NOVEMBER 28: When speaking to the media in the wake of Reich’s dismissal, Tepper unsurprisingly pushed back on the notion that his impatience regarding coaches will make the Panthers opening an unattractive one. He also suggested, via Person, that an outside hiring firm will not be consulted for the latest search process (subscription required). Tepper has elected to keep his previous hiring decisions in-house, and it appears that will remain the case in 2023.
Confirming previous reports on the matter – as well as Reich’s public remarks – Tepper also said the Panthers’ decision to draft Young over C.J. Stroud was “unanimous.” Tepper is widely understood to have played a role in the selection (as well as other elements of the team’s football operations), but his assertion on the matter of the Young pick may help smooth over meddling-related concerns for prospective coaching candidates, especially if those with a background on offense are again prioritized.
NOVEMBER 27: Frank Reich now joins Nathaniel Hackett, Urban Meyer and Pete McCulley as the only post-merger head coaches to be fired before their first season ended. This resided as a McCulley-only list for more than 40 years, but owners have acted swiftly over the past three. David Tepper pulled the plug on a four-year contract Monday, and Reich’s firing edges out Hackett and Meyer, who were respectively fired 15 and 13 games into their Denver and Jacksonville HC tenures. Only McCulley was fired sooner since 1970; the 49ers canned him after nine games.
Offset language helped the Panthers avoid much of the remaining payments on the ill-fated seven-year Matt Rhule contract, with the longtime college HC signing on as Nebraska’s leader. But Reich may not give the Panthers the chance to recoup money. The veteran NFL HC and assistant and former quarterback said shortly after his firing this is probably it for him in the NFL, though he did not definitively announce a retirement.
“This is probably the final chapter of my NFL journey,” Reich said, via the Charlotte Observer’s Scott Fowler. “… There’s a heart-pounding disappointment in not hitting the marks that we needed to hit to keep this going and try to get it turned around. It hurts me for the guys, the team, the coaches and the fans.”
Reich has been an NFL assistant or head coach since 2006, moving into the profession on a full-time basis eight years after his playing career concluded. The Super Bowl-winning OC’s remark Monday differs from his plan upon being fired midway through last season. Following the Colts dismissal, Reich revealed intentions to coach again. He received another opportunity, beating out Steve Wilks for the Carolina job. But the Panthers regressed after making that change. Despite Reich being in his first season, Tepper, who was irate after a Week 12 loss dropped the Panthers to 1-10, canned the coach he hired in January.
Reich, 61, appeared to pull back the curtain on rumblings of Tepper overreach during the season, indicating the owner took a hands-on approach. While animosity would understandably exist after being fired 11 games into his tenure, the well-liked coach did not indicate any existed. Tepper has now fired three coaches in-season; he dismissed Ron Rivera 12 games into the 2019 campaign.
“I want to convey that I have nothing but positive thoughts about Mr. Tepper. On a personal level, I saw a side of him that I deeply respect and care about,” Reich said, via Fowler. “But the NFL is a meritocracy. It’s not unconditional love. I understand from a professional standpoint Mr. Tepper is going to have certain standards that he expects to have met. I have no hard feelings, and my personal relationship with him was actually a real highlight of this short time.”
Firing coaches during the season in back-to-back years brings the latest round of turmoil for the Tepper-era Panthers, whose first-round pick — stationed atop the 2024 draft board with six weeks left — goes to the Bears via the Bryce Young trade. It will be interesting to see the run of candidates interested in the job, but despite Reich’s struggles, The Athletic’s Joe Person indicates the sixth-year owner is likely to again target an offense-minded HC (subscription required).
As should be expected, veteran special teams coordinator Chris Tabor is unlikely to receive much consideration for the long-term job, ESPN.com’s David Newton and Jeremy Fowler note. Although Tabor has been an NFL special teams coach since 2008, the path for ST staffers to rise to the top sideline job — John Harbaugh‘s Baltimore success notwithstanding — remains narrow.
Wilks drew support to become the first interim HC since Doug Marrone (Jaguars, 2017) to see his interim tag removed, but Person adds Tepper had zeroed in on an offense-geared coach. Ben Johnson had emerged as Tepper’s top target, but the young Lions OC removed his name from consideration a week before the Panthers hired Reich. Wilks interviewed twice along with Reich, instead ending up as the 49ers’ DC. It is not surprising to see an owner prefer an offensively oriented HC, given recent NFL trends. The Panthers will aim for a leader who can get more out of Young, presumably with a better cast of weaponry in place for 2024.
The Panthers fired Young’s position coach and their running backs coach after canning Reich, and NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport indicates the ousters of Josh McCown and Duce Staley came from Tabor and Jim Caldwell. Staley had worked with Reich in Philadelphia as well, while McCown interviewed twice for Houston’s HC job.
