So hear me out. Yes, Rock Hill was a mess. Yes the turf sucks.

Yes Rhule was a swing and a miss, and the 7-year contract was stupid. But given my understanding of linear time, we didn’t know he wasn’t going to work out when hired and he was a hot prospective candidate. I think Tepper was reasonably patient but after 2.5 years realized it wasn’t working and moved on.

Really seems like he learned from the Rhule fiasco and went in the other direction. Brought in a coaching staff that on paper was amazing. Tons of experience. We have a great special teams coordinator (or did until a few days ago), a great defensive coordinator, and an up and coming OC who worked under a proven and successful system. Reich was not the most inspired choice as HC but he brought a lot of these guys in and seemed like a reasonable choice at the time.

It didn’t work out, and he has again moved on.

Oh. And the notion that he forced Frank Reich to take BY in the draft is 1. A rumor 2. Stupid. Young was QB 1 for tons of analysts and scouts and was highly coveted by a lot of teams. Even people who had Stroud first acknowledged BY was a great prospect and many had it ranked has 1a and 1b rather than a true 1 and 2.

Clearly the results haven’t been good, and that’s reason enough to be skeptical of Tepper as an owner. But it’s crazy to me that people are acting like the guy isn’t trying to win. He’s clearly throwing a ton of money and effort in to try and find success.

I don’t care about David Tepper and am not defending him, his tenure as an owner speaks for itself. But honestly I don’t get the degree of hostility. After his first couple of years as an owner it seems like he’s making good and reasonable hiring decisions that just haven’t hit yet. Kinda feel bad for the guy honestly lol.

  • palwhanBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    At the end of the day, it’s a results-oriented business. You can say circumstances, what ifs, etc. but at the end of the day there’s NO clearer result than your team’s record. And out of the 4 major sports leagues, the Panthers have I believe the 3rd lowest winning percentage in the past 6 six years - and that’s after Tepper inherited an 11 win team that made the playoffs. And that is why we hate Tepper - ultimately, the buck stops with the owner of the team.

    Things like trying to take away the ‘Keep Pounding’ mantra, turf, etc. are all annoying. But that’s all 5-10% of the issue. The real issue that has us all pissed off is the record. Period. The coaching hiring / firing, QB decisions and all contribute to that terrible record so come under scrutiny and have all clearly been missteps given the record.