Lucas J. Butkus (born June 26, 1979) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach and former

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

who is the

offensive line coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

for the Green Bay Packers of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach for the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

, Seattle Seahawks and the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

. Butkus played college football at the

and was signed by the Chicago Bears as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2002. He has also played for the

Rhein Fire Rhein may refer to: Places * Rhine, a major river in Europe (german: Rhein, link=no) * Rhein, a village in the municipality of Morsbach in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany * Rhein (Ostpreussen), a former name of the town Ryn in Poland Ships * SM ...

, San Diego Chargers and Cologne Centurions.

Playing career

He attended training camp with the Bears in 2002 and the San Diego Chargers in 2003. Butkus also played

for the

(2003) and Cologne Centurions (2004) of NFL Europe. He attended

Bloom Trail High School Bloom Trail High School is a public high school in Steger, Illinois, a south suburb of Chicago, in the United States. It is part of Bloom Township High School District 206. Originally the Bloom Township Freshman-Sophomore Division, in 1976 it be ...

Chicago Heights, Illinois Chicago Heights is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 27,480 at the 2020 census. In earlier years, Chicago Heights was nicknamed "The Crossroads of the Nation". Currently, it is nicknamed "The Heights". Geogra ...

and the

Coaching career

Oregon

In 2005, Butkus began his coaching career at the

as a graduate assistant coach. He would serve in this position until 2006.

Chicago Bears

In 2007, Butkus was hired by the Chicago Bears as an offensive assistant and assistant offensive line coach under head coach

Lovie Smith Lovie Lee Smith (born May 8, 1958) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). From 2004 to 2016, he served as the head coach of the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a ...

. While the announcement that the tenure of quality control coaches Butkus and Charles London would end came on the same day as the public learned that several Bears' offensive coaches would be fired, leading to speculation that London and Butkus were fired for performance issues, the team would later clarify that the quality control coaches were signed to contracts set to expire after the 2009/10 season, regardless of the team's final standing.

Seattle Seahawks

On February 1, 2010, Butkus was hired by the Seattle Seahawks as their assistant offensive line coach under head coach

Pete Carroll Peter Clay Carroll (born September 15, 1951) is an American football coach who is the head coach and executive vice president for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously the head football coach at USC from ...

Illinois

In 2012, joined his alma mater, the

under head coach Tim Beckman.

Jacksonville Jaguars

In 2013, Butkus was hired by the

as their assistant offensive line coach under head coach

Gus Bradley Paul Casey "Gus" Bradley (born July 5, 1966) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He came to prominence as the defensive coordinator for the Seattle S ...

Illinois (second stint)

In 2016, Butkus returned to the

as their offensive line coach, reuniting with head coach

Green Bay Packers

On February 7, 2019, Butkus was hired by the Green Bay Packers as their assistant offensive line coach under head coach

Matt LaFleur Matthew Patrick LaFleur ( ; born November 3, 1979) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He has served as the quarterback coach of the Washington Redskins, Notre Dame ...

. On January 30, 2022, Butkus was promoted to offensive line coach following Adam Stenavich's promotion to offensive coordinator.

Personal life

Butkus is the nephew of

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

linebacker Dick Butkus.

References

External links

Green Bay Packers bioSeattle Seahawks profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butkus, Luke 1979 births Living people American football centers American people of Lithuanian descent Chicago Bears coaches Chicago Bears players Cologne Centurions (NFL Europe) players Green Bay Packers coaches Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches Illinois Fighting Illini football players Jacksonville Jaguars coaches Oregon Ducks football coaches People from Steger, Illinois Rhein Fire players San Diego Chargers players Seattle Seahawks coaches Sportspeople from Cook County, Illinois