Photograph: Rusty Jones/AP
In the latest edition of David Tepper Has No Idea What He’s Doing, the Panthers owner fired coach Frank Reich on Monday.
This one is a doozy. Critics are already calling it Tepper’s best work since earlier this month, when he axed Charlotte FC head coach Christian Lattanzio, despite the team making the MLS playoffs.
For those keeping score, Tepper has owned the Panthers and Charlotte FC for a combined seven seasons. In that time, he’s had five full-time coaches and now three interims. When he fills his two vacancies in the coming months, that number will climb to 10 in eight seasons. Even Daniel Snyder is starting to think: what is this guy doing?
Sir Alex Ferguson, one of the greatest soccer coaches of all time, was fond of offering a piece of advice to up-and-coming managers: “Pick the owner, not the club.” At this point, who would pick Tepper?
Reich’s dismissal marks the second year in a row the Panthers have fired an expensive coach in-season. Last October, Tepper fired Matt Rhule in the third year of a fully guaranteed seven-year $62m contract. Reich’s reign lasted all of 11 games, the shortest head coaching tenure in the NFL since 1978. He was hired on a four-year contract in January.
Related: Chaotic Panthers fire head coach Frank Reich less than a year into job
Carolina are now 1-10, with the worst record in the league. They would be sitting in pole position for the first overall pick in the draft, had they not dealt their pick away to the Chicago Bears last season in Tepper’s latest effort to acquire a shiny toy.
Reich is far from blameless. A 1-10 record in a coach’s first season – or any season – is dismal. Reich was hired to boost the Panthers’ flagging offense, and to restore a sense of professionalism to the franchise after Rhule’s amateur showing. Reich was a known commodity, the safe pair of hands, a coach with experience as a Super Bowl-winning offensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles. He…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/dysfunction-firings-meddling-owner-coach-100023563.html
Author : The Guardian
Publish date : 2023-11-28 10:00:23
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