Mr. Scot

Oh, really?!

The last time that happened, he turned down a job (Jets). Throw in his comments about Joe Brady being "outside his comfort zone" and I think that idea's going to be a tough sell. Mind you, any scenario that would make Rhule rage quit would be perfectly fine with me.

I'd read what he had to say about the kind of power structure it would take to convince him to jump to the NFL. For me, that was one of the reasons why I believed he wouldn't get the job. Then he did, and got exactly what he was asking for I remember cringing at the time but trying to tell myself that it could work. Heck, for a while it looked like it might. But here we are...

More...

As someone pointed out before, it's not really all that necessary at the college level. If you've got superior players or you find a favorable matchup you can easily exploit, you're golden. The checkers vs chess analogy really applies quite well here.

Have said before that I'm pretty sure that's why Ed Dodds pulled out of the interview process. He saw the writing on the wall. (and kudos to him for doing so; he looks pretty smart now) That said, I still want to see what Fitterer and Morgan can do without Rhule around to screw everything up.

It's not so much a question of whether it works as it is whether Tepper thinks it works. He believed it when he fired Rivera, at least. Does he still believe it? Don't know. Apparently no one else does since nobody took advantage of that procedural change except a team that had already fired its coach.

That part I kinda doubt...

I get the sentiment but that is an awkward awkward situation for anyone to walk into. I honestly can't recall an owner or a GM ever forcing assistants on a head coach. Even the ones that have insisted on changes have allowed the head coach to make those changes himself.

Josh Klein made a pretty good point... Tepper fired Rivera with four games left so that he could get a head start on coaching interviews. This year, the league gave teams an even better chance at that by opening the two-week interview window. That, plus the fact that two teams already had a pretty good jump on everybody else would have seemingly made it likely that Tepper was going to do a similar thing with Matt Rhule. But he didn't. Maybe there are behind the scenes reasons. Maybe he doesn't want to have the reputation of being an owner who fires guys mid-season. Or maybe it's because he doesn't plan on firing a Rhule at all

Ellis with some related discussion...

I'd love it strictly for the drama / entertainment value.

He doesn't get it, and he's not going to. You have to understand a little bit about how his mind works. He gets hold of something that he thinks proves him right (it doesn't, but he twists it around so that in his head it does). And from that point on, he believes it's unassailable. Heck, he's spent months repeatedly asking me the same dumb question because he thought it somehow made a point. It didn't, and truth was he didn't even have the answer correct. But when it was shown that his "org chart" was wrong, he acted like that was what he meant the whole time. I know people think he's a troll. In truth, he wants people to believe he's really smart and a lot of what he does is geared to that. There's better ways to be part of the conversation of course, and I've told him that before. But that's not what he wants, so...

The comparisons in question don't have anything to do with personality, but with methodology. And when it comes to that area, there are some rather unfortunate similarities.

On the flipside...

Pretty much see zero chance of anything happening before Monday. There is this nugget though...

Yep. That was a pretty solid article.

Well, yeah. That's a valid criticism of a poorly run WCO scheme. Critics have often called the WCO "a horizontal offense".

Actually, yes. And believe it or not, pretty good insight. Ryan is asked why college coaches struggle to succeed in the NFL. His response includes some inside info from a phone conversation he had with Urban Meyer shortly after he took the Jags job. Per Ryan, Meyer "didn't seem to be listening" to the advice he was giving and at one point arrogantly told him "this is gonna be easy". Listening to what Ryan says about Meyer offers some solid clues as to why Matt Rhule has failed. The part about having relationships with all players as opposed to just "his guys" is particularly damning of Rhule given the talk about "a lack of meritocracy" in the Panthers locker room.

Current roster is definitely built for a West Coast type attack.

Okay, this is bizarre... Someone in Brown's circle really needs to get hold of him.

Players defend bad coaches all the time. Sometimes it's because they like them personally regardless of their coaching ability. Usually it's because they feel a sense of responsibility for their play. Heck, Michael Bates was still defending George Seifert after the Panthers finished 1-15 in 2001.

Possible clarification on the Bucs inaction... If they wait till Friday and then add him to this list, he can't play anywhere until next season.

First I've heard of this... Here's hoping the first topic he'll address is explaining why he fired Matt Rhule.