Legendary coach Steve Braet turns in his uniform after 42 years on the sideline
After 42 seasons on the Butler sidelines, legendary assistant coach Steve Braet has decided to hand in his jersey and has retired from Butler Community College.
"Steve has been such an incredible colleague and friend during my 35 years here at Butler," said Athletic Director Todd Carter. "Without his leadership, guidance and just his presence over the last four decades, it is hard for me to believe that Butler football becomes as successful as it has without coach Braet."
Braet's coaching career began in the fall of 1979 as an unpaid volunteer assistant and officially ended on February 1, 2022 as the Associate Head Coach/Defensive Line coach of the Butler Grizzlies. During that span, Braet was the common link to all six NJCAA National Championships for the Butler Football program - 1981, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2008.
Aside from a two-year coaching stint at Wichita State following Butler's first national title in 1981, Braet spent 42 seasons on the Butler sidelines with his loud gruff voice.
"Through the many years he was the pillar of consistency," said former Butler Head Football Coach Troy Morrell, who worked with Braet from 1996-2014. "There's been a lot of different head coaches and assistant coaches that have come through here. He's been the guy who has been the rock."
"Coach Braet has been the cornerstone of success for Butler for generations," commented head coach Brice Vignery. "I was so honored to be able to play and coach under his tutelage. His mentorship to me as a young coach has shaped me into the husband, father and coach that I am today. As I look back on his career one word comes to mind and that is consistency, his ability to lead and coach and be a father figure to hundreds of players over his career is his legacy. I'm wishing him lots of happy days with his wife Dana, kids and grandkids. Well Done coach Braet couldn't have done any of this without you." 
Steve Braet is widely recognized as one of the top defensive line coaches in the country. Braet has won six national titles at Butler and helped guide the Grizzlies to an amazing 22 Jayhawk Conference championships. He has an overall record of 337-118-2 in his 42 seasons with the Grizzlies.
Former coach Fayne Henson vividly tells the story of Braet looking to get into coaching after graduating from Friends University, where he played nose guard and participated in two bowl games. Butler had scrimmaged Friends the previous year, so Braet was familiar with the Grizzlies program.
Braet and another assistant were hired during the fall of 1979, and after the season, Henson went to administration in hopes of getting both assistants a paying job. After consideration, only one spot offered compensation and Henson selected Braet.
One must wonder where the Grizzly program would be had that decision gone differently.
"There is no doubt in my mind that it would not be the same," said Henson, who guided the Grizzlies to their first national title in 1981. "Not only is he an exceptional coach, but he is a ball coach. He's a tireless recruiter, but he just spends his time coaching and teaching.
Those around Braet knows he is not one to be in the spotlight, with his standard response of "no media" when asked to be interviewed. Instead, he would rather his players on-field performance do the talking for him. Their actions speak as loud as Braet's voice, as the number of players he has sent to the four-year level all the way up to the National Football League has been astounding.
While at Butler, Braet has coached 33 NJCAA All-Americans, including a four-year span where two of his players were named NJCAA National Defensive Player of the Year (Markus white, 2007; Cornellius Carradine, 2010).
He has coached 12 NFL defensive lineman, with two former Grizzlies who played D-line for Braet currently on NFL rosters DeMarcus Lawrence, Dallas and Jordan Smith, Jacksonville.
"He's one of the best" Morrell said. "He is a guy who can understand and relate to kids from all different backgrounds and find ways to bring the best out of each of them individually. Each person is different, and Coach Braet has a knack for identifying what it's going to take to help motivate that individual to be the best he can be."
"The most impressive part to me is always how demanding he is as a coach but yet he loves the players," said Braet's son Taylor, who is in his ninth season as the Director of Football Operations at Kansas State University and 16th overall with the Wildcats. "They knew he was going to get on them, but at the end of the day, he was the coach serving food to them in the cafeteria, which I tell people all the time and they think it's funny but no, he really served meals to students in the cafeteria."
Braet has made such a lasting impact on his players that when they reach the next level, they never forget where they came from. When DeMarcus Lawrence was named to his first NFL Pro Bowl in 2018, the former Grizzly was asked to invite a coach who made a significant contribution to them as a player and a person as well as the game of football. His invitation was issued to Braet, who coached Lawrence during the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
Over his 42 years spent with the Butler Football program, coach Braet has impacted the lives of over thousands of young men molding and shaping them into better men. It wasn't so much the wins and championships but more so the positive impact he had on these young men on a daily basis. He was not only a great coach and teach of the game of football but a great coach and teacher of men and the lessons he taught with stick with those that had the privilege to be around him and last a lifetime.
The lasting legacy that coach Braet has left not only at Butler - but in junior college football - will be remembered for years to come and nearly impossible to duplicate.
It will be hard to envision what a Butler football gameday will feel like without Steve Braet roaming the sidelines with his headset on, but we are extremely proud and excited for coach Braet on his retirement and can't thank him enough for everything he has done for this football program, this school, this community and the sport of football.