A second look at Tepper's presser after a few days

[top dawg]

I thought that it might be good to listen to David Tepper's press conference once again, just to see if I missed anything and/or could gather any fresh insights. There's nothing really major that I picked up, but I do have some thoughts.

Tepper's demeanor during the conference was not as bad as I had originally believed. He seemed more frustrated than anything. Part of that was probably due to reporters trying to steer questions towards the past instead of the present. Yes, Tepper got a little defensive when asked about his firings of people within his organization, the failed HQ project, and the general failure of the Rhule era, but as a Panthers fan, I could really care less about that stuff. I want to know what he's going to do now. Whether he considers Charlotte FC a win, or bringing concerts to BoA stadium a win, or has rejuvenated eatery choices near the stadium doesn't matter to me...at all. All that may be a win for him, but it's not a win for the Panthers, so I "don't want want to hear that." Tepper said that it takes time to build a winner, but fans "don't want to hear that", but I'd rather hear that than him try to sell me on the fact that a few concerts, surrounding restaurants and a soccer team are a "win-win" situation because I am not buying it. To be fair, he didn't bring it up,  Also, to be fair, Tepper expressly took responsibility for the current state of the team as the head of the organization. And, he did answer plenty, even if it wasn't what people wanted to hear, or as specific as some may have deemed.  In my opinion, reporters should've kept the questions about the transition of the team as it directly relates to the present and future product on the field. Some did, and some tried to take it to a litany of failures. Tepper wasn't interested, and I don't think the bulk of Panthers fans were interested either. We should be focused on the future.

For his part, Tepper was trying to talk of the future. He didn't come right out and say it, but I don't believe he'll be giving any untested college coaches any long term contracts in the future. Among other things, he did mention that of course he is still learning. He pointedly made the distinction between himself and others that had been owners for decades. He essentially admitted that they know more. He spoke of appreciating a measure of conformity, but still reserves the right to take risks in order to win. In some respect, I think that firing a coach midseason is out of the norm (though not necessarily beyond it), and Tepper has shown that he will do that when he feels that it's time. Some may look at it as impatience or too much patience as it were, but Tepper is rightFitterer says that patience  a balancing act. His patience with Rhule was allowed to grow, but of course it grew thin, and now we're on to Steve Wilks to salvage a grounded ship taking on water.

In regards to Wilks, I get the sense that Tepper wants to genuinely see what Wilks has, but I zeroed in on a couple of key points in regards to Wilks hanging on to the job after this season. Tepper said that Wilks was the "best person in the building" to essentially right the ship. He also said that if Wilks does an "incredible" job, then the coach may essentially be the best man for the job going forward. But, make no mistake, Wilks is going to have to show some progress. Tepper wouldn't put a number on anything, but in general he did basically say that progress is more than five wins two years in a row, so I'm thinking that that out of the twelve games left, that Wilks and company had better win half of them at the very least to appear credible in Tepper's eyes. But, that's my own thinking. "Incredible" sounds like a high bar to me, so I wouldn't exactly bet the house on Wilks, but of course I wish him the best. I think Tepper's going to give him a "fair" shake, whatever that looks like. 

One thing that I can't stress enough is that Tepper is very cognizant of limited and/or misused resources. He is keenly aware of and focused upon the way that the Panthers' capital has been managed and how that speaks to (and has spoken to) our success on the field. Scott Fitterer may as well be sitting in an uncomfortable, hard chair in a super dark room before a focused beam of  light, with Tepper as the interrogator. Under Fitt's guidance, we may be "in on every deal" (which I like), but the in-on-every-deal mantra may be wearing thin with Tepper. Fitterer best be using our resources in a way that obviously benefits the team---basically, in a way that brings about winning. Tepper mentioned winning probably more than anything, but maximizing capital---including very important draft capital---was arguably the most important takeaway from Tepper's press conference, and the man under the microscope right now to that end is Scott Fitterer. I believe Fitterer will survive if Wilks survives. Will he survive if he doesn't? Listening to Tepper, I'm not so sure. We will see. 

Fitterer is under the microscope, yes, but so is everyone. Tepper said, "There's no place to hide." He was not only referring to the executives and coaches, but the players. I believe that this comment hasn't been mentioned enough in light of all the low-key sensationalism about his manner. But make no mistake, Tepper has his eyes on the players as well. Sure, Wilks may have put them on notice, but in my estimation Tepper put them on notice with that comment (and not simply Rhule's firing). 

