If Wilks weren't from Charlotte and a former member of the staff, would you still want him as HC next year?

[Martin]

I would prefer an offensive HC, but I would be ok with Wilks to give him an off-season to build his own staff, update the roster to fit what he is looking for etc. I believe he has all the leadership qualities a HC should have, but still learning some other points.

I don’t get the interest in other potential defensive HCs, like DeMeco Ryans, at all. If you want a defensive HC there is no need to move away from Wilks. The 49er defensive line is the best in the league and when Ryans leave the next DC will also look great behind that line.

So for me is top tier offensive coach or Wilks. I would probably lean towards Frank Reich if I had to pick.

[Prowler2k18]

11 minutes ago, Waldo said:

I don't care where Wilks is from, him being a Rivera coach and clone is what I don't want to see again in my lifetime.

Solid job given the circumstances, good human and meh HC material in the current NFL. I think we can and should try to do better.

This I don’t want the HC job handed to just anyone, Wilks included. As someone posted earlier, he would have to sell me on a feasible plan to improve the offense and defense going forward. 

[Waldo]

Just now, Prowler2k18 said:

This I don’t want the HC job handed to just anyone, Wilks included. As someone posted earlier, he would have to sell me on a feasible plan to improve the offense and defense going forward. 

After Rhule's general BS approach I agree 100%.

I still do not see how a deffensive coach can pull off convincing me at this point.

[TLGPanthersFan]

16 minutes ago, Martin said:

I would prefer an offensive HC, but I would be ok with Wilks to give him an off-season to build his own staff, update the roster to fit what he is looking for etc. I believe he has all the leadership qualities a HC should have, but still learning some other points.

I don’t get the interest in other potential defensive HCs, like DeMeco Ryans, at all. If you want a defensive HC there is no need to move away from Wilks. The 49er defensive line is the best in the league and when Ryans leave the next DC will also look great behind that line.

So for me is top tier offensive coach or Wilks. I would probably lean towards Frank Reich if I had to pick.

Because Ryans is modern while Wilks is 2003. 
Ryans will likely run a team like it is from 2023 and not 2003. 
There is potentially a big difference between Wilks and Ryans. 
Saying we should hire Wilks and not Ryans because they are both defensive coaches doesn’t make sense. 
I bet Ryans will be more modern than Wilks and he is the only defensive coach I would not be an angry if we hired him. 

 

Edited January 2, 2023 by TLGPanthersFan

[TLGPanthersFan]

32 minutes ago, Prowler2k18 said:

I have to agree and disagree here. I agree the Wilks biggest weakness is he’s not a strategist; he said himself a few years back that his philosophy is not about out scheming anyone, which is similar to the Fox/Rivera ideology. Good enough to beat mediocre or bad teams but susceptible to being out coached by the likes of Mike Tomlin, Bill Belicheck or other well coached teams.

I disagree that leadership, character and the other qualities Scot mentioned are non-factors in being a good coach. In this aspect, he compares favorably to a Mike Tomlin but without the years of experience. May not make Wilks the best coach from a playcalling/strategy perspective as noted above, but the way the team has responded to his leadership over the past month or so proves that those qualities absolutely matter. 

 

I prefer a coach that can coach well during games. Wilks has proven he can’t and the fact he said he isn’t a strategist is damning in its own right. 
I just want someone new and try an OC for once. 

[carpanfan96]

Doesn't matter where he's from or his ties. He took over a team and staff that hadn't won but 11 games in 2+ seasons and managed to win 5 out of 11 games with out his system, his players or coaches. 

 

That's a fantastic job of coaching a bad team that needs help in a ton of places. 

Edited January 2, 2023 by carpanfan96

[Castavar]

After knowing Wilks would probably keep Al Holcombs as DC if he named head coach, I don't want him anymore. Our defense somehow got worse than with Phil Snow.

[SmokinwithWilly]

We've had defensive coaches and one extreme bullshitter for the entire existence of the franchise and have yet to put together back to back winning seasons. He's done well as interim, but I think it's time to look at an offensive minded HC. We need someone who's career is embracing the way the NFL is trending, vs someone who's spent their career trying to stop it. 

[panthers55]

9 hours ago, TLGPanthersFan said:

Problem is none of those things make a good coach. 
I could care less of a Wilks is a good person or a leader. 
Guy is a terrible in game coach. 

