The Carolina Panthers have hired Dave Canales as their new head coach on a six-year contract.
The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator will become the fourth head coach under the ownership of billionaire David Tepper.
In November, Frank Reich became the third Panthers coach fired by Tepper — who bought the team for $2.2 billion in 2018 — after Matt Rhule and Ron Rivera.
The Panthers are 31-68 since 2018 and are tied with the New York Jets for the worst record in the league during that span.
Channels will be tasked with getting young quarterback Bryce Young started after a brutal rookie season.
The Carolina Panthers have hired Buccaneers OC Dave Canales as their new head coach
In November, Frank Reich became the third Panthers coach fired by David Tepper
“Dave’s background is rooted in success,” Tepper said in a statement on the team’s website.
‘He has an innovative mentality and positive energy that fits well with players and staff. We are impressed with his ability to bring out the best in players.”
Canales may have had an advantage over other candidates for the Panthers job, knowing that Carolina hired former linebacker Dan Morgan as their president of football operations/general manager earlier this month.
He and Canales spent eight seasons together with the Seahawks and are believed to have a close relationship.
Before Thursday’s update on the Panthers’ head coaching vacancy, Canales, who interviewed in person in Charlotte on Wednesday after conducting online interviews last week, said: The Tampa Bay Times: ‘This is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time.
“I have a few things ready that I’ve been thinking about for a few years.”
The 42-year-old California native worked under Pete Carroll, first a year at USC as an assistant strength coach in 2009, then in Seattle from 2010 until last season (2022).
With the Seahawks, he was first hired as the team’s wide receiver coach before being promoted to quarterbacks coach in 2018.
Then his work with Russell Wilson, now with the Denver Broncos, showed as Seattle reached the NFC Wild Card round.
Canales then became the team’s passing coordinator for one season (2020-2021) before returning to his old job as quarterbacks coach in 2022.
Canales will need to improve on Bryce Young, who had a rough first season in the NFL
Canales guided Baker Mayfield to his most productive season ever as the Bucs’ QB, as Tampa Bay won its third straight NFC South title
That was Geno Smith’s first season as the Seahawks’ starting signal caller, leading Seattle to another NFC wild-card spot.
Smith was awarded the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Season that year after spending much of his professional tenure as a backup for multiple teams.
This season, Carroll was fired by Seattle, while Canales helped Baker Mayfield rebuild his reputation and the Bucs returned to the playoffs after winning a third straight NFC South title.
Tampa Bay’s playoff journey ended in a 31-23 NFC divisional round loss to the Lions last Sunday.
Under Canales, however, Mayfield was as productive as he has ever been in his six-year NFL career to date, posting career highs in passing yards (4,044), touchdowns (28) and completion percentage (64.3).
Rams defensive coordinator and ex-Bucs head coach Raheem Morris — who was hired by Atlanta on Thursday — was also in the running for the Panthers job. Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero was also taken into consideration.
Additionally, the Panthers had interest in Texans OC Bobby Slowik, who helped QB CJ Stroud get to the AFC Divisional round.
Ravens OC Todd Monken and defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald also had virtual interviews with the Panthers, even though Baltimore is still in Super Bowl contention with an NFC Championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
