has taken an avocation and and turned it into a vocation. He wanted to be a teacher and a coach, but for "baby boomers" coming out of college in the late 1960s and early '70s those jobs were not easy to find. So, Butler, who graduated from South Hills Catholic High School and California University of Pennsylvania, came up with the idea of starting a football camp to help high school players sharpen their skills and give college coaches a chance to look at a lot of area players in one place. Today, Butler heads Metro Index Football Scouting. A Mt. Lebanon resident with an office in Castle Shannon, he has been in the business of evaluating high school athletes for 31 years. January will be a busy month for him as the Feb. 6 national letter of intent day for football approaches. The Post-Gazette's Rich Emert was able to catch up with Butler just before the holidays.

How did you get into the business of running a football camp and scouting high school players?

Butler: Tom Donahue (former Steelers and Buffalo Bills general manager) and myself coached together at South Hills Catholic which became Seton-La Salle and we came up with the idea of starting the football camp. We'd been friends since childhood and got the camp started in 1981. I enjoy being a scout and at that time it was difficult for baby boomers to get teaching jobs, so it was easier for me to get into this. It was a long process to get everything established and I had to be patient. But I'm a grinder and fortunately I've stuck with it.

You used to be involved in basketball as well. Why did you get out of that sport?

Butler: There's a lot of paper work involved with just one sport. Plus, this is a much better region for football than basketball at the high school level. I did basketball until 1998, which was about 23 years.

With the national signing day coming up Feb. 6, you'll be talking to a lot of college coaches, right?

Butler: I get a lot of college coaches calling all the time. It took a while, but now guys trust me. I get calls from all over the country. What I like to do is go to college games on Saturdays and that helps give me an idea of what they [coaches] are after. I get a field pass and watch the game from there. A lot of times I'll stand in the end zone. I'll go 45 minutes early so I can watch the linemen warm up and see what the coaches are looking for. Colleges are looking for guys who will play downhill at the next level. They want guys who finish plays and have good body structure.

Do you go to a lot of high school games in the fall?

Butler: I go to games, but I also watch a lot of video tape. Tape is a real good barometer for a scout because you can run it back and forth. At a game, you can blink and miss an outstanding play. What I'll do a lot of times is watch tape on Sunday mornings when its nice and quiet. I'll get up at 6 a.m. and sit there and watch, even on Saturdays. I'll watch tape for two or three hours and nobody bothers me on the phone.

Summer time is also a good time for me to watch film. There's no stress, no pressure. I can work at an even pace and drink that extra cup of coffee.

When you're watching video of a player, what are you looking for?

Butler: I try to see if they have a passion for the game. I like to look at a junior film and then a senior film to see if they get better. I tell other scouts at different levels, watch a guy in the third and fourth quarters and then go back to the beginning of the film and watch him play. Did he perform as well in the 45th minute as he did at the 3 minute mark? Did he still have the same passion or toughness late in the game as he did early, or is he just standing around? If he's busting his tail at the 39th minute as he was at the 3-minute mark, you know he loves the game.

Are you big on using the 40-yard dash time as a measuring stick?

Butler: Football is not a straight-line game. When you put the equipment on and somebody is trying to tackle you, your speed changes. I'd like to throw the 40 time out the window. A time in a 10-yard run is more valuable overall. Football is a 10-yard game, a change of direction-type of speed game.

Is there something people would be surprised to know about you?

Butler: There is one thing people don't realize about me. They are always asking, 'What do you think about this team or that team?' My job is to find colleges players. I look at the players more than the whole team. I don't study the games. Now, if they want to know about individual guys ...

Isn't it true that your camp is more about teaching?

Butler: I've always kept it a teaching camp. The NCAA changed the rule a couple of year ago and we don't test the players anymore ... it's all teaching. We have the players work on fundamentals. The thing is, the college guys can come in and look at the kids on the hoof. They can see things they can't see on film ... see bodies and see what type of acceleration a player has up close.

We had 265 players at our camp in the spring and 213 college football coaches. There are a lot of guys who fall through the cracks ... a lot of schools offering [scholarships] early. My personal opinion is that early commitments based on sophomore and junior film have helped create parity in college football.

How long is your camp in the spring?

Butler: The May camp is two or three days and we have around 300 at each session. It has become a popular camp, but it took a while to get it built up. I give a lot of credit for its success to the area high school coaches who have supported it and me. There are a lot of excellent high school coaches who come and work the camp ... it's not just me, it's them.

So, football scouting is a full-time job for you?

Butler: Football is full-time for me. We have the camp in May and then a senior only camp the first Sunday in December. That one is for unrecruited, overlooked seniors. There is a fee involved with the camps, but I've tried to keep it within a reasonable amount of money. In 1981 it was $100 for the May camp. In 2007, it was $180. You get kids coming from Erie, Uniontown, Ohio, all over and they have to put gas in the car to come here. I don't want to make it a hardship for them.

There is the debate going around that Terrelle Pryor from Jeannette is the best high school football player the area has produced. Who is the best high school athlete you've seen?

Butler: I don't think it's fair to label a kid in public. I don't want to get into the hype routine. How can somebody say that this guy is the No. 1 player in America when there are 15,000 high schools who play football and 15,000 quarterbacks. That's not right. So, I'm non-committal. The thing I don't want to do is put a label on a kid, especially someone 17 years old. If you want to put it on an eight-year NFL player, that's one thing, but not on a high school athlete.Joe ButlerWhen college football coaches want to know who the sleepers are among high school seniors in Western Pennsylvania they call the director of Metro Index Scouting.