mixed: while SPUR Antonio Allen had an All-SEC season under Butler's tutelage, the Gamecocks' special teams unit was among the worst in the country. Whether it was kickoffs, kickoff returns, punts, or punt returns, South Carolina was horrendous at all of them, ranking 81st, 118th, 106th, and 105th, respectively.
It's difficult to gauge any assistant coach's impact on his area of focus in just one season, and that is especially true in the case of John Butler, who was working with the greatest paucity of kicking talent that the Gamecocks have had since Steve Spurrier's arrival in 2005. But while Joey Scribner-Howard had his fair share of poorly kicked balls this season, the blame for Gamecocks' atrocious kick coverage does not fall squarely on his shoulders. Saying that the 2011 South Carolina team was wanting for talent would be a reach, so we either did not have the right personnel on the field for special teams plays or the players that were on the field for special teams plays were not well-coached or some combination thereof.
| Year | STE Rank | Coach |
| 2011 | 112 | John Butler |
| 2010 | 75 | Shane Beamer |
| 2009 | 94 | Shane Beamer |
| 2008 | 51 | Ray Rychleski |
| 2007 | 54 | Fred Chatham & Beamer |
| 2006 | 24 | Fred Chatham |
| 2005 | 45 | Fred Chatham |
Somewhat interestingly, the man who coached South Carolina's second-best special teams unit under Spurrier - and who may have contributed to its 2011 woes by chasing off Ryan Doerr - is available for hire after being released from the job that he held for three years with the Indianapolis Colts.
EDIT: I certainly didn't mean to come off as overly negative toward John Butler in this piece. I thought I did the best I could to make it clear that it was difficult to get a read on his impact on the team given the brevity of his tenure and the lack of kicking talent in 2011. From the interviews I saw, Butler seemed like a very cerebral guy, and I was willing to give him at least another year. It would have been interesting to see what his unit would have looked like with the benefit of having Nick St. Germain as his kickoff specialist in 2012.
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It has come to my attention that Fred Chatham shared coordinator duties with Beamer in 2007.
Hat tip to Travis Haney. (Won’t be able to edit this post though for a couple of hours, so if an admin would like to take care of that, feel free.)
by Connor Tapp on Jan 11, 2012 3:31 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions
Yeah
good riddance, was not happy with Beamer jr. either. If we can get solid st play, we can expect double digit wins again next year.
Accuracy in reporting is important. While the kicking game was not the strength of the 11 win season it was not what has been reported in this blog entry. The NCAA website has South Carolina ranked respectively in the following categories:
Net Punt – 92
Punt Returns – 68
KOR – 60
KO Defense – 68
As well the units scored 16 total points, more than any season in recent era.
Ace Sanders PR TD vs ECU
Ingram Fake Punt TD vs. GA
2pt Return of Block Kick in Cap One bowl
Please correct your inaccuracies
thank you for your first post at GABA and welcome to our community
Connor linked to the Football Outsiders wesbite, from which he reported the statistical ranks he wanted to use in his commentary piece. Contrary to your assertion, however, the ranks in this post are, in fact, accurately reported by Connor from the source material, and the website publishes its methodology.
If you want to argue that an analysis of our Special Teams should be based exclusively on NCAA statistics (which you did not link to), then that is of course your right to point out for the good of the discussion; likewise, if you want to point out (again without a link) that 2011 USC Special Teams scored more points than any “season in recent era” that is a valid argument to advance, but it is simply that – one argument.
Having said all that, it is unfair to the author, however, to say there are inaccuracies in the post where none exist, or to demand a correction when no correction is warranted. Give and take is more our style here. Thanks again for commenting.
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
Thanks, Tryptic.
Yeah, I just think that the Football Outsiders’ Special Teams Efficiency stats are much more descriptive and succinct than conventional statistics. Maybe other people have a stat that they prefer. But I don’t think I said anything that was inaccurate.
I did add a postscript to the original post to clarify that this was not meant to be a John Butler hit piece.
I'm not unhappy that Butler wanted to return to the B1G
Allen had an All-SEC/All-American type season, so kudos to John for that. But I did not like our blocking schemes on our return units, nor did think our coverage units played at a high level. The talent level between Auburn and South Carolina is roughly even this year, yet Auburn plays at a much higher special teams level than we do. I think Butler was mostly a wash, and I’m looking forward to someone who can take us to the next level.
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
One thing that was impressive early in the year...
… was how Marty Markett was able to get down the field so quickly as the gunner. I don’t know if he just wasn’t the same after his concussion or if opposing coaches made an adjustment that we didn’t or couldn’t respond to, but he didn’t seem to make the same impact down the stretch.
by Connor Tapp on Jan 11, 2012 5:57 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
Good point
I’d forgotten that. Of course, Butler has to get some credit for what could well be the player of the year – Melvin’s Rumble.
PS – Any chance we could inveigh on your good offices for an updated 2012 numbers crunch post? Or is no longer an issue?
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
The numbers crunch is still definitely an issue.
I think by my last count we were projected to be 4 over the limit. I’ll take a look at that tonight and try to have something up on it soon.
A few other good things
There was another successful fake punt, right? I have a vague memory of it, but I can’t remember the details.
And did anyone successfully fake a punt or FG on us? I know there was one kickoff return TD at Arky, but were there other FG/Punt returns for TD? I think it’s easy to forget about the dog that didn’t bark.
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