Brady Hoke and Jeff Imamura out as Panthers coaches
The Panthers have wasted no time beginning to clean house.
It appears that the first dominoes has fallen in the wake of the Carolina Panthers 24-17 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. The team has fired assistant coaches Brady Hoke and Jeff Imamura per an official press release from the team.
Hoke was the defensive line coach for the Panthers, while Imamura was the assistant secondary/ cornerbacks coach. In a report from CBSSports.com, Panthers owner David Tepper hinted that there may be some moves made and personnel changes to be had. It was interesting that the report came out before the game. That was perhaps foreshadowing things, and the loss to Tampa Bay did not help.
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I personally am surprised that these moves happen so quickly. I thought if anything, the Panthers staff that came into the 2018 season would stay intact until at least the end of the season. However, it was determined that changes needed to be made now. If anything, I thought defensive coordinator Eric Washington would be the first to go. His defensive schemes have been questionable. Maybe that move is coming later. For now however, this is a starting point.
The secondary has been abysmal over the past couple of games. They have been prone to giving up the deep ball, and they have not covered receivers well. One has to wonder if secondary coach Richard Rogers should be on high alert. If things do not improve by the end of the season, I could see him being given a pink slip as well. Again, this is all speculation but the fact of the matter is the defense has not been up to par and the staff associated with coaching it should get a second look.
Head coach Ron Rivera spoke about these moves on Monday. In essence, he was saying that this is what’s best for the team.
"“In my judgment, I felt this was best for the team moving forward,” Rivera said. “These are always difficult decisions, and I thank Brady and Jeff for their hard work.”"
It will be interesting to see who the replacements are for these two. I certainly wish them the best of luck moving forward and hope they find jobs in the future. They just were not a fit for the Panthers, and it will be interesting to see if this will lead to other departures as well or if we will see more news on this front at the end of the season.