A full look at Panthers’ finalized coaching staff for 2020 season
Things are going to look different in Carolina this year.
The Panthers’ coaching staff has officially been finalized and it is filled with plenty of names from head coach Matt Rhule’s coaching past, especially from his time at Baylor. The only holdovers from the previous staff are quarterbacks coach Jake Peetz (formerly the team’s running backs coach) and special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn. 13 of the 22 assistants on the new staff served under Rhule at Baylor for some time.
Offensive coordinator: Joe Brady is the the Panthers’ new offensive coordinator. Brady spent the past season as LSU’s passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach and helped the offense to many records, in addition to a National Championship win. At 30-years old, he is the youngest offensive coordinator in the NFL.
Defensive coordinator: Phil Snow, Rhule’s defensive coordinator at Temple and Baylor, has officially taken over the post in Carolina. He has been a college coach for the majority of his career, but spent 2005 to 2008 on the Lions’ defensive staff.
Special teams coordinator: The Panthers are retaining special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn, who has been in the job for two years and a coach on the Panthers for four. He also played in Carolina his final two seasons in the NFL as a linebacker and played for the Giants in 2012 when Rhule was on the coaching staff.
Defensive line coach: Mike Phair, the former Colts defensive line coach, is coming to the Panthers to take over the same position in Carolina. Phair began his coaching career at Arizona State, where Snow was the defensive coordinator at the time.
Assistant defensive line coach: Frank Okam (defensive line coach at Baylor)
Linebackers coach: Mike Siravo spent the last three years as Baylor’s linebackers coach and special teams coordinator. Prior to that, he held the same position at Temple for four seasons under Rhule.
Defensive run game coordinator: Al Holcomb will be making a return to Carolina. The Panthers are adding him to the defensive staff, likely as the run game coordinator, an area in which the Panthers struggled last year. They allowed 143.5 rushing yards per game (29th) and a historic 31 rushing touchdowns (tied for the most in the modern era).
Holcomb was with the Panthers from 2013-17 as linebackers coach. He spent 2018 as the Cardinals’ defensive coordinator under Steve Wilks and spent the last year also with Wilks as the Browns run game coordinator/linebackers coach.
Passing game coordinator/secondary coach: Jason Simmons comes to the Panthers with plenty of NFL experience. Last year he coach the Packers defensive backs and filled a variety of coaching roles over his nine years in Green Bay.
Cornerbacks coach: Evan Cooper was previously the assistant cornerbacks coach at Baylor. He also worked as the team’s recruiting coordinator. Previously, Cooper served as the director of player personnel at Temple.
Wide receivers coach: Frisman Jackson has been hired as the Panthers wide receivers coach. He held the same position at Baylor under Rhule for the 2018 and 2019 seasons and was the wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator at Temple from 2015-2016. He spent the 2017 season as a wide receivers coach for the Titans.
Jackson also has a bit of a local connection, having coached at NC State from 2013-2014. He is a former NFL wide receiver and spent the majority of his career with the Browns (2002-06).
Tight ends coach: Brian Angelichio is joining the Panthers’ staff after holding the same position in Washington over the past year. Prior to that, he spent three seasons as the Packers’ TE coach (2016-18) and two seasons with the Browns (2014-15) and Buccaneers (2012-13).
Quarterbacks coach: Jake Peetz is one of the only coach that the Panthers blocked Washington from interviewing. Peetz will be staying in Carolina after helping first-team All-Pro Christian McCaffrey to a historic season in his first year as RB coach with the Panthers, however, he will now shift over to coaching quarterbacks, something he did with the Raiders and assisted with at Alabama
Offensive line coach: Pat Meyer has spent many years as a coach in the NFL, including the last three with the Chargers as their offensive line coach.
Assistant offensive line coach: Marcus Satterfield, who was tight ends coach at Baylor in 2019 and was the school’s director of recruiting in 2018. He also spent 2013-15 as offensive coordinator at Temple.
Assistant quarterbacks coach: Matt Lombardi (Dolphins quality control coach)
Senior offensive assistant/running backs coach: Jeff Nixon (Baylor co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach). Nixon also spent 10 years coaching in the NFL.
Coaching assistant: Damiere Shaw (wide receivers coach at Fordham),
Offensive coaching assistant: E.J. Barthel (running backs coach/recruiting coordinator at William & Mary)
Defensive coaching assistant: Cedric Whitaker (pass defense coordinator/corner and nickel backs coach at Houston Baptist University)
Defensive coaching assistant: Grant Udinksi (football operations assistant at Baylor)
Assistant special teams coach: Ed Foley (analyst at Baylor). Foley also spent 11 seasons prior to that as a coach at Temple in a variety of roles).
Head strength and conditioning coach: Jeremy Scott is just another member of the coaching staff that Rhule is bringing from Baylor. He was the Bears’ football director of athletic performance, and prior to that, was the head football strength and conditioning coach at Temple from 2013-2017. He also got a masters degree from Penn State and overlapped with Rhule at the school for one year (1997).
Assistant to the head coach: Matthew Delgado spent three years at Temple and Baylor under coach Rhule. He was last the director of football operations at Baylor.
This story was originally published January 13, 2020 at 3:00 PM.
