Ron Rivera: Future with Panthers is white elephant in room
By Mike Dyce
Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera is under immense pressure to get results on the field. Last season they underachieved and finished 7-9 in a weaker division with New Orleans struggling to get it all together following the bounty gate scandal.
“I can’t worry about it,” Rivera told Scott Fowler of The Charlotte Observer on Tuesday. “But it’s there. To a degree, it is that white elephant in the room.”
His owner has praised him at times and promised to support him, but that could change at any minute and Rivera knows that.
“It can happen at any moment,” Rivera said. “In the last few years we’ve seen coaches get fired after their first year, after their second year and after successful years. So I don’t think it’s any different. I’m not going to spend time worrying about it.”
It is important to remember that when he was hired by the Carolina Panthers he hadn’t been a head coach before.
“If you’ve never been a head coach at pretty much any level,” Rivera said, “there are a lot of things that come and slap you in the face. Quite honestly, that’s what it was. There were some very abrupt things that I had to learn and learn quickly. I made some mistakes along the way. But I like to think I grew from those mistakes.”
But you can count on his best, and he thinks it will be enough.
“No matter what happens, it will be my best,” he said. “At the end of the day, I believe it’s going to be good enough.”