Nebraska football's newest assistant is one of its highest paid

The Nebraska football team has had its fair share of staff shakeups since Matt Rhule took over. This summer's shakeup came thanks to defensive back coach Evan Cooper stepping down abruptly. John Butler was named his replacement and now we know one of the reasons he came to Lincoln. He got a nice little sum of money to do so.

The Cornhuskers released the salary for several new assistants on the coaching staff but Butler's was the highest of any on-field coaches. It was also a bit of a pay bump over what Cooper was making.

The Nebraska football team is paying Butler $700,000, according to the Omaha World-Herald. That's about $30,000 more a year than Cooper was making. It also makes him the fourth highest paid assistant on the staff behind Tony White ($1.6 million), offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield ($1.4 million), and co-coordinator/quarterbacks coach Glenn Thomas ($800,000).

Nebraska football assistant among highest paid on the staff

Like Cooper did before him, Butler also has the passing game coordinator title. That is one of the reasons why he's getting as much as he is. There's also the fact that he's got a long, long history as a defensive coach in the NFL.

Cooper also likely needed a bit of a pay bump to come to Lincoln, considering that he'd made clear earlier this winter that he wanted his next job to be as a defensive coordinator.

Butler is now, at least for now, putting that dream on hold. Even if it's made clear that he's next in line after Tony White, who knows when that will be. In the meantime, the Nebraska football team is spending some serious cash on its coaching staff.