darin gantt "Panthers keep finding scapegoats, bigger problem remains"

[rayzor]

sheesh....pretty harsh, and warranted, imo.

Going into his third year with the Panthers, Ron Rivera has a 13-19 record.

His record of offering up those who might not necessarily be the problem is far more impressive.

In addition to the previously reported firing of

running backs coach John Settle, the Panthers announced today that they also fired wide receivers coach Fred Graves and linebackers coach Warren Belin.

This is after Rivera fired his defensive backs coach (Ron Meeks) after his first season, his special teams coach (Brian Murphy) midseason this year, and stood by while the guy who hired him (former general manager Marty Hurney) was fired.

That’s five coaches, all of whom he picked. Or, one fewer than his home wins the last two seasons.

Meanwhile, it appears that Teflon Ron and both his coordinators, Rob Chudzinski and Sean McDermott will return. Of the three of them, McDermott has the best recent resume.

moar

the whole thing is well worth a read, imo.

[Mr. Scot]

I'm gonna start referring to Gantt rants as "Grantts" B)

Remember when people used to accuse him of being an ass kisser to the team?

[TylerVagyler]

The last sentence of the article sums up this franchise for the last few seasons.

[rayzor]

The last sentence of the article sums up this franchise for the last few seasons.

one before it sounds like the story of the last few weeks and the next year...

To be honest, it’s hard to see what Rivera’s plan is, other than stay employed.

But the deeper problem in Charlotte is that there doesn’t seem to be much of a plan at all.

[TylerVagyler]

But you can't be too surprised at the firings. Rivera is desperate right now. He's on the hot seat 8 months before the season even starts.

[rscott94]

Really I don't remember Gantt being happy about a move we've made.... Ever.

When he was the beat writer for the Panthers he was great though... Knew pretty much everything that was going on in the front office

[TylerVagyler]

I know I've been super negative lately but the more I think about the past 3-4 years the more angry I get toward Jerry and his goons. Seriously, everything bad that has happened should be pinned on JR. He tricked the fans into thinking he had a plan, pinned everything of Fox, let Hurney give out those huge contracts to fan favorites to keep the crowd happy, and now he doesn't even let the GM pick his own coach. But we just keep buying into this nonsense.

[beastson]

Darin FTW

[PantherBrew]

Really I don't remember Gantt being happy about a move we've made.... Ever.

When he was the beat writer for the Panthers he was great though... Knew pretty much everything that was going on in the front office

He strongly supported drafting of Cam, very early. And applauded the move.

[Mr. Scot]

Gantt used to defend John Fox a fair amount. Marty Hurney too.

[rscott94]

He strongly supported drafting of Cam, very early. And applauded the move.

Thanks for the clarification

[SparkyDevil]

In the past I enjoyed Gantt, but lately he has become ridiculously critical (almost bitter) with his tweets and stories. No matter what the Panthers do, they are wrong. The stance is getting tired. Its like when he started working for pro football talk he wanted to focus on ragging on the Panthers.

[fieryprophet]

Gantt starts the article question all of Rivera's moves, then says the real problem is the misallocation of dollars spent on running backs by Hurney.

Well, which is it, Darin?

He's never gotten over the (unfair) way he was dropped, but no need to take it out on innocent people.

[pir8fan05]

But you can't be too surprised at the firings. Rivera is desperate right now. He's on the hot seat 8 months before the season even starts.

Exactly. Gantt should know this, too, and probably does but e just had a story due so he wrote one.

It happens all the time when the HC is on the hotseat but gets granted another year; assistants get replaced.

He's always negative anyway. Him and Bret Jensen. Hard to listen to/read when everything they say is pessimistic.