Following the introductory press conference of Frank Reich on Tuesday, Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper admitted he made a mistake when hiring Matt Rhule.
It’s the first time that Tepper acknowledged that hiring Rhule, or the process that made him such a tantalizing candidate to begin with, was a mistake.
Rhule, who is now the head coach at the University of Nebraska, was signed to a massive seven-year, $62 million deal by Tepper in 2020. Rhule lasted just 38 games after making the transition over from college. He went 11-27 in Carolina, including 1-4 to start the 2022 season before he was ultimately fired by Tepper.
“I made this mistake,” Tepper said in a scrum with reporters via Sheena Quick on Twitter. “I think it’s a mistake to have a CEO-type head coach. That’s a mistake. Just in general, that’s what I kind of believe. I think you want to get somebody who’s really good on offense or really good on defense.”
Tepper: “I think it’s a mistake to have a CEO-type head coach.”
•#Panthers #KeepPounding pic.twitter.com/7hRR7pL8bA— Sheena Quick (@Sheena_Marie3) January 31, 2023
“We think that Frank is really good on offense,” Tepper added.
For Tepper’s sake, he and his decision-makers have to be right. Reich has shown his ability as a head coach and may have gotten a raw deal in Indianapolis, but Panthers fans aren’t going to be as patient with Tepper and Reich, for that matter, after Rhule’s disastrous tenure in Carolina.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.