Panthers Had Ridiculous Reason for Not Hiring Bill Belichick

The Carolina Panthers have been an absolute mess over the past six seasons since David Tepper bought the franchise from Jerry Richardson in May 2018. During Tepper's tenure, the Panthers had six head coaches, six losing seasons, and a 31-68 record. Now, with the latest reporting out of ESPN, we have a better idea why that has been the case.

According to the latest ESPN piece by Don Van Natta Jr, Seth Wickersham, and Jeremy Fowler, the Carolina Panthers were one of the teams to consider hiring legendary head coach Bill Belichick.

Last offseason, before the Panthers opted to hire Frank Reich, Carolina discussed hiring Belichick. Instead, the six-time Super Bowl winner re-signed in New England, Reich lasted eleven games before getting fired and being replaced by Chris Tabor.

This offseason when the Panthers were looking for a head coach once again, Belichick's name didn't even come up. The reason for that explains everything about why Carolina has been in the situation it has been in for the past six years.

"The Carolina Panthers briefly discussed Belichick, before he signed his two-year extension with New England a year ago. But this offseason, Carolina decided to pass, a source said. Panthers owner David Tepper often sifts through data to critique his coach's playcalling. That, according to a source, 'is tough to do with Belichick as the figurehead.'"

According to ESPN's reporting, owner David Tepper likes to "critique the coach's playcalling" and this was obviously not a great fit with Belichick as the decision maker.

This is an unacceptable approach to decision-making in the NFL. No elite head coach is going to let their owner, who has no background in professional football, be that involved in playcalling. That is likely why the Panthers had to resort to hiring a young, first-time head coach Dave Canales this offseason.

Canales might be an excellent head coach. We don't know that yet. But it's safe to say that Tepper doesn't put his head coaches in a position to succeed and Canales has an uphill battle going forward.

Passing on arguably the greatest head coach of all time because a billionaire hedge fund manager wants to have a say in the playcalling has to be extremely frustrating for Panthers fans.

FanDuel Sportsbook has set the over/under in win totals for the Panthers at 5.5. This signals another long and difficult season in Carolina. Let's see if Tepper will have enough patience this time around to have a head coach finish out the season.

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