Panthers hire Frank Reich to be next head coach

The Carolina Panthers have hired Frank Reich to be their next head coach, the team announced on Thursday.

Reich had been manning the Indianapolis Colts since 2018 but was fired midway through the season.

The Panthers fired Matt Rhule after their 1-4 start. They had signed him to a seven-year deal before the 2020 season, but he went 11-27 as their head coach.

Carolina hired Steve Wilks to be their interim head coach, and with him they went 6-6. Wilks had been their defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach, having been the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals in 2018.

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The 61-year-old Reich played for the Panthers at the start of their 1995 inaugural season. One of Reich’s daughters works in the team’s marketing department.

Reich is 40-33-1 in his head coaching career, but in 2021, the Colts lost their final two games to miss out on the playoffs, and Indy were 3-5-1 when they let Reich go.

Reich was the offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles when they won Super Bowl LII.

Carolina went 7-10 on the season, getting better as the season went on, despite firing Rhule and trading Christian McCaffrey in the middle of the season.