Happy Half Hour Episode 89: Back To Football

It's that time of the week. It's the Happy half Hour podcast and the podcast is presented by Prowling Vineyards Napa Valley, which is the official wine brand and wine club of the Carolina Panthers. These premiums elections celebrate the great people of the Carolinas and the Panthers hunger to achieve excellence on and off the field. You can learn more at Prowling Vineyards dot com. It is your friends, Kristen, Darren and august and we have a lot to talk about.

We took a few weeks off after the end of the season, but now feels like a great time to bring the Happy Half Hour Podcast back because if you if you haven't heard, the Carolina Panthers have a head coach and his name is Frank Reich. Big news, big news, big news. We're all just a little this is um. I'll just say this. We're recording this at ten am on Wednesday, and we're all a little bleary eyed. We had the press conference yesterday and all that that entails.

We've been preparing. Some of us went on Thursday night to Frank's daughter's house to do an interview. So it's been quite the weekend, quite an exciting weekend. But um, I will say it was hard to get out of bed this morning. Guys. Yeah, days like the day to unpack all the liftovers. It's like, you know, it's almost like day after Christmas, day after Thanksgiving? You make a nice turkey sandwich. Do we do with all this stuff

that's here now? So it's uh, yeah, it's quite a month and it's Coaching searches are always a little um exhausting anyway, because they come at the end of a long season and with the season stretching out the way it has in recent years, seventeen games, eighteen weeks plus training camp plus all the other stuff. You get to the end and you're tired anyway, and then it's like, oh, okay, we've got three and a half more weeks of stuff to worry about and prep for and playing and do

all that kind of stuff. So by the time you finally get to that point, it is like, but they've made a decision, and it's and it's Frank Reich, and he was in the building. He's been in the building the last few days and certainly did the whole the whole media thing. What I thought would be interesting for everyone is to kind of go through a little timeline of behind the scenes. I think that's something that this

this podcast does well. Um and um, you know about what our experience has been and how we prepare for all of this, and you know, August, there's just such a savvy old vet at this point, the first NFL season and you have been through I mean, like I said, you're never going to forget your first NFL season, although this is tech quickly your second, but you've really you've covered just about everything, You've had a first time for

everything within just one season. So there's very few things that you'll you won't be prepared for and won't have experienced UM in the coming seasons exactly. And I honestly there's a part of that that's super comforting to be so young in my career and be able to go through all of this UM. All that's left is free agency. That's what I'm telling myself. On's like, my god, I've done everything. I feel like I've been here for seven free agencies right in like a way. But yeah, I mean, yeah,

that's that's what you got, free agencies. Nothing but you started a training camp. Yeah. But it's it's I mean, it's been awesome. It's it's been really cool, and it's February one. January was a long month and a short month all at once, because you look back and you're like, so much happened. I'm really big on like at the end of months looking back, especially at my work, and I'm like, Okay, what all did I write? What all

did I do? And I'm like, oh my goodness, like thinking where I was January feet in January two and looking at the catalog of things that have happened, but also how quickly it felt like it flew by. I do a similar thing and our boss Bill makes fun of me for this, although it's it's easier for you to to do because everything you do is in writing.

I save my notes, not from everything, but you know, I had, for instance, I hosted some panels yesterday and I had UM cards with the panther head on them and stuff, and I will put those in a little file and save them because you look back a few months later and you go, gosh, we did this on this day, and this on this day and this the next day. And I guess I could pull up my

video footage, but that would be weird. So I said, I like to look back as well, especially because you're caught up in all of it, and you know it can just you forget. Oh yeah, and in that week in January you wrote what eight articles and Gusta and you you know, and three and one day and all that kind of stuff. Darren, how do you categorize before we get into everything, how do you categorize? Um? Big events? Um? I have You've seen my desk, you know what it

looks like. There is much paper on my desk. I've contributed to the deforestation and of at least a couple of counties. Um it. I tend to stack things up and and stick them in boxes and drawers. At some point later, there are three big boxes in the corner of Bill's office full of my old notebooks from the tens, and so I am a hoarder of stuff, so things tend to stack up, and and that's how I remember it.

