West/ Walker headshot 2022

About Wes & Walker

Last summer, former 49ers head coach, Ron Sanchez resigned from his position as head coach, to return to Virginia as an assistant. Sanchez, who was going to enter the 2023-24 season on the hot seat, didn't wait to be fired, but in the process left the Charlotte program in disarray. There is never a good time to walk out on your program, and the kids you recruited, but in today's era, of the transfer portal, along with NIL, it put the future of the program in even further danger. 

Later tonight, the greatest rivalry in sports renews itself, as #3 North Carolina, hosts #7 Duke in the first of two meetings between the best teams in the ACC, and two teams more than capable of winning a national championship. Over the years the rivalry has been defined by moments, most recently, Caleb Love's three-pointer that proved to be the dagger in a win over the Blue Devils in the Final Four, which officially retired Coach K, after a legendary run in Durham. 

The new era of Carolina Panthers football is here with the hire of Dave Canales being finalized last week. Since David Tepper bought the team, this is his third hire in under a decade, as he's struggled to establish the winning organization he promised when he bought the team. A couple of people who know all about what it takes to win in the NFL, and experienced winning in Carolina, are Ron Rivera, and Greg Olsen. Rivera, the former coach of the Panthers, helped the team win three straight division titles and appeared in Super Bowl 50. Olsen, a favorite target of Cam Newton, was on that Super Bowl team and knows what it's like to be a part of a winning locker room. Both guys took time today to join the Wes & Walker Show earlier on WFNZ. 

For the 35th time this season, the Hornets took to the basketball court, and fell short of their ultimate goal, losing tonight to the Knicks 113-92, to drop their third straight game at home, and their fourth overall. New York, who is in the process of learning to play without Julius Randle, held just a 5-point lead at the half, as both offenses came out sluggish, producing a 46-41 halftime score. Charlotte is among the worst third-quarter teams in the NBA, and that reared its ugly head again tonight, as the visitors outscored them 44-24 in the third period, to effectively put the game away. 

After trading away Terry Rozier earlier in the week, it's safe to say that the Hornets are waving the white flag on the 2023-24 season, and a rebuild awaits the team as we get closer to the trade deadline. Charlotte entered the season with faint hopes of competing for a spot in the Play-In Tournament, and that all went sideways after an early rash of injuries took the team out of contention by mid-December. 

The first month of the ACC season is just about over, as January is drawing close to an end, and the conference is once again turned upside down. North Carolina has emerged as the team to beat, holding a two-game over surprised Florida State, which has overcome an awful non-conference season, to compete at the league's top. The middle of the league is jam-packed with a handful of teams, including Duke who entered the season as the overwhelming favorite to win. Duke isn't the only team to underachieve in the first full month of conference play, so has Miami, coming off a trip to the Final Four, and Clemson, who who seemed poised to break out after barely missing the NCAA Tournament. 

The Panthers are still searching for their next head coach, and the search heats up this week with multiple candidates set to interview for a second time. One of those guys happens to be Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, whose season ended after Houston's loss to Baltimore in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. Slowik's name is a hot one, after the job he did with rookie QB CJ Stroud, who led the league in passing yards per game, along with touchdown-to-interception ratio, something a rookie has never done before. 

For the second straight off-season, Dave Tepper is searching for another head coach, after he fired Frank Reich in mid-November. After the season came to an end, Tepper then fired GM Scott Fitterer, meaning both positions were open at the same time for the first time under Tepper. Tepper has cast a wide-ranging coaching search, with the help of a search firm, but has stayed away from the likes of Bill Belichick, Mike Vrabel, and Jimi Harbaugh. Panther fans can draw their own conclusions from that, but it's hard to imagine those coaches being interested in working for arguably the worst owner in the NFL. From the moment the job became available, Tepper had his work cut out for him, and he's learning that this winter. 

The Carolina Panthers aren't the only NFC South team looking for a new head coach, so are the Atlanta Falcons, after they fired Arthur Smith after their regular season came to an end. Todd Bowles is believed to be safe in Tampa Bay, after guiding the Bucs to the divisional round of the NFL Playoffs, and New Orleans has already announced that Dennis Allen will be back for 2024.

At 8-29, the Hornets are set to be sellers and not buyers at the upcoming NBA trade deadline next month. When the season started, it was reasonable to believe the team could be in a better situation at the trade deadline and could've been buyers, to ensure themselves as a playoff team in the Eastern Conference.