Frank Reich was fired 11 games into his tenure as the Panthers head coach on Monday and team owner David Tepper held a press conference to discuss the move on Tuesday.
Reich was the third head coach that the Panthers have fired during the season since Tepper bought the team and the Panthers have gone 30-63 under his stewardship. Tepper acknowledged “that record’s not good enough” and that the approach to running the team is “constantly evolving and they’ll continue to evolve” as they move toward hiring their next head coach. He added that he has a reputation for patience and long-running working relationships away from football while nothing that good performance and progress lead to patience.
The quick hook for Reich and the perception that Tepper has a heavy hand in football matters have led some to suggest that it will be more difficult for the Panthers to find their next head coach. Tepper said “no” when asked if he thinks that’s the case and shared why he believes that to be the case.
“I’m not going to get into it here, but I think that there are different reasons why different things happen in each case,” Tepper said. “Everything is out in the field, everything is known over time and I think people know it, the league knows it and people in the league know it. If everything was perfect, it wouldn’t be the case. If everything was good, it wouldn’t be the case. It’s not as if it’s not known out there.”
The Panthers will likely have some time on their hands before the search for that coach heats up because no in-person interviews with coaches employed by other teams can take place until after the divisional round of the playoffs. That will give them time to come up with a sense of what they’re looking for after a big miss on their last swing.
