The Panthers hold the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, and for the prospect who might be taken there, it’s usually a bittersweet proposition. Here’s a place they’ll spend perhaps the next decade of their life and, depending on the route it took the franchise to sink to a level that earned it the No. 1 pick, a prospect might spend the next decade trying to fix something that’s irreparably broken.
That’s not the case with Carolina, which just completed one of the more noteworthy hiring cycles in any coaching carousel I can remember. Whoever is getting drafted No. 1 isn’t just getting a coach, he’s getting a coach sought out specifically because of their acumen and talent. While that may seem obvious to the lay fan—it’s the NFL, so isn’t every team assembled of the best people for the job?—it’s time you learn a little bit about the process of assembling a coaching staff and why the Panthers tried to do something different.
Most coaching staffs are assembled at a breakneck pace with the help of various people in the middle. Agencies can sometimes have significant influence on which coordinators are paired with certain coaches. Friendships are essential. Family ties, as Defector wrote about last year, also play a significant role. I knew a coach who was on a staff that believed the coordinator’s father had something to do with his placement, which doesn’t feel all that unusual.
