Carolina Panthers coach Frank Reich says owner David Tepper won’t ‘sit idly by’
Carolina Panthers head coach Frank Reich said Monday that he and franchise owner David Tepper have had regular meetings during the team’s 0-5 start — and he “wouldn’t characterize them as fun,” Reich said.
“He wants to bring a winner to the Carolinas,” Reich told reporters at his press conference Monday. “He wants it now. He pushes me, and pushes us, to that end. He wants to do whatever it takes, turn over every stone, churn it as much as he has to to produce winning football.
“So I appreciate those conversations. They’re always very challenging. He’s a super-competitive person. He’s not going to sit idly by.”
The veteran coach, who was hired in January and is the second head-coaching hire of the Panthers’ Tepper era, said this about 24 hours after Carolina fell on the road to the Detroit Lions, 42-24 — a game that saw its highs and lows but was ultimately defined by three costly turnovers. Two of those turnovers came at the hands of Bryce Young, the rookie quarterback and No. 1 overall pick that the Panthers made a giant move for this offseason.
Reich expounded on what he meant by Tepper being an owner who “doesn’t sit idly by.”
“I don’t want to speak too much for him, obviously,” Reich said. “But you know, there are different philosophies in ownership, you know what I mean? Some owners stay away, and don’t engage a whole lot. Other owners do. His philosophy is, he’s gonna engage. And listen, it’s only been a short experience, but it’s been a really good experience.
“It hasn’t been fun. It’s not fun. Those meetings, I wouldn’t characterize them as fun meetings. But those meetings make me better, and I trust they make us better.”
Has Tepper talked to Reich at all about any potential staff changes?
“No,” Reich said.
Tepper, who couldn’t be reached for this story, bought the Panthers in 2018 from original team founder Jerry Richardson, who announced his intention to sell Carolina shortly after a Sports Illustrated article alleged numerous instances of workplace misconduct, many of which were later substantiated by an NFL investigation. The Panthers have gone 29-58 and have never made the playoffs during Tepper’s tenure of five-plus seasons, when Carolina has never been able to settle on a quarterback to replace Cam Newton once the former NFL Most Valuable Player became compromised due to injury. The Panthers, who play at 4-1 Miami Sunday at 1 p.m., are the only winless team left in the NFL this season.
Tepper originally inherited Ron Rivera as his head coach. Then the owner’s first hire as the team’s head coach was Baylor head coach Matt Rhule, who lasted 2 1/4 NFL seasons before Tepper fired him in 2022. Rhule is now the head coach at Nebraska. As interim head coach for the rest of 2022, Steve Wilks went 6-6 but wasn’t retained. Instead, Tepper hired Reich, who was also the Panthers’ first quarterback in 1995, and Wilks went on to become defensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers and has a chance at a Super Bowl ring this season.
The billionaire owner has publicly prioritized both winning immediately and long-term building. Both were evident on draft night in April, when Tepper told a rain-soaked crowd of Panthers fans that drafting Young at No. 1 would lead to “Super Bowls” — sending the crowd into a frenzy.
“Listen, obviously he’s a very accomplished individual, and he’s built his own empire,” Reich said. “He knows how he did that. I don’t have his bank of experience to draw from. I have my own. But do I think he has the right mentality of the ‘win now’ but also ‘this is going to be a longer term thing’ as well? He wants both. That’s what we all want. We want to build a winner now, and we want something that can be sustained. We want to build it on the right foundation.
“He’s got a lot of money. So we can throw a bunch of money at this guy, at that guy, and that ends up blowing up in your face. We can all give examples of teams that’s happened with. We’re trying to build it on good principles, build through the draft, re-sign your own players when you can — it doesn’t always make sense, but when you can — so I think obviously he has a great perspective on that.”
Observer columnist Scott Fowler contributed to this story.
