Matt Rhule – Carolina Panthers HC
The hot seat is warming.
But whether it’s gone past the point of no return for Matt Rhule is up for debate.
Rhule is overseeing a rudderless ship currently with the Carolina Panthers. A team that started so well at 3-0 before going on to accumulate a series of disastrous performances en route to a 2-9 record during this span and seemingly no hope of salvaging anything from the campaign.
This is not what team owner David Tepper had in mind when he gave Rhule a seven-year, $60 million deal to prise him from Baylor and keep the coach away from the New York Giants, where he had previously worked as an assistant.
Cutting ties with Rhule is a massive call to make after just two years. But if performance levels don’t pick up over the final three games, it cannot be ruled out entirely.
Some fans have already seen enough.
Ill-disciplined performances and an inability to make the necessary adjustments during games are killing the Panthers. Considering how long these problems have gone on, Rhule doesn’t appear capable of fixing them.
One could argue that the third year is when Rhule’s programs at Baylor and Temple demonstrated the most growth. However, this isn’t college and the head coach is quickly running out of scapegoats.