King on Rhule hire and the 7 year contract

[NAS]

From FMIA https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/01/13/aaron-rodgers-packers-nfl-playoffs-fmia-peter-king/

Matt Rhule • Carolina head coach • 

What led you to this moment, being handed the reins of an NFL team by David Tepper?

“I think probably all of the different experiences that I’ve had. Having a chance to be a defensive line coach, an assistant offensive line coach, a special teams coach, an offensive coordinator. I’m a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. I took whatever job I could get, scratched and clawed, and worked my way up the ladder . . . getting into places and taking whatever promotion they would give me to try to have different experiences. I think that’s allowed me to be successful as a head coach. Plus, I think being in a place like Temple—when you’re at Temple, you can’t sit there and spend any time worrying about the things you don’t have. You better find the things you have and be really proud of them. I’ll never forget [like Rhule, a former Temple coach] Bruce Arians told me one time: ‘Just remember this. The best thing, the best asset you have at Temple is the people. And that’s all you need.’ He was right. It wasn’t your facilities. I met some of the best people I knew at Temple, and I learned that facilities don’t win; people and players and coaches win. So then I went to Baylor. And Baylor had great facilities and all those things and we had to rebuild it. I think I just said to myself, Hey, remember what you learned at Temple and try to build it with relationships and people.”

Another learning experience, presumably, was being an undersized walk-on linebacker at Penn State in the nineties.

“The biggest thing I learned from Joe Paterno, and it was such an important thing, was that he held his best players the most accountable. And not everyone does that. I was a lowly walk-on at the time. Found a way to play some. But Ki-Jana Carter, Kerry Collins, those guys got held to the highest, highest level of accountability. Which in turn reminded me, well, I better do that as well. That was Joe’s gift—his best players were the hardest-working. The rest of us fell in line. Since I got into coaching, I’ve tried to always hold my best players to the highest standard

“During my interview, I asked Mr. Tepper about the things that made him successful in business. He used the word ‘process,’ which is all I ever talk about. I think I said at one point to him, I think I said, ‘If we’re a 7-9 football team, then when you watch us play that last game, we should be playing to be the best 7-9 football team in the history of football. We will have a mentality of trying to be the very best at everything regardless of the circumstances. The process will be the same. He said, ‘That’s exactly right.’ I think we see things the same way. And so I think his commitment to process in his business life, his commitment to process here as he builds this, and then him recognizing that that’s what I believe and I think that was the synergy that made me realize that hey, we see things the same way.”

Anything heartbreaking to you about not being hired for your dream job, a New York City boy coaching the New York Giants?

“No. I’m so excited about this. I coached at Western Carolina. My son was born here in North Carolina. I had a chance to recruit Charlotte for four years. I knew from my meeting with the Panthers—my wife felt it too—this was the right place for us.”

Lots of 31-other-owners-will-be-pissed-at-Tepper comments swirling around the league in the last few days, after Carolina owner David Tepper gave Matt Rhule a seven-year contract with an estimated total value of $62 million. (Tepper reportedly also paid off the Baylor buyout of $6 million to hire Rhule.)

I don’t think that anger is well-placed.

Of course a seven-year contract for a first-time NFL coach, at first blush, is outlandish—as is the money. But the Panthers weren’t hiring an NFL coordinator working on a two-year, $4-million contract. They were competing against the Monopoly money of college football, and they were hiring someone to become the front-facing CEO of the football operation, not just the titular head of the team.

Rhule’s contract at Baylor had eight years remaining, and he earned a reported $7.5 million in salary and associated perks on the deal in 2019. So let’s assume—I do not know if there are automatic escalators in the contract—that $7.5-million annual figure for the last eight years of the deal. That would mean Rhule had eight years and $60 million left on his deal. So seven years and $62 million is in that ballpark. The NFL contract is not exactly a parallel financial commitment, but it’s close. So now you know why the Panthers blew up the coaching salary structure for rookie NFL coaches.

[BrianS]

Interesting analysis on the money situation.  When you look at it from Rhule's point of view, he's not really making any more money than he would have had he stayed at Baylor.  It makes sense in that respect.  Yes, it's a lot of money for a head coach, but in Tepper's world this money isn't governed by the salary cap, so he can leverage his money to gain a competitive advantage if he believe he can find it.  Clearly, he believes he has.