So, TLDR: Tepper's presser demeanor was much ado about nothing; he doesn't desire to talk about the future, he gave answers related to the present, and said that the present will have direct repercussions towards the future. Rhule was fired because he didn't win. Wilks had better win. The management and allocation of resources, including draft capital, must be treated as a priority, and maybe Fitterer will be here and maybe he won't to that end. The remainder of the season will go a long way towards what happens with the GM, coaches and players. Tepper is still committed to winning. Personally I don't think he's going to make the same mistakes of the past with our next moves, but I believe that he is still open to going outside the norm while also realizing that conformity has its benefits.

[raleigh-panther]

I don’t recall hearing him caring about the fans in anyway 

Maybe I missed it, so did he ? 

I feel nothing towards him and add to that his failures and I am ‘meh’ towards him 

I get he is rich and doesn’t care about us ‘basement dwellers’ and ‘meh’ feelings don’t get season tickets renewed and stadiums built particularly in these hard economic times 

I guess we backward assholes who pay for his stadium should be grateful that he introduced to music.  

[GOAT]

I wish I had this kinda time man

[Panthercougar68]

46 minutes ago, raleigh-panther said:

I don’t recall hearing him caring about the fans in anyway 

Maybe I missed it, so did he ? 

I feel nothing towards him and add to that his failures and I am ‘meh’ towards him 

I get he is rich and doesn’t care about us ‘basement dwellers’ and ‘meh’ feelings don’t get season tickets renewed and stadiums built particularly in these hard economic times 

I guess we backward assholes who pay for his stadium should be grateful that he introduced to music.  

He talked about the fans early on in the presser and like Top said and knows the frustrations his words were he knows he was a fan in the seats at one time…it went off the rails when the presser became about Tepper himself and not the Panthers moving forward.

[Klepto2klub]

S/o to Tepper’s burner account or his wife’s. 

[onmyown]

Basically I don’t give two fugs how hard Tepper thinks he is trying.

I care about his self awareness; his ability to recognize when he can’t do something and needs help. Because he has been historically and impressively inept.

It’s literally all that matters when it comes to the future of this franchise and the sooner he can learn this skill the better.

[Move the Panthers to Raleigh]

[saX man]

1 hour ago, top dawg said:

I thought that it might be good to listen to David Tepper's press conference once again, just to see if I missed anything and/or could gather any fresh insights. There's nothing really major that I picked up, but I do have some thoughts.

Tepper's demeanor during the conference was not as bad as I had originally believed. He seemed more frustrated than anything. Part of that was probably due to reporters trying to steer questions towards the past instead of the present. Yes, Tepper got a little defensive when asked about his firings of people within his organization, the failed HQ project, and the general failure of the Rhule era, but as a Panthers fan, I could really care less about that stuff. I want to know what he's going to do now. Whether he considers Charlotte FC a win, or bringing concerts to BoA stadium a win, or has rejuvenated eatery choices near the stadium doesn't matter to me...at all. All that may be a win for him, but it's not a win for the Panthers, so I "don't want want to hear that." Tepper said that it takes time to build a winner, but fans "don't want to hear that", but I'd rather hear that than him try to sell me on the fact that a few concerts, surrounding restaurants and a soccer team are a "win-win" situation because I am not buying it. To be fair, he didn't bring it up,  Also, to be fair, Tepper expressly took responsibility for the current state of the team as the head of the organization. And, he did answer plenty, even if it wasn't what people wanted to hear, or as specific as some may have deemed.  In my opinion, reporters should've kept the questions about the transition of the team as it directly relates to the present and future product on the field. Some did, and some tried to take it to a litany of failures. Tepper wasn't interested, and I don't think the bulk of Panthers fans were interested either. We should be focused on the future.

For his part, Tepper was trying to talk of the future. He didn't come right out and say it, but I don't believe he'll be giving any untested college coaches any long term contracts in the future. Among other things, he did mention that of course he is still learning. He pointedly made the distinction between himself and others that had been owners for decades. He essentially admitted that they know more. He spoke of appreciating a measure of conformity, but still reserves the right to take risks in order to win. In some respect, I think that firing a coach midseason is out of the norm (though not necessarily beyond it), and Tepper has shown that he will do that when he feels that it's time. Some may look at it as impatience or too much patience as it were, but Tepper is rightFitterer says that patience  a balancing act. His patience with Rhule was allowed to grow, but of course it grew thin, and now we're on to Steve Wilks to salvage a grounded ship taking on water.

