Defensive coach puts in hours, miles for Vikings

Being a part of a team takes dedication, and not just on the part of the players, which is evident when one looks at the commitment given by Vikings defensive coordinator Ed Buttrey.

For the past three seasons Buttrey, who is an unpaid volunteer coach, has been traveling from Great Falls to lend his services to the Bigfork football program.

Buttrey previously helped coach the Vikings for a stint of six seasons during the era in which current head coach Todd Emslie was also putting in his first term. When Emslie left so did the majority of those that coached with him, including Buttrey.

However, when Emslie returned to coaching the Vikings in 2009 he wanted his former assistants back. Emslie called Buttrey to see if he might be interested in returning to the program, but Buttrey had moved out of Bigfork to Great falls.

“Todd is an offensive guy. He is probably one of the best offensive coaches there is and he’s probably one of the best coaches there is out there, so he was pretty persuasive.”

In Great Falls, Buttrey serves as a Montana State Senator for District 13, a position he was elected to in 2011. He also works within multiple businesses owned by his family, including Buttrey Realty. He is the director of the Center for Remote Integration, which earned acclaim recently for its drone’s maiden voyage.

Although Buttrey sounds like a workhorse he is also passionate about being a family man. He and his wife Jessica, a Bigfork native, have three children — 1-month-old TayLee, 3-year-old Macy and 6-year-old Kenzy.

“It’s very hard on both of us, but she (Jessica) has supported me on this crazy coaching gig because she know how much the kids mean to me,” Buttrey said.

In order to juggle that and the Vikings football team, Buttrey relies on the fact that his in-laws live in Bigfork and he is able to work from their home. A typical scenario for the coach puts him getting up early at his home, driving the three-and-a-half hours to Bigfork, working a full day at his in-laws, coaching and then driving back to Great Falls. With this plan he makes it to practice every day except Monday, and never misses a game.

His motivation for living this way four months out of the year is simple — the kids.

“This football program, and these kids, are addictive and it’s hard to not be a part of it,” Buttrey said.

Of course, Buttrey has extra admiration for the defensive players he works with. He is particularly responsible for coaching the ends and linebackers and he calls the defense from the sideline.

“I think defensive coordinator is one of the toughest coaching positions in a game,” Buttrey said. “I have about 30 seconds to identify where the ball is, to figure out what the other coach is going to do, to figure out an appropriate defensive call and then signal it in. So that is why I pace a lot on the field. I get a lot of crap from people for pacing so much, but that’s why I do it.”

With a constant theme of defense in his life, one might expect Buttrey to have a hard exterior, but that is not the case. A defensive style is just the way he takes on life — and football.

“Offense wins games, defense wins championships,” Buttrey said. “I love that reaction style that comes with defense. I love playing that game where you have to figure out what the other guy is going to do and respond.”

That game of chess on the football field is the other factor, besides the kids, that makes him not mind splitting his time across the state. Last year was the heftiest commute for Buttrey, who figured he was driving 21 hours a week to coach for 10. He recently sold off one of his businesses — Cable Technology, Inc., a military aviation electronics company — and that has allowed him to only make one or two round trips to Great Falls each week, since he can conduct his other businesses remotely.

“There’s two sides to this,” Buttrey said. “We just had a baby a month ago and my oldest daughter is in school now so they can’t travel as much as they used to. So I really miss them. That part is really tough. My wife, Jessica, knows that I’ve always been really big into community service, so that’s how I get away with it.”

Even before he threw his hat in the ring for public office, Buttrey took part, and pride, in his community. While living in Bigfork in the late ’90s and early 2000s Buttrey was a captain for the Bigfork Fire Department, was a member of the Bigfork Ambulance crew, volunteered with the Swan Mission Search and Rescue Team and was on the Sheriff’s dive team.

Buttrey graduated from C. M. Russell High School in Great Falls before going on to get his electrical engineering degree from Montana State University. He then worked in Seattle for the Department of Defense and Boeing. In 1998 he started his electrical aviation business as a way to return to Montana. He operated it out of Kalispell and elected to live in Bigfork.

“I looked all over the valley for places to live and I just loved Bigfork,” Buttrey said.

However, in 2006 he opted to expand his business to Great Falls.

After years of being involved in the Bigfork community, Buttrey began immersing himself into Great Falls, but this time in more civic-based arenas. He served as the chairman of the Great Falls airport, volunteered with the chamber of commerce and served on several other boards. Then, he decided to run for public office.

“It just seemed like the next step was to run for office,” Buttrey said. “I’m very passionate about Montana.”

Buttrey won his spot in the state senate in the November 2010 election, and has since enjoyed his time in the role.

“I absolutely love it. Being able to make the state better for our children is a really neat experience,” Buttrey said.

Buttrey has been mixing his passions for years. Before he returned to coach at Bigfork he and a couple of his friends had a radio broadcast show during the C. M. Russell football games. It was a mostly comedic show, but it entertained its listeners so much that it became one of the top 10 listened to high school football shows in the nation on the Internet.

Buttrey quit the radio show when he returned to coach the Vikings — a choice he is thankful he made.

“I wouldn’t trade this time for the world,” Buttrey said. “These past three years have been amazing. This is an amazing group of kids. They are the best kids I’ve ever coached...I’m very thankful to Todd and the school for allowing me to coach. It’s been a heck of a ride.”