[trueblade]

21 minutes ago, NAS said:

‘If we’re a 7-9 football team, then when you watch us play that last game, we should be playing to be the best 7-9 football team in the history of football.

I wonder if this is the in house expectation of 2020. 7-9.

[hepcat]

2 minutes ago, trueblade said:

I wonder if this is the in house expectation of 2020. 7-9.

It would be an improvement over last year!

[LinvilleGorge]

I think the biggest advantage of coaching in the NFL vs. college is that you can simply coach football and immerse yourself in football. You're not out there pounding the pavement on the recruiting trail constantly kissing HS kids' asses because in a lot of ways your job depends on the decisions of kids who can't even vote yet. And it's not like Rhule wouldn't get immediately snatched up by a Baylor level or better program if things don't work out in Carolina. He's playing with house money.

[Mr. Scot]

One thing that's been made clear about Rhule is that he's not a "9-5" coach like Rivera was. He throws himself into his job full force. Rivera's habit was to go home at the end of the day and not think about football. He said he didn't even always watch the Monday night games.

You can pick which approach is better or worse, but it's definitely changing.

 

[Snake]

26 minutes ago, BrianS said:

Interesting analysis on the money situation.  When you look at it from Rhule's point of view, he's not really making any more money than he would have had he stayed at Baylor.  It makes sense in that respect.  Yes, it's a lot of money for a head coach, but in Tepper's world this money isn't governed by the salary cap, so he can leverage his money to gain a competitive advantage if he believe he can find it.  Clearly, he believes he has.

It's also why a bunch of cheap owners don't like what he did. Now they will have to come more out of pocket to get good coaches. 

[jackson113]

6 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

One thing that's been made clear about Rhule is that he's not a "9-5" coach like Rivera was. He throws himself into his job full force. Rivera's habit was to go home at the end of the day and not think about football. He said he didn't even always watch the Monday night games.

You can pick which approach is better or worse, but it's definitely changing.

 

Was thinking this during the press conference....Rhule may not be better than Rivera ...but it sounds like for damn sure he will out work him with more work ethic. 

[LinvilleGorge]

5 minutes ago, jackson113 said:

Was thinking this during the press conference....Rhule may not be better than Rivera ...but it sounds like for damn sure he will out work him with more work ethic. 

You absolutely cannot be lazy as a college coach due to the recruiting aspect. You won't last long-term without the Jimmies and the Joes regardless of how great your Xs and Os.

[Zaximus]

38 minutes ago, BrianS said:

Interesting analysis on the money situation.  When you look at it from Rhule's point of view, he's not really making any more money than he would have had he stayed at Baylor.  It makes sense in that respect.  Yes, it's a lot of money for a head coach, but in Tepper's world this money isn't governed by the salary cap, so he can leverage his money to gain a competitive advantage if he believe he can find it.  Clearly, he believes he has.

It's because Tepper isn't here to make money, he's here to own an NFL team and have a legacy.    He has more money than he will ever need and he knows it.   This is retirement for him.  

[jfra78]

If he was making 7.5 at Baylor, then the NFL is grossly underpaying their head coaches.  Im fine with the money and length of contract, especially when he was competing with Baylor and not another NFL team.

[Happy Panther]

1 hour ago, NAS said:

 

I don’t think that anger is well-placed.

 

There isn't any. No owner cares about an extra million a year or whatever it is. Especially when it doesn't affect salary caps.

The story is BS.

[Snake]

1 hour ago, Zaximus said:

It's because Tepper isn't here to make money, he's here to own an NFL team and have a legacy.    He has more money than he will ever need and he knows it.   This is retirement for him.  

That's going to piss off a bunch of owners. Maybe if Tepper plays his crads right, kisses some ass, he might be allowed to win a SB by Goodell. 

[sml1950]

Quite frankly I was surprised that the Giants admitted that they were not willing to match our offer.  They obviously failed to do their due diligence to understand the costs that would be involved to hire him.  Did Dave think that Rhule would consider a salary/term reduction for the pleasure of working with him?