The Carolina Panthers have announced they have hired Frank Reich as the sixth head coach in franchise history.
Of the previous 5 head coaches the club has employed since 1995, all of them had come from defensive backgrounds. Reich however will represent the first offensive coach in team history as he brings a wealth of knowledge as a former player and coach on the offensive side of the football.
It also represents a full circle moment for Reich as well as he was a member of the Panthers inaugural season roster 28 years ago.
The former Indianapolis head coach was let go by the franchise earlier this season after they struggled out of the gate once again. As an offensive coordinator with the Eagles, Reich won a Super Bowl with the club in 2017 before accepting the position with the Colts the following year.
For his career, the 61 year old sports a 40-33-1 lifetime record as a head coach, and twice guided the Colts to playoff berths in 2018 and 2020. However the franchise has struggled to find consistency at the quarterback position since Andrew Luck’s surprise retirement in 2019, two weeks before the start of the season, resulting in numerous disappointing showings in recent years.
Ironically, Reich now joins a Panthers organization that has just as many question marks at the quarterback position as the club oscillated between Baker Mayfield (6 starts), Sam Darnold (6 starts) and P.J. Walker (5 starts) in 2022.
Carolina currently holds the 9th overall draft pick and would likely be in the market for a QB should one of Bryce Young, Will Levis, or CJ Stroud fall to them this spring.
Amongst those who were finalists for the Panthers head coaching job was interim head coach Steve Wilks who took over for Matt Rhule mid season, and Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.
Financial terms of Reich’s contract were not immediately made available.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Tennessee Titans. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.