You are so wrong.  In-game coaching can be learned or even delegated. Character and getting the best out of your players is the head coach's job as well as managing personalities and all of your personnel  which is something that is more about who you are. Seems many folks seem to think head coaching is only about the 3 hours you play and not the 100 hours of preparation getting players ready for the game. And by the way I heard the commentators talking about how well Wilkes did the last of the game to get 2 possessions even if Darnold got strip sacked and Tampa got the ball.

[pantherj]

We got rid of RR because we wanted a more talented HC who could get better results over the long run. I don't think Wilks has more talent than RR, and honestly I think he's the poor man's version of Ron. And even if he's as talented as Ron, do we really want to go down that road again without a Cam Newton for Wilks to rely on?

We need to dump Wilks for the same reason we needed to move on from RR. It's 2023. Modern football is about the passing game, potent offense, TD passes, 4th quarter shootouts, and highlight reel plays. Excitement. The winning teams in the long run know how to scheme weapons open, and that's the key to winning. Wilks is not an offensive guru who can step in and make our offense better than what McAdoo has cooked up. Wilks is more of a defensive mind, and even then we'll just get torn apart by the top modern style offenses. The Bengals played pitch and catch with our defense and made it look easy. Wilks can't stop that. He doesn't have the answers. If this were the 90's or early 00's, then fine Wilks would be our guy. It's 2023. McAdoo and Wilks belong in a retirement home by NFL standards. We need to modernize our whole team, starting with the HC.

[Martin]

12 minutes ago, TLGPanthersFan said:

Because Ryans is modern while Wilks is 2003. 
Ryans will likely run a team like it is from 2023 and not 2003. 
There is potentially a big difference between Wilks and Ryans. 
Saying we should hire Wilks and not Ryans because they are both defensive coaches doesn’t make sense. 
I bet Ryans will be more modern than Wilks and he is the only defensive coach I would not be an angry if we hired him. 

 

I’m assuming you loved Saleh as well? I don’t know what makes Ryans any different from him. Enthusiastic, smiling, running down the sidelines high fiving his players. I might be wrong, but I just see a younger Saleh which is meh to me.

[TLGPanthersFan]

1 minute ago, Martin said:

I’m assuming you loved Saleh as well? I don’t know what makes Ryans any different from him. Enthusiastic, smiling, running down the sidelines high fiving his players. I might be wrong, but I just see a younger Saleh which is meh to me.

I don’t want to hire a defensive coach period but if we have to I would rather hire someone other than Wilks. 
Ryans isn’t Wilks and that is enough for me. 

[Martin]

2 minutes ago, TLGPanthersFan said:

I don’t want to hire a defensive coach period but if we have to I would rather hire someone other than Wilks. 
Ryans isn’t Wilks and that is enough for me. 

Got you. I’ve seen people high on Ryans so I was curious to why. 

[OceanPanther]

11 hours ago, Ricky Spanish said:

Say he was a dude from Tallahassee and came in as interim coach for Rhule's incompetent ass. The team played .500 ball with him as interim HC, would you really want him returning?

Take the emotion and narrative out of the equation. What has he done EXCEPTIONALLY well since taking over? Other than being a professional football coach, I don't really see anything otherworldly.

Retaining Wilks, to me, is a return to the status quo of Fox/Rivera, not an overall improvement to where we were 3 years ago. Keeping Wilks on after firing Rhule feels like getting back together with your long term girlfriend after originally dumping her for some hot little college biddy who it turns out you have nothing in common with so you dump her and choose to fall back into familiarity while neglecting all the reasons you broke up in the first place.

It's familiar, it's comfortable, and you know what to expect, but deep down you know it's not going to last.

I like Wilks and I appreciate him stepping in and coaching like a professional HC, something we've lacked the past 2.5 years, but I don't think he's the long term answer. I would prefer we rip the band-aid off and start over. Draft a new QB in the first, pair him with an offensive minded HC that he can grow with and learn from, and go from there.

Hate on them all we want, but those two have 7 years of getting us to the playoffs and 2 Super Bowl appearances .   After the last 5 years, I'm signing up for a coach that can get us to the playoffs,  

Then hopefully along the way we eventually find a true franchise QB.  We have to have one.   But please stop thinking that because we want one, that he's in next years draft.