Everyone is wrong about David Tepper, according to David Tepper | Opinion
David Tepper didn’t really bother Tuesday trying to convince anyone that they’re wrong about the Carolina Panthers. After all, there’s only so much glass-half-full logic you can apply to a team that’s only won one game all season and just fired its head coach less than a year after hiring him.
But during the 14 measly minutes that he spoke to the media on Tuesday, it sure did sound like David Tepper was trying to convince people that they’re wrong about David Tepper.
About halfway through the press conference, Charlotte Business Journal’s Erik Spanberg asked Tepper why there is so much churn in his organization and what might be done to stabilize it. In addition to firing two Charlotte FC coaches in two seasons and cycling through six different Panthers coaches in less than six years, there has been a lot of turnover on Tepper Sports & Entertainment’s executive team, too.
Tepper said it was an “interesting question,” but he didn’t actually answer it. Instead, he explored all the good he has done for the city of Charlotte.
“You know, when we came here, there were 10 events a year in this stadium, basically,” Tepper said. “I think we did 42 events last year.”
Ah, yes, the events! Coincidentally, he said the same thing after firing Matt Rhule, including the infamous line about bringing live music to the city because “there never was music in Charlotte” until he got here.
Tepper also made sure to mention that he “brought soccer to Charlotte,” too. It was a joyful experience when Messi came to town, after all. And he insists there have been lots of other highs. Like Graham Gano’s big kick, he said. And Eric Reid! Sure, those things happened years ago. But that’s not the point!
“We’ve brought a lot of economic development into the town,” he said. “The numbers show it. I mean, you know the numbers.”
The numbers!
To be fair, it is nice to have big concerts back in Bank of America Stadium. The high school and college football games are fun, too, and they really do have an economic impact on the city. We’re not ungrateful. The problem is that Tepper is touting his successes to dodge accountability for his failures.
Because as much as he boasts about soccer and concerts and the economy, it doesn’t change the product he’s put on the field on Sundays. It doesn’t change the fact that he let down Rock Hill and Eastland. And it certainly doesn’t change that he’s brought Charlotte’s NFL franchise to one of its lowest points.
But the point of Tuesday’s press conference wasn’t to acknowledge or apologize for all of that. It appeared instead to be damage control. Tepper answered only a handful of questions and flat out ignored Observer sports columnist Scott Fowler — a petty snub that says a lot about how Tepper responds to criticism.
One can understand why Tepper and the Panthers might be playing the public relations game pretty hard, given the local and national hammering they’ve been taking. And they certainly don’t want a repeat of last year’s press conference, when Tepper got testy with Fowler in an exchange that only generated more negative headlines for the team. But fans can tell when you’re avoiding problems instead of facing them.
To his credit, Tepper did at least acknowledge that, as the final decision-maker, he is the one who bears responsibility for the team’s failures. But he doesn’t seem willing to admit that his decisions might actually have been wrong. Instead of owning his mistakes Tuesday, he dodged and deflected. When asked if he believes he needs to re-evaluate the way he does things, Tepper’s response was, “We’re going to self-reflect and make it better.”
Hopefully that does happen, but on Tuesday, Tepper seemed more interested in self-defense. The larger lesson, once again, is that Charlotte should be worried that it has an owner who wants praise for the good he does, but not accountability for the rest.
