The Carolina Panthers have fired general manager Marty Hurney in the wake of their loss to the Green Bay Packers on Saturday, and team owner David Tepper is not sugarcoating his reason for making the move.
Tepper told Darin Gantt of the Panthers’ official website that he recently had conversations with Hurney about the team’s football operations department and realized there were some conflicting ideas. He indicated that he regretted not changing GMs when he fired Ron Rivera and hired Matt Rhule last year.
It seems obvious there was a disconnect between Hurney and Rhule, and Tepper says the head coach will be a part of the search for a new GM.
“You look at successful organizations, and there’s a certain alignment between the head coach and the GM,” Tepper said. “To think that you can do that without some sort of alignment is nuts. So to not have a head coach with some input into that is stupid. I don’t want to be stupid, OK?”
Hurney had been with the Panthers since 1998. He joined the team as director of football administration and worked his way up to GM. He originally held the GM job from 2002-2012 before being removed from his position. Hurney then returned to his GM role on an interim basis in 2017 and was once again named the full-time GM after that season.
The Panthers have made some significant changes since Tepper bought the team, and some of them have focused on changing the culture. The latest was made in hopes of improving the on-field product, as Carolina is now a disappointing 4-10 on the year.
