Will hiring of Dave Canales as Panthers HC take white-hot spotlight off owner?

In 2023, Reich was heralded as an excellent offensive coach with head-coaching experience, but Panthers owner David Tepper fired him after he started the season 1-10. Canales — who resurrected QB Baker Mayfield's career this season — may face a much more difficult task than Reich in Carolina.

That's because of Tepper, who has a terrible track record hiring head coaches. 

Since buying the team from original owner Jerry Richardson in 2018, Tepper is on his third full-time head coach. He replaced Richardson-era holdover Ron Rivera with a rebuilding specialist from college football in Matt Rhule, who went 11-27 and was fired midway through the third season of his seven-year contract.

Tepper's football moves have led to disastrous results for the Panthers, who finished the season with an NFL-worst 2-15 record. Under his ownership, Carolina is 31-68 and has not had a winning season.

"Tepper is way too involved in the team." Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wrote in late November. "Every owner is involved, however. Some just do a better job of hiding it than others."

In 2022, Tepper approved the trade of star running back Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers. He also signed off on the trade that sent wide receiver D.J. Moore and a 2024 first-round draft pick (and more) to Chicago for the top pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Per Florio, Tepper pushed to use the top pick on Alabama QB Bryce Young instead of Ohio State's C.J. Stroud. (In late November, Tepper said, "I believe it was a unanimous decision from the coaches and the scouts.") Behind a terrible offensive line and without adequate weapons on offense, Young flopped, while Stroud led the Texans to the playoffs.

Many of the football decisions by Tepper have come back to bite the Panthers, so why should fans expect any different from this one?
Early returns on the expected hiring of Canales are positive. 

Reich was a freshly fired head coach with dropping stock after Indianapolis let him go. Canales, meanwhile, is an up-and-coming offensive mind with a track record of maximizing the production of the quarterbacks he works with — namely Mayfield, who failed in Carolina in 2022. 

But for the franchise to truly escape the hole Tepper has dug, he must show he has learned the most important lesson of all for owners: step back. Let the football people make the football decisions and provide the resources for them to do so. 

If he continues to meddle in the football operations and undermines his head coach, it won't matter who has the job. The Panthers will continue to be terrible, and the people in the Carolinas will find other ways to spend their Sundays.