Somebody asked me Friday who I thought Carolina would hire as offensive coordinator and I said Mike Shula.
The hire is consistent with the other hires the Panthers have made. They retained Ron Rivera as head coach and hired Dave Gettleman as general manager.
Gettleman, who comes from the New York Giants, is 61. After being passed over by so many teams so many times he was thrilled to have the job.
I don't see him coming to Bank of America Stadium and shaking up the staff.I don't see him making waves, or major changes, in structure or personnel.
Shula, who was the offensive coordinator four seasons at Tampa Bay and the head coach at Alabama, is status quo. He knows the Panther offense and, as importantly, perhaps, the Panther way.
Nothing he did with the Buccaneers or Crimson Tide indicates he is a creative, play-calling genius. But he has worked two years with Cam Newton.
Maybe watching others call plays will enable Shula to better run the offense. Maybe he needed to step back before he stepped forward. Walk away from a job and, when you return, you ought to be better than you were.
Is Shula the most creative offensive coordinator the Panthers could have hired?
Absolutely not.
Is he the safest?
Absolutely.
Is Shula the best offensive coordinator the Panthers could have hired?
Absolutely not.
Were better candidates available as recently as yesterday?
Absolutely.
Posted by: Cam_Rocks | January 18, 2013 at 05:02 PM
Don't underestimate Shula. He grew up around coaching, and he didn't have a Cam Newton in his previous gigs. With a young, developing QB, the most important thing is keeping a consistent system.
It's not like this team has been miles off the past two years... more like just a tweak or two. I really think fans will be surprised next year!
Posted by: John | January 18, 2013 at 05:30 PM
Yeah, Tom just a thought here, but being that we are $15m over the cap, wont Gettleman have to make a few drastic changes to the roster?
Just sayin'.
Posted by: manu4t | January 18, 2013 at 05:54 PM
I am so disappointed in this move. But at least Rivera will be fired at end of the 2013 season. He must be a bigger fool to hire Shula than I thought was possible.Look at Shula's record. He is a stretch to be a water boy. I have missed one game in 16 years and have 4 PSL's and I predict we will win no more than 5 or 6 games next season. We fans are just screwed year after year and Richardson doesn't seem to care. What is wrong with him, what is wrong with the new GM? We know what is wrong with Rivera, Mr. Ultimate Conservative. But he deserves to be gone after this choice.
Posted by: mel | January 18, 2013 at 07:03 PM
Think Shula is going to surprise! He has much better offensive personnel than what he had as OC at TB! Also TB had it going with a dominating defense and HC Tony Dungy was John Fox like in not allowing an offense to be over aggressive but mandated a conservative offense whose main goal was to not turn the ball over, allow the D to gain field position and win relatively low scoring ballgames!
Posted by: cornhuskercatfan | January 19, 2013 at 04:22 PM
Great, now we can go on the air and be the flaming a-holes that whine and complain and make brilliant comments like "I hope I'm wrong but I hate this move". That way, we're right no matter what! It's great to be a moron on AM sports radio in Charlotte!
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