THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: New Timberlake High football coach Bryce Buttz looking to make a name for himself — however you pronounce it

Bryce Buttz has been preparing for this moment since he played quarterback at Lake City High nearly a decade ago, graduating in 2018. 

In high school, he learned under head coach Bryce Erickson and his father, longtime college and pro football coach Dennis Erickson. 

He jumped into the coaching business right out of high school, working at his alma mater for four seasons, and later coached with a pair of Lake City alums at Central Valley for four more. 

And this year, Bryce Buttz takes over the tradition-rich Timberlake High football program in Spirit Lake. 

“I’ve always looked at the game through a head coach perspective,” said Buttz, 27. “I just really thought with that process that I’ve had over my eight-year coaching career, that I could really take a crack at it, because I’ve been preparing for it.” 

Buttz has been on the job at Timberlake since January, and is in the building at the high school as a paraprofessional. He’s working toward getting his teaching certificate in the next year or two. 

“His energy is contagious,” Timberlake athletic director Catey Walton said. “He lives, breathes, sleeps football. He really came in prepared. Organized ... ‘Here’s what I want, just give me the opportunity.’” 

BUTTZ REPLACES Kelly Amos, the program’s first coach, who guided the Tigers for three seasons, and then returned as head coach in 2020 and coached six seasons in his second stint. 

The core group of coaches who have been involved in the Timberlake football program for nearly three decades — many of those from the beginning — have chosen to step away from coaching football. A couple are retiring as teachers. 

But Buttz, only the fourth different head coach since Timberlake opened in 1998, is bringing along several guys he has worked with over the past decade. 

Guys like Travis Jerome, Zion Dixon and Shane Calligan, fellow alums and guys he coached with at Lake City, along with others he’s coached with in Junior Tackle, and some who have helped him in his athlete training business. 

“If it wasn’t for the guys around me, I wouldn’t even have put in for this job,” Buttz said. 

“The biggest part of him is, he is everything football,” Walton said. “This is what he wants. He wants to build the youth (program). He’s got ideas. He’s got a team behind him that he’s bringing in. He’s surrounded himself with support to make sure he’s successful. 

“He’s having fun. That energy is contagious. He’s organized; he knows what he wants in a program. His communication is awesome. But he’s having fun; you can tell it’s what he loves. When the coach loves it, the kids love it.” 

BUTTZ HAD hoped to play in college, but that didn’t work out. 

So Bryce and Dennis Erickson, who was helping his son as a volunteer coach, invited him to be quarterbacks coach for the Lake City varsity. Then Bryce resigned as head coach that summer. 

The Timberwolves’ new head coach, Brian Fulp, invited Buttz to be the offensive coordinator for the freshman team. He held that role for three years, then was JV head coach his final year at Lake City. 

The last four seasons, Buttz was quarterbacks coach at Central Valley in Spokane Valley, and helped with the Bears’ passing game. He was also the JV offensive coordinator. 

At CV, he worked with a pair of Lake City alums, defensive coordinator Travis Harmon and offensive coordinator Dante Menard. 

“I learned from both of them ... it was like Football 101,” Buttz said. 

Jerome, who played at Idaho, will be the receivers coach and junior varsity offensive coordinator at Timberlake, Buttz said. 

Calligan, the JV defensive coordinator at Lake City the past two seasons, will be Timberlake’s defensive coordinator. 

Buttz will be the offensive coordinator, and call the plays. 

Dixon, who played at Idaho and Idaho State, will be run game coordinator and offensive line coach. 

Max Noll, a Coeur d’Alene High grad, will be the JV offensive line coach. 

Matt Miracle, who coached Junior Tackle with Buttz in Post Falls the past two years, will be the JV head coach. 

Another former T-Wolf, Matt Whitcomb, will be linebackers coach. Whitcomb played at Montana Tech and Southern Utah. 

“It feels really normal,” Buttz said. “The guys, we’ve already worked together. They know what I want to see and what my expectation is ... and they’re good at holding me accountable.” 

TIMBERLAKE HAS run a run-heavy wing-T offense for years. 

Buttz has spent time running and coaching the Dennis Erickson system, which is more of a one-back, spread offense, out of the shotgun, with lots of passing. 

And Buttz also admires the “Air Raid” offense made famous by Hal Mumme and Mike Leach. 

“It’s going to look different on Friday night,” Buttz said of the Timberlake offense. “But at the same time, we’re going to play and coach with the same relentless effort that they (previous Tigers coaches) did. I definitely have Erickson roots. He (Bryce) is my biggest inspiration and who got me into this. I was blessed to be a quarterback, so every day, I was in their position group, I got to sit in on those meetings ... those meetings were monumental to me.  

"It’s going to look like Erickson, but at the same time it’s going to look like Bryce Buttz,” he said. 

AS FOR those “old guys” that were part of the Timberlake football staff for years — Amos, Brian Kluss, Bill Rider, Rob Ranney, Mike Menti, etc. — Buttz said he’s leaned on them for advice, several times, over the past few months.  

“The overall feeling I got is they put pretty much their whole life into this place,” Buttz said. “And honestly, It inspires me to make sure I’m doing the best I possibly can. That I’ve got to work my tail off every day. It reminds me a lot of (former Lake City coach Van) Troxel, it reminds me a lot of pride. They care about this place.” 

“That veteran staff has been accessible, which has been a blessing to Bryce, but he also is very organized,” Walton said. “Bryce is going to do well. They will be very much missed.” 

When Buttz was hired, he was introduced to Steve Cain, who has coached at Timberlake under Amos in the past, as well as in western Washington for some two decades. 

After not coaching the past two seasons, Cain is back on the Timberlake football staff as defensive line coach, and quickly became a mentor to Buttz. 

“He’s been absolutely foundational for me, because he’s mentoring me through this,” Buttz said. 

Cain is the weights coach at Timberlake, and with Buttz started a Zero Hour weights class. 

Christopher Clary, a former Timberlake football player who was recently hired at the school as a teacher, will be an offensive line assistant. 

“With him, Steve Cain and I, we have three coaches in the building,” Buttz said. 

Buttz said he’s been influenced a little by each coach along the way. 

He played for Troxel as a freshman and sophomore, and "going into his program, you felt the standard and the expectation,” Buttz said. 

“I would say Kelly Reed (who coached football, basketball, track and golf at Lake City) was probably the second-most impactful coach I’ve had,” Buttz said. “He coached me, when I was on the staff. I was a young coach on the staff, he coached me on how to coach. Kelly Reed was awesome. He was the offensive coordinator for Chris Irvin (who succeeded Buttz as Lake City quarterback), and during those Brian Fulp years, those first four years, when I was freshman offensive coordinator for three years, and JV head coach for one year, who I learned from and who I sat with for those four years was Kelly Reed.” 

Buttz said Ryan Butner, CV’s head coach, is “kind of a modern version of Troxel.” 

“My parents (Chris and Tami) have been my foundation,” said Bryce, whose sister Sabrina Whitcomb (married to Phil) owns Quirkie Dough, which offers edible cookie dough on Government Way in Coeur d’Alene. 

ONE LAST thing.  

Bryce’s last name is not pronounced “Butts,” like everyone assumes and says it.  

It’s “Beauts,” like beauty, like the plural of Butte, Mont.  

But all his friends and everyone else call him Butts.  

“I gave up correcting that years ago,” Bryce said. 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.   

    LOREN BENOIT/Press file Lake City senior quarterback Bryce Buttz throws a pass against Coeur d'Alene in a 2017 game.