CHARLOTTE, NC – The Carolina Panthers agreed Thursday with Frank Reich to become their new head coach.
The 61-year-old Reich joins the Panthers after spending the last more than four seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, where he went 40-33-1 as head coach before retiring on Nov. 7 after a 3-5-1 Start was fired. The Colts twice went into the playoffs as a wildcard team under Reich, going 1-2 in the postseason.
For Reich, the hiring marks a return to Carolina, where he spent a season as the team’s quarterback and started the franchise’s inaugural game in 1995.
Reich inherits a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2017 — and hasn’t won a postseason game since winning the NFC Championship in 2015 with league MVP Cam Newton at quarterback.
The Panthers have been looking for stability at quarterback since Newton began struggling with injuries shortly after the team’s 10-24 loss to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50. The Panthers cut Baker Mayfield earlier this offseason and Sam Darnold is an unrestricted free agent. so Reich will have a keyword in the future of the team’s quarterback situation.
Effective immediately, Scott Fitterer remains General Manager of the team.
Reich is the Panthers’ first head coach from an offensive background.
Before joining the Colts, Reich served as the offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles for two years, helping them win the Super Bowl in his second season under head coach Doug Pederson.
Reich spent 14 seasons as an NFL quarterback and has been a coach since 2006, when he first joined the Colts as an intern.
Panthers owner David Tepper has been keen to establish a successful program since he bought the team in 2018 for a then-record $2.3 billion from Jerry Richardson, who sold the team amid allegations of workplace sexual and racial misconduct.
The Panthers are 29-53 since Tepper bought the team and have never won more than seven games in a season.
Reich will become the Panthers’ sixth full-time head coach after Dom Capers, George Seifert, John Fox, Ron Rivera and Matt Rhule.
Rivera is a minority, but the Panthers have never hired a full-time black coach. They had two black coaches who worked on an interim basis – Perry Fewell and Steve Wilks.
The Panthers interviewed nine candidates for the job, including Wilks, who won 6-6 last season. Wilks took over for Rhule, who was fired by Tepper less than three seasons after giving him a seven-year, $72 million contract.
Rhule was 11-27 overall and the Panthers 1-4 when he was fired.
Other interviewees included former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton, former Detroit Lions and Colts head coach Jim Caldwell, Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, and four NFL offensive coordinators – Kellen Moore (Cowboys), Shane Steichen (Eagles), Mike Kafka (Giants) and Ken Dorsey (Bills).
The Panthers are now expected to turn their attention to hiring a defense coordinator.
Among the candidates the Panthers have already interviewed for the position is Vic Fangio, the former head coach of the Denver Broncos. Fangio was the Panthers’ defensive coordinator in 1995 when Reich was the quarterback.
Wilks served as the team’s defensive coordinator before being promoted to caretaker manager and it’s unclear if he might consider staying in a reduced role.
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