The Carolina Panthers have hired a new head coach.
The team announced Thursday on Twitter that it has chosen Frank Reich to lead the ballclub for the 2023-2024 NFL season.
Coming back to Carolinahttps://t.co/67DpVbPyCy
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) January 26, 2023
Reich’s hiring comes as a bit of a surprise considering the Indianapolis Colts recently fired him as their head coach back in November after a 23-point loss to the New England Patriots. He was 3-5-1 at the time of his firing, according to Pro Football Reference.
Carolina’s management is doing Steve Wilks wrong here by picking Reich over him. Wilks took over the Panthers as interim head coach after Carolina fired head coach Matt Rhule over a poor 1-4 start to the season. Wilks impressively managed to get the Panthers to play their best football once he took over. In 12 games, he coached the squad to a 6-6 record and nearly got the team into the postseason after a drama-filled campaign. (RELATED: Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Beane Takes Petty (And Hilariously Accurate) Shot At Rival Cincinnati Bengals)
In Wilks’ first game as head coach, he needed to send diva wide receiver Robbie Anderson into the locker room early before the Panthers’ week six game against the Los Angeles Rams concluded because Anderson got into the face of his position coach Joe Dailey for no good reason.
Wilks also had to deal with Carolina’s week one starting quarterback Baker Mayfield’s request to be released from the team in the thick of the Panthers’ playoff hunt. Despite the problems, Wilks started three different quarterbacks in his 12-game stint as HC and still had the Panthers on the cusp of a playoff berth.
It seemed like Wilks had to deal with a lot of stuff as Carolina’s head coach that he shouldn’t have had to put up with. That said, for him to coach the Panthers to a 6-6 record with all that ensued was respectable and worthy enough to keep his job.
Reich was Carolina’s first starting quarterback when the team entered the league in 1995, according to NFL insider Adam Schefter. It’s really cool to see his football career come full circle, but at the same time, I hope coach Wilks gets another opportunity to lead an NFL team again, because he deserves it.