Brian Hales will not return as Butler High’s head football coach. What we know
For the second time in 20 months, Brian Hales is stepping down as Butler High School’s head football coach.
Hales, who retired from coaching in March of 2024, returned to lead the Bulldogs on an interim basis last season. He started in May 2025, eight days after Glenwood Ferebee resigned, and just a few months before the 2025 season began last August.
“My love and appreciation for Butler, and the football program, will never diminish,” Hales said. “It has been one of the great loves of my life. After 21 seasons of giving everything I have to Butler football, it’s time for me to fully step away.
“The game gave me purpose, brotherhood, and meaning — but it also demanded everything I had. This decision isn’t about walking away; it’s about turning inward. I’m taking this time to reinvest in myself, to rediscover who I am beyond the sidelines, and to explore the second half of my life with the same passion and intention I brought to the game.”
Hales, who never stopped teaching at the school, was 5-7 last season at Butler, but led the Bulldogs to a second round playoff berth. It was only the third losing season in school history.
The school’s first team, in 1997, was 3-8.
In 2024, the Bulldogs were 4-7 under Ferebee, a former two-time state champion at Chambers. Hales’ team was 5-7 last season, but reached the second round of the state playoffs, despite losing several key players to transfer before he took over.
Hales, a regular on The Observer’s Talking Preps streaming show, won two state titles as an assistant coach with Mike Newsome in 2009 and 2010. He took over as Butler’s head coach in the 2011 season, and in 2012 coached one of the best teams in Mecklenburg County history, leading the Bulldogs to a 15-0 record and a third NCHSAA title.
In 2024, The Observer ranked that Butler team No. 3 among all teams from the Charlotte-area in the past 40 years.
If he doesn’t coach again, Hales ends his career with a 136-41-0 record.
Head coaching changes
A look at head coaching changes in the Charlotte-area
School: Old coach (New coach)
Ardrey Kell: Greg Jachym (not filled)
Bessemer City: Kyle Creed (Beady Waddell)
Butler: Brian Hales (not filled)
Charlotte Catholic: Keith Emery (Mike Brodowicz)
Covenant Day: Mike Hawks (Jordan Langs)
Independence: DJ McFadden (not filled)
Marvin Ridge: Aubrey Carter (not filled)
North Iredell: Andy Howell (Kent Millsaps)
North Lincoln: Chris Hinson (not filled)
West Charlotte: Sam Greiner (DJ McFadden)
West Mecklenburg: Beady Waddell (Randall Ingram)
This story was originally published January 27, 2026 at 1:18 PM.