The Carolina Panthers this week announced the hiring of Frank Reich as their head coach. Reich did a good job during his four-plus seasons as the Indianapolis Colts’ head coach, so the hiring is a strong one by the NFC South club. The team faced some questions about the hiring thanks to a post by Reich’s daughter, who has addressed the matter.
Reich’s daughter, Hannah, posted on Twitter Jan. 8 that she had accepted a job with the Panthers.
Jan. 8 was the final day of the NFL regular season. The Panthers beat the Saints 10-7 that day to improve to 7-10 and 6-6 under interim head coach Steve Wilks.
A post on the Panthers’ website the following day indicated the team was ready to begin the process of interviewing for head coaches.
Carolina interviewed nine candidates. Both Wilks and Reich were among the candidates, as were Ejiro Evero and Jim Caldwell. The latter two men satisfied the Rooney Rule as they were external minority candidates.
On Thursday Jan. 26, the Panthers announced that they had agreed to terms with Reich to make him their next head coach.
Some outlets flagged the hiring of Hannah as a potential problem. The insinuation is that she might have been hired either to entice Frank, or as part of a pre-arranged agreement to hire Frank, which would have rendered the rest of the interview process a sham.
Although Hannah’s hiring raised concerns for some, she put all the rumors to rest.
“I will put this to rest by saying that I applied for this job when [Frank] was still employed with the Colts – sorry to ruin the fun,” she wrote in an Instagram comment.
If Hannah applied for the job while her dad was still the coach of the Colts, then a strong case can be made that she earned the position on her own merits, independent of her father’s hiring by the team.
Frank became available for hire after being fired by the Colts on Nov. 7. The Panthers already had a vacancy because they had fired Matt Rhule earlier in the season. Carolina also was the first team this cycle to announce the hiring of a head coach.
Wilks plans to leave the Panthers and has already citing Reich’s hiring as an example of racial discrimination by an NFL team.
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