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Newly appointed Nebraska coach Matt Rhule reminisced on his less than three-season tenure as the Panthers’ coach before being fired in October 2022.
On The Season with Peter Schrager podcast, Rhule was asked to reflect on his time at Carolina and if he would change anything. Rhule would go on to admit he did not feel like he was the right fit at the franchise and he would’ve chosen another gig.
“I think I probably would just, I would’ve taken another job,” Rhule said. “You know, I mean I think it’s a great place, wonderful people, but I just don’t know if I was a fit there. At the end of the day, we talked about, ‘Hey, we’re going to have a four-year plan, a five-year plan.’ You know, if you tell me we got a two-year plan, then I’m going to go sign a bunch of free agents and do it. So what was a four-year plan became a two-year, five-game plan real quick.
“It’s not about hate, and I’m not angry about it. At the end of the day, I understand. But if it’s going to be that quick, then we’re going to sign some more free agents. We’re going to make the blockbuster trades, we’re going to do those things. I think the trajectory that we were on was correct, it was to have a team that next year could make a big trade. And I think I see the signs of it right now, when they play well on offense, they win. You know, there’s a good defense there and I give [interim coach] Steve [Wilks] all the credit, I give the coaches all the credit, but I am a part of that building process. Had that just stayed for maybe through this year, and maybe made the big free-agent signing this year to get them over the top, I think that the Panthers could win the NFC South for years to come.”
After spearheading one of the greatest college football turnarounds in recent memory (Baylor, from 2017 to ’19, after a sexual assault scandal and misconduct allegations rocked the program before he took over as coach), the Panthers poached Rhule in ’20, a franchise in search of returning to its former glory that saw them make an appearance in Super Bowl 50.
At the helm, Rhule led Carolina to an 11–27 record from 2020 to October 2022, unable to make anything out of quarterbacks Teddy Bridgewater, Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield and briefly, the Panthers’ 2010s star Cam Newton in ’21. Rhule was 1–4 in 2022 before being fired a day after a lopsided Oct. 9 loss to the 49ers.
Now back at the college level, Rhule and the Huskers will look to make another incredible bounceback like the one carried out at the Baylor program. For Nebraska, they’ll look to end a six-year losing record streak that has not seen them reach a bowl game since the 2016 season. For Rhule, he’ll look to find stardom once again after being unable to turn around an ailing Carolina franchise that should have been his long-time head coaching ticket into the NFL.
Meanwhile, the Panthers are 4–8 and are third in NFC South rankings.