In regards to Wilks, I get the sense that Tepper wants to genuinely see what Wilks has, but I zeroed in on a couple of key points in regards to Wilks hanging on to the job after this season. Tepper said that Wilks was the "best person in the building" to essentially right the ship. He also said that if Wilks does an "incredible" job, then the coach may essentially be the best man for the job going forward. But, make no mistake, Wilks is going to have to show some progress. Tepper wouldn't put a number on anything, but in general he did basically say that progress is more than five wins two years in a row, so I'm thinking that that out of the twelve games left, that Wilks and company had better win half of them at the very least to appear credible in Tepper's eyes. But, that's my own thinking. "Incredible" sounds like a high bar to me, so I wouldn't exactly bet the house on Wilks, but of course I wish him the best. I think Tepper's going to give him a "fair" shake, whatever that looks like. 

One thing that I can't stress enough is that Tepper is very cognizant of limited and/or misused resources. He is keenly aware of and focused upon the way that the Panthers' capital has been managed and how that speaks to (and has spoken to) our success on the field. Scott Fitterer may as well be sitting in an uncomfortable, hard chair in a super dark room before a focused beam of  light, with Tepper as the interrogator. Under Fitt's guidance, we may be "in on every deal" (which I like), but the in-on-every-deal mantra may be wearing thin with Tepper. Fitterer best be using our resources in a way that obviously benefits the team---basically, in a way that brings about winning. Tepper mentioned winning probably more than anything, but maximizing capital---including very important draft capital---was arguably the most important takeaway from Tepper's press conference, and the man under the microscope right now to that end is Scott Fitterer. I believe Fitterer will survive if Wilks survives. Will he survive if he doesn't? Listening to Tepper, I'm not so sure. We will see. 

Fitterer is under the microscope, yes, but so is everyone. Tepper said, "There's no place to hide." He was not only referring to the executives and coaches, but the players. I believe that this comment hasn't been mentioned enough in light of all the low-key sensationalism about his manner. But make no mistake, Tepper has his eyes on the players as well. Sure, Wilks may have put them on notice, but in my estimation Tepper put them on notice with that comment (and not simply Rhule's firing). 

So, TLDR: Tepper's presser demeanor was much ado about nothing; he doesn't desire to talk about the future, he gave answers related to the present, and said that the present will have direct repercussions towards the future. Rhule was fired because he didn't win. Wilks had better win. The management and allocation of resources, including draft capital, must be treated as a priority, and maybe Fitterer will be here and maybe he won't to that end. The remainder of the season will go a long way towards what happens with the GM, coaches and players. Tepper is still committed to winning. Personally I don't think he's going to make the same mistakes of the past with our next moves, but I believe that he is still open to going outside the norm while also realizing that conformity has its benefits.

 

[top dawg]

4 hours ago, Panthercougar68 said:

It went off the rails when the presser became about Tepper himself and not the Panthers moving forward.

Good insight.

[top dawg]

4 hours ago, onmyown said:

Basically I don’t give two fugs how hard Tepper thinks he is trying.

I care about his self awareness; his ability to recognize when he can’t do something and needs help. Because he has been historically and impressively inept.

It’s literally all that matters when it comes to the future of this franchise and the sooner he can learn this skill the better.

He has had help, just from the wrong people. 

He mentioned consultants, as well as spoke to a more conformist approach going forward. 

He didn't say he was necessarily "trying hard", in fact he wasn't really sentimental at all. He just said that he doesn't know it all, being that he's only been an owner for four years. 

I've heard people suggest that Tepper is akin to Jerry Jones, a supremely meddlesome owner who may think he knows more than he does, but other than giving Rhule an abnormally long and prosperous contract (which really only affects Tepper's purse), and giving this basic newb total control, he has let his staff do what they do.  At least he doesn't sound like he'll go down that road again. 

Edited October 15, 2022 by top dawg

[toldozer]

I wish Ryan Reynolds would have bought the team

[rmoneyg35]

While I understand the criticism of Tepper I also think we have to be reasonable and realize he’s new to this and is going to make mistakes. The question is if he will learn from these mistakes or not.

[L-TownCat]

9 hours ago, top dawg said:

"Incredible"

ĭn-krĕd′ə-bəl

adjective

So implausible as to elicit disbelief; unbelievable.
———-

Thats how good Wilks HAS to be.  (According to Tepp)