The past year

[Mr. Scot]

Mid-July, 2017, on the eve of training camp, Jerry Richardson shockingly fires GM Dave Gettleman.

A short time later, previously fired GM Marty Hurney is reinstalled as the "interim" GM.  Lots of folks speculate it's not really interim.

Not long thereafter, the team fires Player Personnel Director Mark Koncz.  Koncz had been promoted to this position just two months prior.  No replacement has been named since.

At the same time Koncz had been promoted, long time scout Jeff Morrow had been named Director of College Scouting.  Don Gregory, who had previously held that role, takes what appears to be a demotion.  His name and bio disappear from the staff page. Scout Matt Allen takes Koncz' old Director of Pro Personnel job.

Somewhere prior to that, Jerry Richardson uses a racial slur toward an African American scout.  That scout (probably Khary Darlington) ends up taking a payoff and signing a non-disclosure agreement.

When the season opens, Cam Newton is still suffering from a shoulder injury and the team starts off playing poorly.  The season picks up eventually but is still uneven.

in late October, the team surprisingly trades number one receiver Kelvin Benjamin to the Bills team run by former Panthers DC Sean McDermott and prior Panthers Assistant GM Brandon Beane.

And then, in mid-December, the bomb drops.

On a Friday, the team announces an "internal investigation" regarding allegations of misconduct by Jerry Richardson (Seriously, who thought they were gonna get away with that?)  The NFL responds by saying "Thanks for the offer, but we'll do it ourselves."

Within just a few days, an article in Sports Illustrated makes very serious allegations regarding sexual misconduct and racist language by Richardson.  Later that same day, looking to fend off an NFL investigation, Richardson agrees to sell the team.  The NFL declines to suspend its investigation.  It's later announced that although Richardson technically owns only a 48% stake in the team, the entire team ownership is for sale.

As the season winds down, the team continues its uneven performance, ultimately culminating with a heartbreaking playoff loss to the Saints.  In the midst of all this, Head Coach Ron Rivera is given a two year contract extension and former GM Dave Gettleman is hired to be the new GM of the New York Giants.  Prior to Rivera's extension, there were rumors that he might leave to take the head coaching job with the Bears.

In his season ending press conference, Rivera says he doesn't anticipate making staff changes.  A few days later, he fires Offensive Coordinator Mike Shula and Quarterback Coach Ken Dorsey.  Later, Special Teams Coach Thomas McGaughey leaves to take the same position in New York and Defensive Coordinator Steve Wilks is hired by the Arizona Cardinals. The team will go into next season with new personnel at every coordinator position. Wilks also takes a few position coaches with him.

Wilks and McGaughey wind up being replaced by understudies Eric Washington and Chase Blackburn.  Shula and Dorsey are replaced by Norv Turner and his son Scott.  The addition of Norv and Scott puts four members of the Turner family on staff, but two - Norv's brother Ron and nephew Cameron - later depart: Cameron for Arizona and Ron likely into retirement.

Meanwhile, potential ownership group member Felix Sabates starts talking about how the team needs a new, domed stadium with 20,000 parking spots. Speculation starts regarding a 200 acre piece of land  near the North Carolina / South Carolina state line.

Fast forward to last week.  Most fans are expecting Marty Hurney to continue as interim GM at least through this season.  It's suddenly announced that GM interviews are set to begin.  It turns out a possible reason is that the Fritz Pollard Alliance believes the team is using Hurney's "interim" tag to avoid interviewing African American candidates. In truth, the Panthers may not have wanted to interview anyone at all.

Perhaps overcompensating for potential image problems, the Panthers conduct interviews from a pool of all African American candidates...and Marty Hurney.  Despite speculation that Titans executive and former Panthers scout Ryan Cowden will be interviewed, the Panthers never reach out to him.  Speculation from all over is that the interview process is a sham and the team will ultimately just hire Hurney full time.

This past Friday, Marty Hurney's ex-wife seeks, but fails to secure, an order of protection against him citing harassment.

On Sunday, Hurney advises the Panthers about his wife's legal action.  The team, as they are required to do, informs the NFL.

The following day, the NFL advises that they're going to investigate the allegations.  In response, the team places Hurney on paid leave.  Hurney's ex ultimately drops her complaint.

