Marco Butler is in his ninth year on the Norfolk State coaching staff. After coaching all NSU defensive backs for the last eight years, Butler will work primarily with the safeties in 2013. He also serves as the special teams coordinator.
After showing steady improvement under Butler during 2005 and 2006, the Spartans have ranked in the top 20 nationally in passing defense each of the last six seasons, culminating in a 2012 season where the Spartans led the country in fewest yards allowed (136.6 ypg) despite debuting two new starters at safety.
Despite breaking in two new starters at cornerback in 2011, NSU still ranked 18th in the FCS in pass defense (177.5 ypg allowed) during its MEAC title season. Senior free safety DeVonte Reynolds earned second-team All-MEAC honors, marking the fifth straight season that one of Butler’s protégés was selected to the all-conference team.
In 2010, with two new starters at the safety positions, NSU again cracked the FCS top 10 in pass defense, ranking eighth (153.6 ypg allowed). One of the leaders of that group, cornerback Dante Barnes, signed as an undrafted free agent with the Washington Redskins.
Barnes became the third of Butler’s former defensive backs to sign with an NFL team. The others were Terrell Whitehead, who signed with Jacksonville as a free agent in 2010, and Don Carey, who was Cleveland’s sixth-round draft choice in 2009 before landing with the Detroit Lions in 2011. Whitehead capped his NSU career by becoming NSU’s first-ever three-time Division I All-American after leading the Spartans to a No. 3 national ranking in pass defense in 2009 (141.1 ypg). Whitehead and Carey were both All-MEAC selections in 2007 and 2008. They led a secondary which ranked fifth nationally in 2007 in pass defense (147.8 ypg) and 15th in 2008 (160.3 ypg).
Prior to joining the coaching staff at NSU, Butler spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Fayetteville State University. He worked with the safeties for FSU, and was also video coordinator and academic coordinator.
At Fayetteville State, Butler coached for two CIAA championship teams, in 2002 and 2003, and one CIAA runner-up team, in 2004. The Broncos made NCAA Division II playoff appearances in two of his last three seasons there.
Butler also has coaching experience beyond the gridiron. He was the head men’s and women’s track coach at Fayetteville State from the fall of 2004 before coming to NSU, and was the head women’s track coach and an assistant for the men’s team in 2002-03.
Butler was a four-year player for Western Carolina University (1995-99), where he played receiver and defensive back for the Catamounts. He earned his bachelor’s degree in sport management with a minor in marketing in May of 2000.
Butler was selected for an internship with the Dallas Cowboys in 2010 as part of the NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship. He worked with the team during its training camp. Butler was also one of 60 applicants nationwide selected to attend 2011 NCAA-NFL Football Coaching Academy in Orlando, Fla.
Butler is a native of Ware Shoals, S.C. He and his wife, LaShauna, have one daughter, Eva Marissa, and a son, Marco Deuce.