A Reich hire, Caldwell has received more power following Monday morning’s change. Thomas Brown is back in place as the play-caller, however. Reich had taken back play-calling duties after handing them off to Brown for a three-game stretch. The Panthers, who had attempted to blend Reich concepts with those Brown learned from Sean McVay with the Rams, rank 30th in total offense and 29th in points scored.
Former Panthers tight end-turned-FOX analyst Greg Olsen would be interested in the position, per Person, should Tepper contact him regarding what would be an outside-the-box hire. Olsen is best remembered for his Panthers years and is early in his broadcasting career. FOX, however, is still planning to effectively demote him for Tom Brady in 2024.
Prior to the Panthers’ Week 12 loss to the Titans, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo had not gotten the sense Reich being a one-and-done was a certainty (video link). Though, Reich and GM Scott Fitterer were reported to be on the hot seat several days ago. Tepper had naturally planned to evaluate Reich’s work at season’s end. It turned out the owner no longer wanted the former Carolina QB mentoring Young, whom the owner was believed to have made a strong push for ahead of the draft. Hired to work with Rhule in 2021, Fitterer should certainly be considered on a hot seat going into the season’s home stretch.
Eric Bieniemy should finally get a chance.
Starting the game early…
Based off what? Washington’s offense being horrible? His stellar work as a citizen?
Ban Jacob Nix:
You might want to do some research on Mr. Bieniemy and his off-field issues.
As an owner you must consider that the Head Coach will be in front of the media no less then 3 times a week for live fire questions. A lot of sexual harassment led to Mr Tepper being able to purchase the team and was involved in Mr Harris with the Commanders.
A head coach doesn’t just run the team, they run the entire on field operation.
Working for Tepper is perhaps his only shot at being a HC.
For his sake I hope it isn’t the Panthers. If he’s finally going to get a HC job after all this time it should be for a team with a better owner.
Should do the Bobby Bonilla and hit Charolette every year for his annual checks. He’s been in the game since the 1990’s, Frank should be loaded. Why deal with the stress, moving, egos…at 61? Enjoy retirement.
Reich just might get an itch by next year as OC. He’s pretty good at that level.
The jokes if Reich got a third HC job would be a PR nightmare for whoever hires him.
Would hiring Frank be anymore of a PR nightmare than hiring Jim (I can steal signals with the best of them) Harbaugh?
Give it to Bienemy might as well
And see another Tepper coaching choice get fired mid season?
Nah he’d do more than Frankie Frank did lmao
We really have no idea if that’s true or not. Being a head coach and a coordinator are two completely different jobs. We’ve seen great coordinators flame out and mediocre coordinators excel. If we were part of the interview process, our opinions on certain candidates would almost assuredly shift.
I think we would. Look at the improvement to commanders offense. Howell went toe to toe with Jalen hurts twice. Their third string WRs are having 100 plus yard games. Schemes and mismatches. Panthers need that crap And more protection and more weapons. Thielen most likely gone after this year
Which shows that he’s a great coordinator. But like I mentioned, lots of great coordinators have made terrible head coaches (Patricia or McDaniels, anyone?) while lots of meh coordinators or just position player coaches have shown to be top-tier coaches (Campbell comes to mind, as does Tomlin who had the worst-ranked pass D in the league before being hired by Pittsburgh).
I would also like to see Bieniemy get a chance, but the rumor is that between his history and his responses during interviews, owners don’t see him as a leader of men. Head coaching ability extends way beyond Xs and Os.
I don’t get your argument? Lots of coordinators have also made amazing coaches (Shanahan Siriani Andy Reid Harbaugh etc). It’s about damn time EB gets a head coaching job. For Pete’s sake Joe judge and Matt Patricia had chances why not a man that won Mahomes his first Super Bowl
Yes, lots have. Lots also haven’t. I agree that he deserves a chance, but my point was solely in response to your Reich comment, which is that none of us have any idea if EB would actually be any good as a head coach or do more than Reich. So far the consensus within NFL circles is that he wouldn’t and I laid out the rumored reasons why.
He would win more than 1 game and surround him with good WRs.
You don’t know that, though. You’re making an assumption based on his ability as a coordinator and have no insight as to whether or not he would be effective as a head coach. When coordinators become head coaches they go from having responsibility on just one side of the ball to being in charge of game day operations, being responsible for overseeing entire gameplans on both sides of the ball, handling the rest of the staff, having last word on personnel packages, having final word on substitution decisions, being solely in charge of in-game decisions, etc, none of which we know for certain he would excel at. Ability to do coordinator duties well has limited correlation to success as a head coach. Not none, just less than people assume (see Arthur Brown for example).
