Keith Butler is in his fourth season as the team’s defensive coordinator, after being promoted to the position on January 13, 2015.
Butler had previously served as the team’s linebackers coach for 12 seasons (2003-2014). He was originally hired by the Steelers on January 28, 2003, after serving the prior four seasons (1999-2002) as the linebackers’ coach of the Cleveland Browns. Butler remained on the Steelers’ staff following Mike Tomlin’s hiring in January of 2007.
Butler and Tomlin previously worked together at Memphis in 1996, when Butler coached the linebackers, defensive ends and special teams units, and Tomlin served as the Tigers’ defensive backs coach.
Since Butler arrived in Pittsburgh in 2003, he has been instrumental in the development of Steelers’ linebackers. He was honored in 2008 when he was named NFL Linebacker Coach of the Year by Pro Football Weekly.
The Steelers set a single-season franchise record and led the NFL with 56 sacks during Butler’s third season as defensive coordinator in 2017, surpassing the team’s previous mark of 55 set in 1994 and matched in 2001. Pittsburgh’s defense held opponents to 306.9 yards per game in 2017 – the third-fewest yards allowed – and to 20 points or less in 10 games – tied as the third-most such games – in 2017.
Four of Pittsburgh’s defenders recorded at least 5.0 sacks in 2017, including Cameron Heyward who produced a career and team-best of 12.0 – the most by a Steeler in a single-season since 2010 – and T.J. Watt who led all rookie linebackers with 7.0 sacks. Ryan Shazier earned his first Pro Bowl selection in 2017. He was tied for the most interceptions among AFC linebackers (3) and tied for second among all AFC defensive players in solo tackles (68) through the first 12 weeks of the season before suffering a season-ending injury.
Pittsburgh won its final seven games of the 2016, thanks in large part to its defense. In the final seven weeks of the season, the Steelers defense recorded 25.0 sacks, which led the league during that span. Also during those final seven weeks, Pittsburgh’s defense ranked in the top five in numerous categories, including fewest net yards allowed per game (293.6), fewest net passing yards allowed per game (197.0), and fewest points allowed per game (17.3).
In Butler’s second season as defensive coordinator in 2016, three rookies, Artie Burns, Sean Davis and Javon Hargrave, all earned starting roles. It marked the first time in team history since 1971 that three defensive rookies all earned starting roles in a single season. Davis earned the Joe Greene Great Performance Award, given annual to the Steelers’ top rookie.
In his first season as the Steelers’ defensive coordinator in 2015, Pittsburgh’s defense tied for the league lead with seven red zone takeaways. The Steelers’ defense also finished in the top-10 in the league in numerous categories, including second in fewest rushing touchdowns allowed (6), third in sacks (48.0), fifth in fewest rushing yards allowed per game (91.2) and sixth in interceptions (17). Pittsburgh’s 48.0 sacks and 17 interceptions were both the most the team registered in a single season-since 2010.
In Butler’s final season coaching linebackers in 2014, the group was led by Lawrence Timmons, who was selected to his first Pro Bowl. Timmons led the Steelers with 132 tackles, which was good for second-most in the AFC.
Butler also was reunited with James Harrison in 2014. Harrison was signed early in the season due to a number of injuries to the linebacker group. During the 2016 season, Harrison became the Steelers’ all-time leader in sacks.
In 2013, linebackers Timmons and Jason Worilds led a unit that lost two veterans, Larry Foote and LaMarr Woodley, to season-ending injuries early in the year. Timmons led the team with a career-high 155 tackles. Worilds led the team with a career-high 8.0 sacks.
Butler’s linebackers helped Pittsburgh’s defense secure the NFL’s number-one ranking in 2012. Five different linebackers each recorded four or more sacks in 2012 for the first time in team history, since sacks became an official statistic in 1982. Timmons had a memorable 2012 campaign, as he became the first Steeler to lead the team or tie for the team high in tackles, interceptions and sacks since Joey Porter in 2002.
Butler’s guidance helped Harrison become one of the league’s most elite performers. Harrison, the 2008 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, earned two straight team MVP awards (2007-08), recorded the longest interception return in Super Bowl history (100 yards for a touchdown in Super Bowl XLIII), and he earned five straight Pro Bowl Selections (2007-11). Harrison still holds the team record for sacks in a season, a career-high 16.0 in 2008.
Butler’s coaching also guided Woodley, who owns an NFL record for posting 2.0 sacks in each of his first four postseason games. Besides Harrison, Woodley is the only player in team history to record at least 10.0 sacks in three straight seasons (2008-10). The two teamed up to produce the most sacks in a single-season by a duo (27.5) in 2008.
Prior to joining the Browns’ staff, Butler spent nine years coaching in the college ranks, beginning at his alma mater, Memphis, where he coached linebackers from 1990-97, and also coached defensive ends and special teams (1995-97). He then served as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Arkansas State in 1998.
Butler was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the second round of the 1978 NFL Draft and played linebacker for 10 seasons (1978-87), all with Seattle. He started 132-of-146 games in his career, and still ranks second on the club’s all-time tackles list with 813.
A three-year starter at inside linebacker for Memphis, Butler led the team in tackles his junior and senior seasons. He finished his collegiate career with 384 tackles and seven interceptions. He was named a 1977 Associated Press All-American and played in the 1977 Senior Bowl and Blue-Gray All-Star Game. Butler was born in Anniston, Ala. He and his wife Janet have three sons, Blake, Brandon and Brett.
1990-1994
University of Memphis
Linebackers
1995-1997
University of Memphis
Linebackers/Defensive Ends & Special Teams
1998
Arkansas State University
Defensive Coordinator & Linebackers
1999-2002
Cleveland Browns
Linebackers
*2003-2014
*Pittsburgh Steelers
Linebackers
*2015-18
*Pittsburgh Steelers
Defensive Coordinator
