What comes next for the Panthers? A look into Carolina’s head coaching search
This isn’t normal.
Nothing about how this past week has played out for the Panthers has happened before or will likely happen this way ever again.
Coaches who are fired mid-season generally aren’t so beloved, so revered that they take out full-page ads in the local newspaper to thank a city or leave their players talking about who their coach is as a person or how there were tears in their eyes when he left.
But that’s in the past now. What comes next for Carolina is a new era in the team’s history. With owner David Tepper preparing to officially put his stamp on all sides of the Panthers operations, the 2020 squad will feature a new head coach and likely many more changes.
A lot happened this week. And a lot is still to come. Some is unknown. Who will remain from this year’s team? Will quarterback Cam Newton be starting Week 1 of 2020? Who will be the new Panthers head coach and what will the front office look like?
We won’t know the answers to most of these questions for a while, but over the past week some light has been shed on what the Panthers are looking for in a potential head coach. With the information that Tepper and others have shared since Tuesday, let’s break down what to expect in the head coaching search — led by an internal search committee made up of people from the business and football side — and what’s to come.
The new coach
When discussing Ron Rivera’s dismissal with the media Tuesday, Tepper laid out the description of his perfect next head coach as he answered a variety of questions on replacing the man that spent almost nine seasons leading the organization. Many of the characteristics fit what Tepper is looking for from an employee in general, as evidenced by his hiring on the business side. None should come as a surprise:
Offensive-minded. Tepper said the Panthers would lean towards a coach with an offensive background as the NFL’s rules have become more offense-friendly and because those coaches, more than coaches with defensive backgrounds (like Rivera), tend to be open to analytics.
“In the modern NFL I think there’s a preference for offensive coordinators. There’s reasons for that,” Tepper said. “That does not mean that if you find somebody fantastic on the defensive side I won’t consider it. The question is can you have a defensive guy who’s accepting of that too. You might think that offensive guys have that more. And then it’s how that gets implemented. The NFL has made rules to lean to the offense, to lean that way, that’s why you’re having more people go that way. But I think it’s more important and I think you have a lot of people on that side accepting the more modern processes.”
The trend in the NFL has moved towards hiring coaches with offensive backgrounds (see last offseason’s Sean McVay coaching tree hiring spree). Carolina looks like it will be the next team to join the trend.
Embracing analytics. Similar to the reasoning behind the Panthers leaning towards a coach with an offensive background, hiring someone who is open to and uses analytics in their coaching is important to Tepper. Numbers have led the hedge fund manager on the business side, and he implemented that on the football side when he bought the team, including hiring a director of football analytics. Any coach that is brought in will have to be open to using and embracing that side of football.
- NFL experience. The next head coach is less likely to be someone from the college ranks. Tepper didn’t rule out the possibility of bringing in a college coach, but he also acknowledged how hard that transition can be. So no Kilff Kingsbury 2.0?
“I have great respect for old-school toughness and discipline. Given my background, I lived in an analytical world. A stats world. It’s about innovative processes. Process management,” Tepper said. “A guy can do old-school process management too, but innovative process management. Modern and innovative techniques. Whether it’s down in the training room, and not just having them on a piece of paper but implementing some of those things. You want to have the coach and the football operations, GM and assistant GM, have some of those skills.”
“I’m open to different possibilities, I do understand the difficulty of the transition though,” Tepper said. “That doesn’t mean I’m closing it off, but you got to understand anybody that’s been around football understands the difficulty of that transition from the college game to here, and different demands here.”
What candidates fit those qualifications?
There’s a few candidates that fit the qualifications that Tepper laid out. Here are a couple examples:
Mike McCarthy, former Packers head coach. Not only is McCarthy a Pittsburgh guy like Tepper, but he has proven he can win in the NFL (one Super Bowl title and nine playoff appearances in almost 13 seasons). Creating a culture of success is something the billionaire talked a lot about Tuesday and McCarthy has proven he can build that and has an offensive background.
Kevin Stefanski, Vikings offensive coordinator. Stefanski has led the Minnesota offense to a strong season in his first year as offensive coordinator, centered around running back Dalvin Cook. Could the 37-year old do the same for the Panthers with Christian McCaffrey? Stefanski was a coaching candidate for the Browns last year and has received a lot of positive buzz.
Josh McDaniels, Patriots offensive coordinator. McDaniels certainly fits what Tepper is looking for, but does he make sense after ditching the Colts’ head job in 2018? He should get a look given what he’s been able to do with New England’s offense over time.
Who should get a look that doesn’t fit the qualifications?
Just because those are the characteristics that were laid out doesn’t mean that Tepper and the Panthers will stick to just that. For example, interim head coach Perry Fewell, who grew up in Gaston County, will almost certainly be a candidate, but he seems an unlikely fit as a coach with a background that is very similar to Rivera’s. Here are a couple stronger candidates that might get a look despite not quite fitting Tepper’s model:
Matt Rhule, Baylor head coach. Rhule led the Bears to the Big 12 championship in just his third season. He has a history of turning things around swiftly, and that will only be a positive for the Panthers. While he would be coming from the college level, what he’s been able to do in a short amount of time should stand out to Tepper.
Robert Saleh, 49ers defensive coordinator. Yes, Tepper said there are bonuses to going with someone from an offensive background. But Saleh is likely to be a top coaching candidate this offseason, given what he has done with San Francisco’s defense, which is allowing the fewest yards per game this season (250.9). His sideline personality has gained a lot of attention and he would bring a lot of energy to the Panthers.
How does Cam Newton play into all this?
Newton will have surgery on his foot next week with recovery expected to take 6-10 weeks or longer depending on the injury. By the NFL draft in April, the team hopes to have a better sense if he will be able to return to full health. The new head coach will play a big role in the decision-making process for the team’s future at quarterback. Newton getting surgery and on a track to possibly having answers about his long-term health will only be a positive in attracting a top-notch coach.
Newton’s health could influence who gets hired depending on how quickly Carolina goes through the coaching search. If the Panthers decide they want to gamble that Newton will fully recover, they could bring in somebody with experience running an offense with a veteran QB. If they’re not convinced Newton will be healthy come 2020, they might instead lean toward a coach who has shown success developing young quarterbacks.
No matter who the next head coach of the Panthers is, they will have a role in deciding Newton’s future, which only adds more intrigue into who Carolina picks to fill the hole left by Rivera.
The next four games are an audition for everyone in Carolina. After that, the building of the future of the Panthers will truly begin, although the planning is already underway. Tepper seems to have in mind the perfect embodiment of his future coach for building “sustained excellence.” Whether the fifth full-time head coach in franchise history actually fits that model will continue to reveal what the next era of Panthers football will look like.
This story was originally published December 7, 2019 at 11:11 AM.