No one can definitively say one guy would be better as a HC until there is impirical evidence to suggest that is the case, otherwise you’re just making a random prediction. So far, the people who conduct intensive interviews with candidates have determined for 3 straight years that he doesn’t appear strong enough to fulfill that role.
He wouldn’t go 0-17. I’d bet my balls on that. Argue what you want but he’d make better decisions than Reich. I don’t care what anyone says
You can bet your balls, but that gamble is solely about the low odds of a team going 1-11, not because you’ve been presented with impirical evidence about Bieniemy. FWIW, nobody thought Reich was going 1-11 and fired in year 1 either. That hire was nearly universally celebrated.
Lmao universally? Now you’re just making stuff up. There were tons of question marks about his hire and with good reason
Notice I said “almost universally,” not “universally.” You haven’t been able to refute any of my points except when incorrectly quoting them lol. If you Google it, you’ll see most outlets praised the hire. Google doesn’t lie.
Google doesn’t tell the whole story either lol
K go search Twitter lol
I will admit, you’re very likely right that Bieniemy wins 2 or more games (but so would a random coach in a fluke fashion, like whoever is HC at Akron if he took over), I just disagree with the process on how you get to that conclusion. It seems we won’t see eye to eye on that, however, so I won’t try to argue further.
There was no real argument to begin with though. You said coordinators can do poorly transitioning to HC and listed examples. I also listed examples about them doing very well becoming HC. All I was saying is anything is an improvement over 1-10. It’s actually very hard for pro athlete caliber players and organizations to only have 1 win back to back seasons. It’s only happened a few times in nfl history lol
Reich needs to do the minimum to meet his offset clause requirements – otherwise I wish him well in sticking it to Tepper.
Yep, go fill out 2 applications per week to comfort the Unemployment Office then deposit your weekly check from Tepper.
Reich is an honorable coach who worked for two of the NFL’s worst owners. He looks like he’s aged 20 years over the past two, so it might be time for a vacation before deciding if a new OC role is in the cards.
I agree. Given his experiences at his last two stops, I don’t blame Reich for retiring. I don’t think that anyone should.
If I were him take two years off enjoy the millions vacation and then get a opening job in a power five conference and reboot from there
Reich will kick back and enjoy those guaranteed years they have to pay and will never be heard from again.
How dumb can NFL owners be to give these coaches 4-5 year contracts guaranteed and they won’t do it for players.
Coaches’ salaries don’t count against the salary cap… That explains a LOT…
Agree. Also, the current situation with Cleveland’s QB is a good reason why most owners are fighting guaranteed contracts. One bad decision could cripple a team for 3-5 years.
Hue Jackson is the coach this team deserves, not the coach it needs.
Urban Meyer is the coach Tepper deserves. I say 10 years and 120 million, and then we can all sit back and enjoy some laughs.
Is he taking his 175lbs QB w/em ?
The ‘article’ postulated’ the owner pushed for that QB not necessarily Reich. Frank did give the standard response when asked numerous times about Young verses Stroud indicating he was ‘all in’ on the Panther draft pick – yet that’s a standard employee response regarding decisions driven by an owner, so take that one “however”.
Reich is clearly suffering from owner-induced fatigue.
If Tepper wants the Panthers to be successful he should fire himself.
The Panthers could bring in God Jesus Superman Batman and a freaking miracle worker but as long as David Tepper is the owner they will still blow donkey balls.
Unless you are talking about an Elway, a Manning, or even a Lawrence, giving up that amount of draft resources did this team in before the season started. Tepper should have known that this was likely going to be a lost season, based on the roster that had been assembled. Manning, Aikman, Lawrence all had bad records their first year. We won’t know how good Young is until they get the requisite talent around him.
You are absolutely correct. That’s another element that should have been considered in making this decision-what exactly did Young (or Reich) have to work with?
It’d be pretty hard for the team to get worse talent-wise next year, so you figure that whomever gets the lucky assignment to turn Carolina around will have something better to work with. Still, the Panthers are a long way from where they need to be, and it’s going to be tough for them moving forward.
I wonder if the Panthers will figure out that if you’re going to target an offensively-minded head coach that you might want to consider giving hm an offense to work with…
I hope Pederson doesn’t take another position so Tepper has to pay his contract out in full.
Tepper should consult the Vatican about the next coach, as they might know someone who can perform miracles.
Jeff Saturday is available!!
It’s was “unanimous” lol. I’m sure it was after he said we’re taking Young regardless of what anyone else says. He doesn’t get that he is the problem so he will continue firing people as a result of the decisions he made. Sorry Panther fans it’s gonna be missed able half decade at least.
Mark Davis has to be looking at Tepper thinking, “At least there’s another owner more dysfunctional than me!”
3 head coaches fired mid-season since 2019. And the one constant is David Tepper.