 

And here we are...Did I miss anything?

 

I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this past year has been the single most tumultuous period in Panthers history.

At this point, who knows what happens next?

[Manther]

Before all of this McDermott heads to Buffalo taking staff and players with him.

A lot of change for one year.  And we're not done changing.

[luke nukem]

That was all in the past 7 months. whew lad

[luke nukem]

Just now, Manther said:

Before all of this McDermott heads to Buffalo taking staff and players with him.

A lot of change for one year.  And we're not done changing.

this and the almost catastrophic failure to repair Newtons arm also in the past year... but hey, peppers came back!

[Mr. Scot]

4 minutes ago, Manther said:

Before all of this McDermott heads to Buffalo taking staff and players with him.

A lot of change for one year.  And we're not done changing.

Granted, though that was relatively routine.

The Gettleman firing is in my mind what really starts the sequence of "what the @$%&" moments, although a few things that happened prior to that were a little out there too (specifically the scout incident) but a lot of that didn't see the light of day till later.

[Manther]

6 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Granted, though that was relatively routine.

The Gettleman firing is in my mind what really starts the sequence of "what the @$%&" moments, although a few things that happened prior to that were a little out there too (specifically the scout incident) but a lot of that didn't see the light of day till later.

McDermott's move was routine.  What wasn't routine was the scale of the number of staff and players he took with him...to a point the Buffalo tweets an apology:

 

 

[Mr. Scot]

7 minutes ago, Manther said:

McDermott's move was routine.  What wasn't routine was the scale of the number of staff and players he took with him...to a point the Buffalo tweets and apology:

Taking a defensive coordinator and an Assistant GM was kind of a big deal, for sure.  McDermott didn't end up taking any assistants with him though (tried to get Holcomb but the Panthers blocked him).

Wilks didn't steal anybody from our front office except a largely unknown assistant.  On the coaching front though, he took Al Holcomb, Ray Brown and most recently Cam Turner.

Weird to think we're gonna go into next year with different coordinators in all three phases of the game.

[Mr. Scot]

So...yeah.

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to wake up tomorrow and find out I've been traded to the Jaguars.

(granted the pool is nice, but I don't wanna live in Jacksonville)

[Toomers]

  It has gotten to the point where I go “Oh poo”  every time the ESPN theme goes off with an update.on my phone. 

[weyco2000]

I concur with the OP that the front office was a circus, but how does Cam shoulder tie in to the cluster fug? Maybe it was Cams choice to delay surgery and shut it down, pretty sure surgery is a decision made by the individual with input by the medical stafff.

JR should’ve given up operations to a coherent person years ago. Both Hurney and Gettleman were pretty bad in business  relations and both sucked at drafting. 

There’s some tough choices to be made, hopefully it’s for the best of the team and is based on performance. Sick of this team having a Jekyll and Hyde approach with handling FA contracts. Is it asking to much for someone to make sensible decisions for the best of the organization? 

 

[2jakefansinva]

1 hour ago, weyco2000 said:

I concur with the OP that the front office was a circus, but how does Cam shoulder tie in to the cluster fug? Maybe it was Cams choice to delay surgery and shut it down, pretty sure surgery is a decision made by the individual with input by the medical stafff.

JR should’ve given up operations to a coherent person years ago. Both Hurney and Gettleman were pretty bad in business  relations and both sucked at drafting. 

There’s some tough choices to be made, hopefully it’s for the best of the team and is based on performance. Sick of this team having a Jekyll and Hyde approach with handling FA contracts. Is it asking to much for someone to make sensible decisions for the best of the organization? 

 

correcto !!

The team, doctors can only suggest surgery.

And everyone will tell you if it can heal without the knife..... give it a shot.

Whats that old saying.......It's only minor surgery if its not on you.

[Jon Snow]

5 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

Mid-July, 2017, on the eve of training camp, Jerry Richardson shockingly fires GM Dave Gettleman.

A short time later, previously fired GM Marty Hurney is reinstalled as the "interim" GM.  Lots of folks speculate it's not really interim.

Not long thereafter, the team fires Player Personnel Director Mark Koncz.  Koncz had been promoted to this position just two months prior.  No replacement has been named since.

