UNCrules2187

Do I think Steve Wilks can be a good, even great, "CEO" of a football team? Yes. Honestly, if the Panthers had at any point over the past 5 years had at least an intriguing potential long-term answer at QB, I think Steve Wilks would have gotten the full time job. But those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. We paired a generational offensive talent in Cam Newton with a "hard-nosed" defensive-minded head coach and watched that talent consistently capped before it finally withered away. I fear the same is happening in Buffalo honestly - McDermott, like Rivera before him (and like Wilks would be, just my opinion) is relying on the talent of his QB to prop up his offense rather than employing someone who can maximize that talent. So while Reich may not be a sexy pick, a home run hire, I think at this critical juncture in the Panthers franchise history, it was time to bring on an offensive mind (and a former QB) to be the "head of the snake" to hopefully nurture and develop that answer at QB. Your offensive mind/playcaller can't be poached if he just so happens to be your HC too. And also, let's be honest - if Wilks went 6-6 but while competing in the 2021 NFC South rather than the 2022 NFC South (i.e. no shot at a division title or playoffs), I highly doubt anyone would be so up in arms about not making him the permanent head coach. Don't let how putrid the NFC South was for one year cloud your judgement for the next 5 years - the division will not be that bad again, even next year.

I'd be happy for the man, but I'll be shocked if, 3 weeks after the coaching carousel has started, he gets an interview request from any other team looking. For obvious reasons, Arizona is not going to interview him. Denver seems locked into DeMeco Ryans. Irsay is probably going to hire Jeff Saturday to be the full time HC like an idiot. And from most reports, Houston is hoping to get either Jonathan Gannon or DeMeco Ryans themselves and they've already started conducting second round interviews with Ejiro Evero and Mike Kafka.

So he's going to go to the franchise that just one-and-doned back to back black head coaches?

No one else even brought him in for a token Rooney Rule interview this offseason...he'll end up being a DC somewhere this season, maybe Atlanta or Minnesota.

I don't know if he will be able to, I hope he will, but I think it's important to have perspective on where the Colts were drafting during this time: 2018: This was the year Reich was hired. Andrew Luck missed prior year due to injuries so they had the #3 pick. They traded back from #3 to #6 to draft Quenton Nelson as they didn't need a QB (at that time). 2019: Luck retires in August 2019 (aka after the 2019 draft had already taken place); they had the 26th pick and traded back 20 spots and picked up a 2020 second round pick 2020: Reich goes 7-9 with Brissett. Colts traded the 13th overall pick to SF for DeForest Buckner. Their first pick in that draft was pick 41 where they drafted Jonathan Taylor (you might have heard of him). You could argue they should have drafted Jalen Hurts, but he lasted all the way until pick 53 and they had just signed Rivers to a one-year deal. They took Jacob Eason in the 4th round. 2021: Reich goes 10-6 with Rivers so they had the 21st pick. QBs in that draft that went after the 21st pick: Kyle Trask, Kellen Mond, Davis Mills, Ian Book, Sam Ehlinger (to Indy) 2022: Colts did not have a first round pick due to the conditions on the second round pick hitting (Wentz playing 75% of snaps) that upgraded it to a 1st. Reich went 9-8 with Wentz and missed playoffs by one game. The pick was the #16 pick in the draft; you could argue they could've drafted Kenny Pickett here if they had this pick, but they had already traded a 3rd round pick for Matt Ryan who had put up a respectable season the year prior in Atlanta (3,968 yards, 20 TDs, 12 INTs).

Quinn pulling out of coaching searches and staying in Dallas per Pelissero

Pro tip: 7 of those losses belong to Jeff Saturday my guy

The people shitting on the Reich hire calling him a mediocre coach with a 40-33-1 head coaching record and caping for Wilks to get the job with a career *checks notes* 9-19 head coaching record really amuse me

Nope: After working as an assistant at the University of Iowa, the University of Oregon, and Stanford University,[6] Seifert was hired as head coach at Cornell University. He was fired after going 3–15 in two seasons.[7] He then returned to Stanford in 1977, where he met Bill Walsh. When Walsh moved to the 49ers in 1979, Seifert joined his coaching staff the following year as the team's defensive backs coach. Seifert was promoted to defensive coordinator in 1983. As a 49er assistant, Seifert defenses finished in the top ten in fewest points allowed in each of his six seasons in that capacity: fourth in 1983, first in 1984, second in 1985, third in 1986 and 1987, and eighth in 1988. His final two defenses, 1987 and 1988, finished first and third in fewest yards allowed, respectively. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Seifert

