Panthers are playing the long game with Matt Rhule, and it’s the right move

The Carolina Panthers made an outstanding, long-term hire by prying Matt Rhule away from the Baylor Bears — emphasis on long-term.

The first college coach this offseason to make the leap to the NFL wasn’t Lincoln Riley or Urban Myer, nor was the team hiring him the Dallas Cowboys. Baylor’s Matt Rhule was hired by the Carolina Panthers, which is both a great hire and a sign that the Panthers are in this for the long haul.

Rhule had been part of Tom Coughlin’s staff in 2012 as an offensive assistant before he went back to the college game. Since returning to college football in 2013 to become a head coach, he has transformed two downtrodden programs into winners, turning the Temple Owls into AAC Champions and getting Baylor to a Sugar Bowl for the first time since 1957.

This hire has Tepper written all over it, who we knew wanted to make his own mark on the franchise he purchased from Jerry Richardson in May 2018.

Though Rhule only has a 47-43 (32-27) record in seven years as a head coach, nobody was going to win like he did at Temple and Baylor. The Owls went 2-10 (1-7) in his first year in Philadelphia in 2013. They improved every season, becoming bowl eligible in 2014 at 6-6 (4-4), winning the AAC East at 10-4 (7-1) in 2015 and winning the AAC at 10-3 (7-1) in 2016 before he left for Baylor.

Rhule epitomized “Temple Tough” and the program remains one of the better Group of 5 since his departure for the Big 12 in 2017. Rebuilding Temple was difficult, but making Baylor respectable after the end of the disgusting Art Briles era in Waco was next to impossible. Yet, it took Rhule only three years to lead the Bears to a Big 12 Championship game and a New Year’s Six bowl.

Sure, Baylor went a pitiful 1-11 (1-8) in Rhule’s first year in the Power 5 in 2017. But he was building a culture necessary to yield a winner. Baylor went 7-6 (4-5) and won the Texas Bowl in 2018. Entering 2019, Baylor was seen largely as the fourth or fifth-best team in the Big 12, one capable of getting to a bowl game and winning it, but not being ready for a national stage.

Then, 2019 happened and everybody knew Rhule was ready for an even bigger challenge. The 2019 Bears went 11-3 (8-1), with losses to two of the top-five teams in the country: twice to the conference rival Oklahoma Sooners and the Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl. Baylor had its best season since 2014 and was one play away from reaching the College Football Playoff.

Rhule could have stayed at Baylor as long as he wanted and would have likely achieved Grant Teaff status in the process. However, it’s hard to see his program competing with the likes of Oklahoma and the Texas Longhorns consistently in the recruiting landscape.

Though he’s never spent a game on the Carolina sidelines, Rhule epitomizes the Panthers’ mantra of “Keep Pounding”, and has the tools to right the ship over the next few years.

So will the Panthers challenge the New Orleans Saints, the Atlanta Falcons and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC South this season? Probably not, as Rhule will need time to establish his culture. The Panthers have to figure out what they’re doing at the quarterback position. Will Cam Newton stay, will they target a free agent or will they draft somebody with the No. 7 overall pick?

The good news is Rhule’s teams become competitive in the second year, meaning the Panthers will probably be hovering around .500 in 2021. But by year three in 2022, Carolina will push for a division crown and likely have the Panthers back in the NFC playoffs. Best of all, he has a three-year advantage in the war room because he’s recruited all the guys coming out in the NFL Draft.

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Ultimately, this is a long-term play by the Panthers and one that will work out. To lead two programs that shouldn’t be playing for conference championships to the summit tells you everything you need to know about Rhule’s coaching acumen. He does the little things right that translate to winning. He is the analytical coach Tepper has craved since buying the team in 2018.