Butler University Athletics

Primary Recruiting Areas: Western Indianapolis | Lafayette | North Suburbs of Chicago | Wisconsin
Outreach Recruiting Areas: Minnesota, Texas, Oklahoma

Joe Cheshire has been a valued member of the Butler coaching staff since 2004. He currently serves as the program's special teams coordinator and safeties coach. Under his tutelage in 2023, kicker/punter Luka Zurak was a Second Team All-PFL selection. The Bulldogs were also one of just 19 FCS teams to not allow a blocked kick throughout the season. 

Cheshire impacted the safety position group with Nick Bafia leading the team in tackles during the 2023 campaign. Bafia was a First Team All-PFL selection, averaging nearly six tackles per game. The year prior, Zurak was a First Team selection at both punter and kicker that earned PFL Special Teams Player of the Year honors after a vote from the head coaches. 
 
Cheshire has been part of the coaching staff during one of the best runs in Butler football history. In 2013, he helped to guide the Bulldogs to a 9-4 record, a share of the Pioneer Football League crown and Butler's first appearance in the NCAA Division I Football Championship in 2013. It was Butler’s fourth title as a Division I football program. Butler has won at least a share of the PFL title in three of the last six seasons.
 
Cheshire joined the Bulldogs in 2004, after spending two seasons as offensive backs coach at DePauw University. In his final season at DePauw, the Tigers led the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference in rushing yards per game.
 
The son of former Butler football player Jim Cheshire (‘75), Joe was a four-year football letterwinner at DePauw. He was the Tigers’ offensive Most Valuable Player in 1997, and he served as a football team captain in 1998. He earned all-conference recognition as a junior, when he led DePauw in pass receiving.
 
Cheshire received a B. A. degree from DePauw in 1999 and began a brief business career before returning to the football field in 2002.  He and his wife, Ashleih, have three children, Griffin, Charlotte and Jack.