Source: Michael Reaves / Getty
The firing of Frank Reich last Monday made it clear that the Carolina Panthers are not a well-run organization right now. It appears that was just the culmination of a poor culture under Reich’s direction that doomed him from the start.
An article from The Athletic yesterday laid out the toxic culture that was described to be similar to the one in the ‘Hunger Games’ books and movies. There were multiple occurrences of offensive coaches going behind the back of Frank Reich to reveal concerns because of a fear of being considered a malcontent by the first-year head coach.
The lack of development of Bryce Young looks like it may have been the biggest concern with these staff members. According to the article, footwork was something that owner David Tepper demanded that the staff work on after they wanted to wait till this offseason to clean it up.
One of the takeaways that you can come away with is that the “all-star” staff that was raved about so much all offseason simply didn’t mesh. Despite that, Joe Person, who combined with Dianna Russini on The Athletic piece, understands why David Tepper wanted a staff with some big names. “Remember what the criticism was of Rhule and his staff. He hired all his college buddies. Tepper was using expressions (this offseason) like “go out of your circle of people” and “this should be a top ten staff and we’ve got the resources to do it.” It’s clear that Tepper wanted to be aggressive this offseason and hire a staff more suited to coach in the NFL and it just didn’t blend well.
To hear Person’s full comments, including about the news of the Panthers moving training camp to Charlotte, make sure to listen below. Also, be sure to subscribe the Mac & Bone Show podcast wherever you get your podcasts so you don’t miss anything from the show.
