Person: Tepper indicates he's learning and changing his approach

[Paa Langfart]

12 hours ago, Pantherzilla91 said:

Great counter argument 

considering he totally whiffed on Rhule and co and wasted 3 more years of the franchise on an idiot and his minions and then fugged up a multi million dollar deal to build the team a world class training facility - that's enough to make me laugh at the notion that "he really hasn't been that bad"  alone.  Let alone keeping Hurney and Ron around and all the other blunders.

Edited May 3, 2023 by Paa Langfart

[KatsAzz]

On 5/2/2023 at 9:49 AM, Mr. Scot said:

Person talked about some of Tepper's recent remarks and what they mean in his latest article for The Athletic.

Excerpts:

The Panthers are on their third head coach since David Tepper bought the team. He’s working with his second general manager and is on to his fifth quarterback, which doesn’t even count the likes of Kyle Allen, Taylor Heinicke, Will Grier or P.J. Walker.

The one constant since 2018 has been Tepper himself, but the hedge fund manager has been making changes to the way he runs his team.

Tepper delivered some of the most interesting comments of the draft weekend when he dropped in on Scott Fitterer and Frank Reich’s news conference Thursday after the Panthers took Alabama quarterback Bryce Young No. 1.

...

Tepper, the self-made businessman worth $18.5 billion, acknowledged he was learning on the fly the first couple of years after buying the team from Jerry Richardson. He also emphasized a commitment to overseeing more thorough processes in hiring coaches and selecting quarterbacks, both of which were readily apparent over the past several months.

Tepper was funny, informative and self-effacing, which has not always been his strong suit.

“You guys have to understand, we were here a year and a half trying to figure out — I didn’t know what the heck. I was on the business side,” said Tepper, who was a minority partner of the Steelers. “Then COVID hit. So we’re out of the building for 2 1/2 more years. Then we are in the building and had a better chance last year to see what was going on, right, wrong and indifferent.”

...

When the Panthers hired Matt Rhule in 2020, Tepper led a three-person search committee that also included former general manager Marty Hurney and Steven Drummond, a senior adviser to Tepper who recently left the organization. They interviewed four candidates and one had a second interview — Mike McCarthy, with whom Hurney circled back.

During the search for Rhule’s replacement, there were four people on the committee besides Tepper — Fitterer, assistant general manager Dan Morgan, vice president of football administration Samir Suleiman and chief administrative officer Nicole Tepper.

They interviewed nine candidates, three of whom received second interviews — Reich, interim head coach Steve Wilks and Kellen Moore. After Reich was hired, Tepper gave him a blank check to bring in assistants ranging from former head coaches (Dom Capers and Jim Caldwell) to several who look like future head coaches (Thomas Brown, Ejiro Evero, Josh McCown).

...

Tepper employed a similar strategy after the Panthers decided to scrap the rent-a-quarterback model of the past three years and go with the draft-and-develop approach, which Fitterer had said was the preferred route since he arrived in Charlotte.

After acquiring the No. 1 pick from Chicago in a franchise-altering deal, the Panthers filled two private planes to jet from Columbus, Ohio, to Tuscaloosa, Ala., and north again to Lexington, Ky., for the pro days of Young, C.J. Stroud and Will Levis over three consecutive days. They also traveled to Florida for Anthony Richardson’s pro day after the owners’ meetings.

“I can’t emphasize enough, we are true to this process this time. Not all the time in other past years,” Tepper said. “But process in this coach. Process in getting this quarterback and not leaving a stone unturned. This is truly in everything we’re doing and everything that we did with the coaches and when Frank was hired. The process of, do we have the best person?”

“We’re not messing around. I’ll say it that way,” he added. “The work is here, truly.”

...

Having a plan at quarterback and sticking with it is the opposite of what happened during Rhule’s tenure. And though Rhule might have been the impetus behind most of those moves, Fitterer and Tepper signed off on them.

Of course, the draft-and-develop strategy may not work either, which Tepper acknowledged by saying there’s no “sure thing” even when taking a quarterback first overall. And Tepper is still going to be a hands-on owner; that’s who he is. But the fact he’s acknowledging where he’s failed in the past, taking a more deliberate approach and surrounding himself with smart, serious people is a good step.

(" Tepper employed a similar strategy after the Panthers decided to scrap the rent-a-quarterback model of the past three years and go with the draft-and-develop approach, which Fitterer had said was the preferred route since he arrived in Charlotte.")

Deciding to take Fitterers advice  and go with the  draft-and-develop  approach shows  Tepper is learning to rely  a lot more on the real football  people  that know more than him.

Edited May 3, 2023 by KatsAzz

[Mr. Scot]

25 minutes ago, KatsAzz said:

(" Tepper employed a similar strategy after the Panthers decided to scrap the rent-a-quarterback model of the past three years and go with the draft-and-develop approach, which Fitterer had said was the preferred route since he arrived in Charlotte.")

Deciding to take Fitterers advice  and go with the  draft-and-develop  approach shows  Tepper is learning to rely  a lot more on the real football  people  that know more than him.

Pretty much...

I will give him credit. Based on what I've read In this article and others, Tepper did ultimately catch on to the fact that Matt Rhule was full of sh-t.

Fitterer, Morgan and Reich hold away now...and I'm good with that.

[Gerry Green]

On 5/2/2023 at 8:03 AM, rebelrouser said:

I think he won the title of worst owner in the league. Now let's see if he can improve. I can't imagine him being any worse. 

 

 

On 5/2/2023 at 8:13 AM, rebelrouser said:

And they got a good draft pick out of it. What did we get with Steve Wilks? A slight moral victory and no. 9 pick that forced us to mortgage our future.  Tepper not only hired Matt Rhule but paid him way too much and left him in control too long. He then defrauded an entire South Carolina town. We have fake turf. The list goes on and on.  He is worse than even Irsay.  It's telling you mentioned only one other owner in response. 

 

Oh sweetie. You're supposed to learn from the past, not live there.

[razorwolf]

On 5/3/2023 at 10:39 AM, Paa Langfart said:

considering he totally whiffed on Rhule and co and wasted 3 more years of the franchise on an idiot and his minions and then fugged up a multi million dollar deal to build the team a world class training facility - that's enough to make me laugh at the notion that "he really hasn't been that bad"  alone.  Let alone keeping Hurney and Ron around and all the other blunders.

People keep bringing up the hq/practice facility in rock hill. Rock Hill Neged on their promises. But 2020 and Covid screwed everything up once they was able to go back to work the price of steel had increased 350% from contracted price. They had spent $170 million for the steel already in the project the cost of that same steel after 2020 would have cost $595M. The project was suppose to be a $1B project would have ended up to be between $1.75 to $3.5B!