Carolina Panthers beat everyone else to the Matt Rhule punch

The Carolina Panthers have proactively hired the head coach they want, getting Matt Rhule before the New York Giants could even interview him.

Matt Rhule got some interest from the NFL again this year, and if he wanted a job he would presumably have one even with relatively few openings. As first reported by Pete Thamel of Yahoo!, a deal is being finalized for Rhule to leave Baylor and become the next coach of the Carolina Panthers. He will be the fifth head coach in the franchise’s history.

The Panthers got a head start on their head coaching search by firing Ron Rivera in early December, and they’ve landed on Rhule after interviewing him on Monday.

Rhule had turned around two college programs in quick fashion, going from 2-10 in his first season at Temple (2013) to back to-back 10-wins seasons before leaving for Baylor after the 2016 season. He then took the scandal-ridden Baylor program that Art Briles left behind from 1-11 in 2017 to seven wins in 2018 to 11 wins and a Sugar Bowl appearance this past season. He has been regarded as one of the top pro-style coaches in the college ranks, and a third straight year of NFL interest was going to be hard to turn away from.

Rhule spent one season as an assistant with the New York Giants, in 2012, and he was easily placed atop their list of candidates to replace Pat Shurmur. An interview had been set for Tuesday, but the Panthers apparently made an offer Rhule could not refuse and he obviously won’t be taking that meeting with the Giants.

The Panthers and owner David Tepper get a lot of credit for deeming Rhule to be the right fit for their plan and wasting no time to hire him, knowing his next interview stop would have hired him with little question. Time will tell if it was the right decision, but the aggressiveness has to be appreciated.