New Panthers OC Scott Turner taking over for his dad, set to call plays for first time
There are a lot of unusual things about the 2019 Panthers.
Cam Newton will miss all but two games with a foot injury, not the shoulder that had ailed him. Ron Rivera, a beloved coach and person — both by Charlotte and the people within the Panthers organization — was fired with four games to go.
And the offensive coordinator’s son is taking over for his dad.
Among the changes accompanying Rivera’s dismissal Tuesday, Scott Turner is the new offensive coordinator, replacing his father, Norv Turner, who is now the special assistant to the head coach.
The younger Turner has been the Panthers quarterbacks coach since 2018. He was also with the Panthers from 2011-12 as the offensive quality control coach, his first role in the NFL.
Turner has spent a lot of time working with his father on different NFL teams, including in Minnesota, where he worked with Teddy Bridgewater as quarterbacks coach while his dad was offensive coordinator. He is also a former wide receivers coach with the Browns.
But the opportunity ahead of the 37-year-old is a new one. For the first time, he will be responsible for calling offensive plays for the entire game.
When it came time to fix the offense, promoting Turner made sense to the former Panthers coach, despite Turner’s inexperience.
“(Panthers owner David Tepper) was trying to figure out what to do on the offensive side, and we talked about it and I said, ‘Dave, I promise you if you talk to Norv about it, he’d be all for giving Scotty the opportunity’ and the thing that you can do is have him as the assistant head coach/senior offensive assistant to help,” Rivera said of the coaching change. “I think that’s cool too, because Scotty, he’s on the edge he’s on the precipice, he’s ready. I’m excited for those guys.”
Scott Turner will coach from the sidelines
Turner takes over an offense that has allowed the fourth most sacks (45) and turned the ball over in all but one game. It has struggled near the goal-line with Carolina losing four games partly because of issues within its opponents’ 5-yard line. All while having running back Christian McCaffrey, one of the best players in the NFL, setting records left and right.
But despite inconsistencies and injuries, the new coordinator is looking to put his stamp on the offense.
“I’m my own person, it doesn’t matter what the scheme is or whatever, what you’re thinking. My brain works differently and you have 40 seconds to make a play call, the way I’m thinking is going to be different than my dad’s,” Turner said. “I’m really just trying to do whatever I can to be successful versus Atlanta.”
Turner will remain on the sidelines for Sunday’s game in Atlanta, unlike his father who called plays from the booth. He wants to be able to communicate with his quarterback during the game.
Allen and Turner have a unique relationship. The coach was the only Panthers representative to attend Allen’s Pro Day and advocated for him with the team.
“Scott went out on a limb and found me and told the people here to bring me here, and I’m thankful for that,” Allen said. “He was the one who said, ‘Hey, this guy on the board here, he might have something. He could be an undrafted guy, we don’t have to pay him much, but we can see what he’s got.’ Scott’s always going to be my guy.”
Both Turners played role in offense
A theme from both Turner and those who spoke about him is that he is uniquely himself, and that he’s going to stay that way no matter what. That’s the advice the new offensive coordinator got from others around the NFL, and that’s what he’s going to stick to.
The offense may not look significantly different over the last four games of the season — both Turners have played a role in this season’s offense. But these last four weeks of the season are an audition, especially for someone like Turner — a chance for a young, budding offensive mind to show what he can do.
“Scott was here when we first all got here, he was a part of the staff and it’s been cool watching him grow and mature to the point professionally where he can be trusted with, coordinator level responsibilities,” defensive coordinator Eric Washington said.
“Scott’s a bright person, work ethic is off the charts. The thing about Scott is Scott wants to make a name for himself, clearly he benefits from what his father has been able to do, but he doesn’t look at it like that, he wants to forge his own path and carve out his own niche That’s the thing that I respect about him, that he wants to do things because he’s able to do them and not because of who he’s been associated with.”
This offense has been far from perfect, but as the Panthers try to figure out what their future looks like on many different levels, having the unit guided by a new, younger set of eyes will be an interesting test for a group that has yet to figure out consistency.
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 6:49 PM.