Upbeat Ron Rivera greets fans at pro-am

More than anything, Ron Rivera was met with optimism from fans Wednesday at Quail Hollow Club.

The Panthers head coach played in Wednesday’s pro-am, and he delighted in hearing how excited patrons were for the 2015 Carolina Panthers.

“It’s one of the things I always talk to the players about is maintaining and managing your expectations,” Rivera said. “You kind of hope that our fans manage their expectations as well. But it really is great to know that so many of them support us right now.”

Rivera always has an optimistic outlook. In his four-year tenure as the Panthers’ head coach, he’s never finished a September with a winning record but always remains positive for October and beyond.

Shortly after the Panthers repeated as NFC South champions last season, his Quail Hollow-area home burned overnight. Later that day he expressed thanks for no one getting hurt while continuing to look for the positives.

Now, about four months later, he and his wife, Stephanie, are about two months away from moving back home.

“They took it down to the studs,” Stephanie said of their home, which went up in flames in the early morning hours of Jan. 5 just days after Carolina’s playoff win against Arizona. “We lost two rooms – the master bedroom and the theater room – and the attic was scorched. They had to replace the attic and put on a new roof and clean everything.”

The fire started in the wall of the master bedroom. The fireplace on the other side of the wall was missing its base plate and had a fracture in it, and the heat eventually turned into a fire.

The home sustained nearly $500,000 worth of damage, though the Riveras did have insurance. Some neighbors opened their homes to the family, and they’re now renting a home on Lake Wylie.

“It’s nice. It’s pretty out there,” said Rivera, who didn’t seem too interested in getting out on the water. “It’s a little far removed from where we normally live and go to, but it’s a beautiful area and community.”

Rivera was one of two NFL coaches at the pro-am, with the other being former Carolina and current Chicago coach John Fox. He saw Fox the previous night at the pairings ceremony, and the two discussed, among other things, their favorite Chicago hangouts. Fox has been there four months while Rivera spent more than 15 years there as a player, then an analyst and finally a coach.

Paired with Jason Kokrak, who works with the Humane Society like the Riveras, the Panthers coach wore a striped Panthers shirt and a black UCLA hat. Rivera went to Cal, but his daughter, Courtney, plays softball for the Bruins. He carried a pocketful of black tees with the Panthers logo to hand out to kids along the course.

Stephanie, the better golfer in the couple, said her husband usually shoots about 10 or 12 over at his best, but that’s in the offseason.

“It’s a shame because he works at it, but then football comes,” Stephanie said.

By the time training camp comes and football returns, Rivera will be able to put his clubs back up again at his Quail Hollow home.

This story was originally published May 13, 2015 at 9:53 PM with the headline "Upbeat Ron Rivera greets fans at pro-am."