Mr. Scot

Pertinent to Steve Wilks... Fitterer believes offensive coordinators-turned-head coaches might have an edge in game management — interesting, given that fans were critical of Wilks’ conservative approach at times. “If it’s fourth-and-3, you’re starting to see that a lot more — guys (going for it) on their own side of the field,” Fitterer said. “An offensive coach knows what he has on the field, and might feel more comfortable going for it in that situation.”

You'll get poo because this is a dumb, uninformed take. Fired for a reason? Yeah, reason being that Colts owner (and drunken idiot) Jim Irsay wanted to hand the job to his buddy Jeff Saturday, a guy who's never coached anything above high school football. If you wanna say "well, he was fired for good reason" that's who you're siding with

Joe Person talks about the events that led up to the hiring of Frank Reich. Behind the scenes of the Panthers coaching search - The Athletic (subscription required) Excerpts: During his end-of-season press conference at Bank of America Stadium, Fitterer told reporters it was “not going to be a large group” of candidates. But as the Panthers went through the process — which spanned 18 days in two cities and was interrupted by the tragic death of Charlotte FC player Anton Walkes — the Panthers wound up talking to nine candidates as the list kept expanding. ... Reich separated himself during his second interview, which took place at Tepper’s home in the tiny Quail Hollow neighborhood. Tepper, the hedge-fund billionaire, liked Reich’s plan for his staff and his overall vision for the franchise Reich helped launch as the first quarterback to take a snap during the Panthers’ inaugural 1995 season. “He’s a man of incredible integrity, an incredible family man, a person we could tell has great process and a great way of doing things,” Tepper said at Reich’s introductory press conference. “A guy that basically checks all the boxes, and a guy you really want to help build a culture and help lead a team, hopefully for the next few years and beyond.” ... Fitterer told reporters that Nicole Tepper, the owner’s wife and team’s chief administrative officer, would be part of the search. Assistant GM Dan Morgan and vice president of football administration Samir Suleiman also were on the search committee. Panthers president Kristi Coleman sat in on the second round of interviews. ... When the Panthers were looking for Ron Rivera’s successor in 2020, they met with just four candidates — Rhule, Eric Bienemy, Mike McCarthy and Kevin Stefanski. They canceled a scheduled interview with Josh McDaniels after locking in on Rhule, who had drawn strong interest from the Giants. McCarthy was the only candidate to interview twice, although his second meeting was one-on-one with former GM Marty Hurney. Tepper was committed to a more thorough search. ... “I’ll self-admit, we could’ve run a better process last time. And I am learning. And with all humility, I could have done better,” Tepper said last week. “I’m not saying Rhule wasn’t a good coach. Please don’t interpret it that way. I’m saying I could have run a better process last time.” Tepper said he was present for every interview this time, adding that he, Fitterer and others talked to a range of people familiar with the candidates while reviewing the analytics relevant to them. ... During his Jan. 10 interview, Wilks laid out his offensive plan, which included pursuing Eagles quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson as his offensive coordinator, according to sources familiar with the talks. But given the disparity between the number of offensive- and defensive-minded coaches in the search, Wilks seemingly faced tough odds. “He had a legitimate shot,” Fitterer said. “You have to give him respect for what he did for this team during the year. He did a heck of a job leading us. He’s a great man. I’m not going to compare Frank to Steve or anyone else. Frank during the interview process really separated himself at the end.” ... Reich had time to start preparing for his next job, which Tepper and Fitterer indicated was evident during his first interview. Each of the Panthers’ offensive-leaning candidates had coached quarterbacks. All but Caldwell also played the position. Though Reich started only 20 games over a 13-year career, he directed two historic comebacks in both college and the NFL, which Tepper said showed “personal grit.” ... Tepper, who was said to be enamored with Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, described another benefit in targeting an offensive-minded head coach. “Every year they put some new rule to benefit the offense, every single year. And it’s never gonna end,” he said. “And the reason is scoring brings eyeballs. That’s what the league’s about — getting eyeballs to watch the thing.” ... Fitterer believes offensive coordinators-turned-head coaches might have an edge in game management — interesting, given that fans were critical of Wilks’ conservative approach at times. “If it’s fourth-and-3, you’re starting to see that a lot more — guys (going for it) on their own side of the field,” Fitterer said. “An offensive coach knows what he has on the field, and might feel more comfortable going for it in that situation.” ... The Panthers wrapped up the first week with a virtual interview with Steichen, whose Eagles team had a bye during wild-card weekend. The Panthers also had their first rejection when New England linebackers coach Jerod Mayo declined an interview request, a decision that coincided with the Patriots starting extension talks with him. A day earlier, an interview with 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans was scrapped due to logistics. With the Panthers’ contingent preparing to head to New York for the second week of interviews, they opted against flying to the Bay Area to talk to Ryans, who was preparing for the Niners’ wild-card game against Seattle. It’s unclear why the Panthers didn’t arrange a virtual interview with Ryans, who last week was named the Texans’ head coach. ... Many in league circles believed the Lions’ Johnson was the favorite for the Panthers’ job. Johnson, a native of Asheville, N.C., and former North Carolina walk-on quarterback, had never called plays before 2022. But the 36-year-old quickly made a name for himself with his creative schemes and play designs, which Tepper referred to as “razzle dazzle.” But Tepper never had the chance to meet with Johnson, who removed himself from consideration from other job opportunities to remain in Detroit. Johnson had interviewed with Houston and Indianapolis, and there were rumblings that he needed more experience. But a source familiar with Johnson’s thinking said Johnson believed he had unfinished business with the Lions, who jumped from the 22nd-ranked offense in 2021 to No. 4 in his first season as coordinator. ... Broncos defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero had met with the Panthers’ decision-makers on Thursday in New York, where Tepper founded his Appaloosa Management hedge fund in 1993. Evero’s interview went well, which became evident Sunday when the Panthers agreed to terms with him to be Reich’s defensive coordinator. In addition to Evero, the Panthers talked to a defensive coordinator candidate in New York, and were scheduled to meet with former Saints coach Sean Payton and Moore there later in the week. But the Panthers’ brass returned to Charlotte on Thursday after learning that Walkes, a defender for the MLS team owned by Tepper, had died following a boat crash in Miami. The Panthers postponed the interviews with Payton and Moore as Tepper grieved with Charlotte FC players at a vigil outside the stadium Thursday evening. ... Tepper and his team conducted the rest of the search from Charlotte, where Nicole Tepper had to go through the NFL-required, diversity hiring training. CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones reported Jan. 19 that Nicole Tepper had not done so before the search started, and should not have been participating in the interviews. By Friday she had finished the virtual training, which takes less than an hour, according to two league sources familiar with the program. The Panthers conducted a pair of virtual interviews over the weekend with Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, scheduling them around their teams’ divisional-round games. While Fitterer, Morgan and Suleiman continued to do background work on the candidates, the Panthers prepared for what would be a big week. ... Payton was the biggest name in the hiring cycle, but would require the biggest investment — in terms of salary expectations (as much as $20 million a year) and the draft capital required to trade for a Super Bowl-winning coach still under contract with the Saints. The Saints likely would have asked for more from the Panthers to trade Payton within the division. But Tepper likes making a splash, whether it be pursuing Deshaun Watson or resetting the market with a seven-year, $62 million contract for a college coach with almost no NFL experience. If Tepper was excited about meeting with Payton at the start of the third week of the search, Fitterer and Morgan presumably were less so, considering Payton would want a big say in personnel. ... The Panthers finished their interview with the 34-year-old Moore before 11:30 a.m., so the Teppers could attend the public memorial for Walkes that afternoon. The boyish-looking Moore was impressive during the abbreviated sit-down, and the Panthers asked him to stay in Charlotte an extra night so they could continue meeting Wednesday. Following the service for Walkes, the search committee reconvened at the Teppers’ home (previously owned by former Panthers coach John Fox) for a second interview with Wilks. The 53-year-old Wilks might have forced Tepper to remove the interim tag had the Panthers beaten Tampa Bay in Week 17 and gone on to win the division. Instead, Tom Brady led the Bucs back from a 14-0 hole to eliminate the Panthers from playoff contention. In what may have been an ominous sign, Tepper did not attend Wilks’ final game as interim coach the following week in New Orleans, as first reported by NFL.com’s Jim Trotter. ... Moore was first up Wednesday morning, followed by Reich, whose level of detail during his second interview had the Panthers’ attention. During his first meeting, Reich had three or four possibilities for the coordinator positions, as well as names for the position coaches. During the two-week interval, Fitterer said Reich added to the list, with ideas for roles such as player development. “The first time he came in, he was dialed in, laid out his plan,” Fitterer said. “Then when he came back in the second time, he took that plan and went deeper, went to a different level.” Reich offered the Panthers a chance to hire an offensive-oriented coach with more experience than the young coordinators. And unlike Payton, Reich would not insist on having control of the 53-man roster. That would go to Fitterer, who lacked that authority with Rhule (though Fitterer said having final personnel say is an overblown NFL narrative). ... By the end of Reich’s second interview, it was becoming clear he was the choice. The Panthers offered him the job Thursday and began negotiations on a four-year deal (three shorter than Rhule’s) with his agent. Moments before the Panthers announced Thursday afternoon they had agreed to terms with Reich, Tepper called Wilks to tell him they were going in a different direction, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

