A new report suggests that some Carolina Panthers players are not terribly impressed with the team’s new head coach.
Some Panthers players privately believe owner David Tepper made the wrong hire and should have stuck with interim coach Steve Wilks instead of hiring Frank Reich, according to Adam Beasley of Pro Football Network. Players had been lobbying publicly for Wilks to have his interim tag removed, and Reich will have work to do to win some of them over.
Wilks took over as interim coach after the Panthers fired Matt Rhule five games into the season, and guided the team to a 6-6 finish. He had them in playoff contention in the final week of the regular season, a scenario that appeared highly unlikely at the time Rhule was fired.
It might not help Reich’s case that his daughter was hired by the organization several weeks before he was.
There is no doubt that Wilks will land on his feet elsewhere, especially after the job he did last season. Perhaps the Panthers would have been better off sticking with a name the players were comfortable with, but it is not as if Reich is a bad hire or lacking in experience. One would think he is experienced enough to win over the locker room if given time.
