Butler High football changes: New coach out, legendary coach back in
After one season at Butler High School, Glenwood Ferebee has resigned as head football coach.
Butler athletic director Chris Satterfield confirmed the news for The Observer and said the position is open.
In the meantime, longtime Bulldogs’ coach Brian Hales told The Observer that he will coach the team on an interim basis.
Ferebee was hired in May 2024. His first team faced a series of injuries, including to star quarterback Zach Lawrence, and finished 4-7. The Bulldogs started 0-4 and lost their final three games.
It was the school’s first losing season since 1997, the first year in school history, when Butler finished 3-8.
From 1998-2023, Butler won three state championships and was 270-70. From 2005-16, the Bulldogs won at least 10 games every season.
Efforts to reach Ferebee were unsuccessful.
Before his time at Butler, Ferebee worked as high school relations director at Virginia Tech, but coached at Chambers High before that.
At Chambers, Ferebee built the No. 1 public school program in North Carolina. He led the Cougars to three straight state championship games in North Carolina’s largest and most competitive class. His teams won back-to-back state titles.
Ferebee left Chambers in December 2021 with a record of 39-5, including 14-1 in the playoffs.
Hales back in the interim
Hales, one of the best coaches in Mecklenburg County history, will coach the Bulldogs — at least for now.
Hales retired from coaching in March 2024 after 20 years at Butler, where he still teaches.
Hales came to Butler from Providence Day in 2004, where he and Mike Newsome formed a dynamic coaching team.
Newsome promoted Hales to offensive coordinator and led the Bulldogs to back-to-back state championships in 2009 and 2010. Newsome left for Kannapolis’ AL Brown High School after the 2010 season, and Hales moved up to the head job.
In Hales’ second season, 2012, the Bulldogs finished 15-0 and won a third state championship. That Butler team was recently ranked No. 3 among all teams in the Charlotte-area in the past 41 years.
Hales overall record is 131-34. He’s never had a losing season nor had a team lose more than four games in a season.
Hales is also currently a co-host of The Observer’s “Talking Preps” streaming high school football show.
This story was originally published May 20, 2025 at 7:26 PM.