At the same time Koncz had been promoted, long time scout Jeff Morrow had been named Director of College Scouting.  Don Gregory, who had previously held that role, takes what appears to be a demotion.  His name and bio disappear from the staff page. Scout Matt Allen takes Koncz' old Director of Pro Personnel job.

Somewhere prior to that, Jerry Richardson uses a racial slur toward an African American scout.  That scout (probably Khary Darlington) ends up taking a payoff and signing a non-disclosure agreement.

When the season opens, Cam Newton is still suffering from a shoulder injury and the team starts off playing poorly.  The season picks up eventually but is still uneven.

in late October, the team surprisingly trades number one receiver Kelvin Benjamin to the Bills team run by former Panthers DC Sean McDermott and prior Panthers Assistant GM Brandon Beane.

And then, in mid-December, the bomb drops.

On a Friday, the team announces an "internal investigation" regarding allegations of misconduct by Jerry Richardson (Seriously, who thought they were gonna get away with that?)  The NFL responds by saying "Thanks for the offer, but we'll do it ourselves."

Within just a few days, an article in Sports Illustrated makes very serious allegations regarding sexual misconduct and racist language by Richardson.  Later that same day, looking to fend off an NFL investigation, Richardson agrees to sell the team.  The NFL declines to suspend its investigation.  It's later announced that although Richardson technically owns only a 48% stake in the team, the entire team ownership is for sale.

As the season winds down, the team continues its uneven performance, ultimately culminating with a heartbreaking playoff loss to the Saints.  In the midst of all this, Head Coach Ron Rivera is given a two year contract extension and former GM Dave Gettleman is hired to be the new GM of the New York Giants.  Prior to Rivera's extension, there were rumors that he might leave to take the head coaching job with the Bears.

In his season ending press conference, Rivera says he doesn't anticipate making staff changes.  A few days later, he fires Offensive Coordinator Mike Shula and Quarterback Coach Ken Dorsey.  Later, Special Teams Coach Thomas McGaughey leaves to take the same position in New York and Defensive Coordinator Steve Wilks is hired by the Arizona Cardinals. The team will go into next season with new personnel at every coordinator position. Wilks also takes a few position coaches with him.

Wilks and McGaughey wind up being replaced by understudies Eric Washington and Chase Blackburn.  Shula and Dorsey are replaced by Norv Turner and his son Scott.  The addition of Norv and Scott puts four members of the Turner family on staff, but two - Norv's brother Ron and nephew Cameron - later depart: Cameron for Arizona and Ron likely into retirement.

Meanwhile, potential ownership group member Felix Sabates starts talking about how the team needs a new, domed stadium with 20,000 parking spots. Speculation starts regarding a 200 acre piece of land  near the North Carolina / South Carolina state line.

Fast forward to last week.  Most fans are expecting Marty Hurney to continue as interim GM at least through this season.  It's suddenly announced that GM interviews are set to begin.  It turns out a possible reason is that the Fritz Pollard Alliance believes the team is using Hurney's "interim" tag to avoid interviewing African American candidates. In truth, the Panthers may not have wanted to interview anyone at all.

Perhaps overcompensating for potential image problems, the Panthers conduct interviews from a pool of all African American candidates...and Marty Hurney.  Despite speculation that Titans executive and former Panthers scout Ryan Cowden will be interviewed, the Panthers never reach out to him.  Speculation from all over is that the interview process is a sham and the team will ultimately just hire Hurney full time.

This past Friday, Marty Hurney's ex-wife seeks, but fails to secure, an order of protection against him citing harassment.

On Sunday, Hurney advises the Panthers about his wife's legal action.  The team, as they are required to do, informs the NFL.

The following day, the NFL advises that they're going to investigate the allegations.  In response, the team places Hurney on paid leave.  Hurney's ex ultimately drops her complaint.

 

And here we are...Did I miss anything?

 

I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this past year has been the single most tumultuous period in Panthers history.

At this point, who knows what happens next?

...and all if this is brought to you by one Jerry Richardson.

[Khyber53]

Have you ever seen the wheels come off of something so fast? It's a testament to the skills and professionalism of our players and the coaching staff that we made it to the playoffs with all of this going on rather than just falling to pieces like the Colts.

[Ace_Aladdin]

Meet the new Belichick for the Panthers