I don't hate Wilks. I think he did an admirable job. I just don't think his philosophy can build a consistent winner in today's NFL. The most telling stat, IMO, is that he went 1-4 when the opposing team scored first (with the one win being the 10-7 snoozer in week 18 vs the Saints). Ground and pound is great when you take a 7-10 point lead, but when others teams can score first or quickly, you need to have a counterpunch, and I just don't think Steve's mentality on that side of the ball will bring that.

Lmao the guy went 6-6 not 12-0

Would love to aggressively go after Fangio now

This isn't entirely true. The only assistant coach hires were DC, OL, and DL coach before McDaniels backed out (DL coach was Mike Phair who ironically was hired as DL coach for one year under Rhule here in Carolina). And I think they'd probably speak highly of Reich for keeping them on when he could've told the Colts he wanted to bring his own guys in. https://www.wthr.com/article/sports/bob-kravitz/kravitz-three-colts-assistants-who-were-hired-and-then-snubbed-by-mcdaniels-are-all-on-board/531-69998711-1215-4448-9754-1757c4838812

This is what I don't get about people saying "well Reich got fired for an inept offense and going 3-5-1." First, he was 3-3-1 and I think the Colts were in maybe 2nd place at the time in the AFC South before Irsay mandated he start Ehlinger. And secondly, yes it seemed like he was on his way to his worst record during his tenure, but that kind of thing happens to all head coaches (except for Mike Tomlin apparently). Don't forget, even Andy Reid went 4-12 and was fired before being scooped up by KC. John Harbaugh went 5-11 in 2015. Sean McVay just went 5-12. Kyle Shanahan went 6-10 in 2020. It happens.

Because he's making gobs of money to sit at home anyway?

To be fair here, it's hard to assess how much a coach is making an average player elite vs a player taking himself to the next level with his own development. It's hard to untangle Belichick's success with Brady, Payton's success with Brees, Reid's success with Mahomes, etc. I think you can clearly point to someone like Kyle Shanahan in being able to elevate the level of play of his signal callers, but even then there are limits to that (Trey Lance has looked like an enormous bust). And like I said, Wentz, who's looked like an average bum under other coaches, had his best years and was playing at an MVP level early in his Philly tenure with Reich as his OC. But I totally understand why folks aren't excited by the hire if that's how it goes. I'll be happy with it if only because it's someone who is an offensive mind and not just a sentimental hire.

I'll admit that if Reich is the hire, it's not sexy or overwhelming. I was in the Ben Johnson or Shane Steichen camp (really moreso I was all in on Ben Johnson but he took himself out of the running - we'll see if that was smart or a mistake a la Leftwich passing on Jacksonville last year). But I do think Reich is well positioned to turn this team around quickly and I think he can be a successful HC. I like that no matter who is QB is, he is aggressive on offense (article here: https://www.espn.com/blog/indianapolis-colts/post/_/id/26647/win-or-lose-colts-coach-frank-reichs-aggressiveness-on-fourth-down-is-here-to-stay). I like that he's spent his time around great QBs in Manning and Rivers and helped prepare both Wentz and Foles to career heights while in Philly. I think he would be great for a rookie QB (I'm hoping that rookie is CJ Stroud honestly). It's not the hot shot OC route, but I think between experience and his chops on the offensive side, it'll be a pretty good hire.

Honestly I think it's probably best for all parties for Wilks to move on if he's not going to be the HC. And if I'm Reich, I'm not trying to be an OC after I get two interviews for the head gig. I'd rather take a year off, collect my paycheck, and probably get hired for a HC role next year when there's more openings. Typically there are 7-8 openings every offseason, this offseason is a bit odd in the sense more jobs didn't come open, but rather coordinators were fired instead. I appreciate what Steve Wilks did for the team this year and his connection to the Carolinas, but I'm not a huge fan of his defensive philosophy and would prefer we go a different route with the DC role.