Mike Kaye posted this...

Yeah, you took the loss

Well, here's something I hadn't seen... Broncos deny Falcons request to interview Evero for their DC position The story is dated January 13th.

Good video

Another thing I noticed: Evero's position coaches in Denver were nearly all young guys who hadn't been coaching for all that long. Kinda suspect Sean Payton won't retain those guys (he'll likely want his own) so if Evero wants them, he can probably get them.

Looked a little at Evero's background. He and Reich have a common connection who also has a shoestring connection to the Panthers. He's an assistant who's coached both linebackers and defensive backs in his time, including our own Cory Littleton. His name? Chris Shula (Mike's nephew)

This hire is getting praise from all over...

Forgot Staley, yeah. That'll be more Reich's domain.

To be fair, that was his choice. Nobody ever expected him to be mistake free, but those were pretty bad choices.

Here's a wrinkle... Joe Person indicates Evero will be allowed to choose his own defensive staff. From the article... Besides the Panthers’ talent on defense, the ability to put together his own staff in Charlotte was attractive to Evero. We'd seen some talk about that but now it's confirmed. Wonder if the OC will be able to do that also (outside of Campen).

I thought about asking who still doesn't like the hire. I know we had some who didn't (and who expressed those feelings in rather strong terms)

We know the Panthers had already interviewed Evero so there wasn't really a need to repeat that process. My guess would be the "discussions" probably involved the Panthers saying "This is what we'll pay you" and Evero saying "okay".

Payton reportedly had a talk with him about staying on. Evero came out of it feeling like he'd be better off getting a fresh start somewhere else.