But I told I told Augusta early on in January said, congratulations, this is the first time you're going to write a lot of stories that never see the light of day. Because all the all the stories about Frank Craik that we did use were coupled with all the stories that we did not use, and there was a lot of stuff. And being prepped for a coaching search means being prepared

to throw a lot of stuff away. So we called the content graveyard, and there's a lot of stuff in it, and that's just kind of the nature of the thing. But you have to be ready if it's coach ABC or D and just ready to push the button. And we were are prepared. I think that that was something I was just going to clarify as well. If you're listening, if you've been listening for a long time, you probably understand.

But for those who don't know, Darren is saying there's a lot of stuff that doesn't see the light of day because you're preparing for different eventualities, not because something can't go out or something like that. What Darren is explaining is, you know there was a coaching tracker on the website. Um, that's generally as much as as we know.

So we prepare for a lot of different eventualities because also time is of the essence when something gets announced, essentially in this holding pattern for a few weeks or however long it takes to decide, and you want to be prepared, you know, you start doing your research on on different candidates, and so of course the stuff that,

um that isn't relevant doesn't make it. Yeah, and I'll put it in the file with all those stories about quarterbacks that never showed up care and different free agents who never arrived and stuff like that. I mean, and it that's just kind of part of the deal. That's

part of what we have to do. But it is interesting now that it almost feels like we're changing gears today and it is very much that Thanksgiving left over kind of day, Like okay, all right, now, what I don't start planning for Christmas, going to have to cook again soon? What are the ingredients left in the refrigerators? So, uh, today is a big day for us. We're gonna get on a white board and start talking about what the rist of February and March is gonna look like. So that's, uh,

that's gonna be part of our day. But we're also kind of that that spot now where all of that planning and all of that intangible stuff has now become real. We now have a Frank Criick, We now have a head coach, and it's you know, it's what's he gonna what's his stamp on this team gonna be? What's his staff gonna look like? And all that stuff is gonna flow in over the next couple of days and weeks. Yeah,

it's funny. I was talking to Scott Finerary yesterday, maybe the day before, you know, all the days we're together, as we were going through what day is even I don't know when I said February first. I was like, it is February. Now, that's good to know. Staring to my laptop two so don't I had no I'm staring right here at the very top corner that says wed Feb One, Webb One talks about how my brain sounds

right now. One. I was talking to Scott a couple of days ago and he said, after after the press conference, oh, we get to get back to football. He was going down to Mobile, Alabama UM for the Senior Bowl with some members of the Panthers front office and staff, and you're right, it is it. The press conference is over. It is turning the page, and so we're going to

talk about all of that. But I do think it would be fun to go back a little bit to to some of the behind the scenes of what it looks like from each of our perspectives when we hire a new head coach. So, as we said during the coaching search, you know, we're all kind of wait. It's like, don't make any plans, don't go too far, anything like that. And so we get the news that it's it's going to be Frank Reich right around the time that everyone

else gets the news. And I had a fun day on Thursday because we got word And this is something that's that's really neat and it's a privileged UM and it's a testament to our leadership that this happens with the Panthers because as far as I know, this isn't really the norm. A group of us got to go

to Frank Reich's daughter's house. She happens to live in Charlotte, and that is where he was going to be after UM agreeing with the Panthers and UM our photographer Chanelle got to take photos, our videographers got to shoot some stuff, and I got to do an interview with him UM, which was really really neat. So we did a just a get to know interview and then we also did this walk down memory lane with memorabilia from the season,

which I especially enjoyed. I'm sure if you're listening to this by now, you know that he was the or you have known for twenty five years, now thirty years, that he was the first UM Panthers quarterback. He through the first touchdown pass, So we got to go through some of that stuff that he had never seen before. And the Reichs welcomed us in to UM their daughter's home, and it was just it was really neat to get

to see them. And the thing that is stuck out to me, and I think Panthers fans will appreciate this. We felt like there was a very small group of us there, and it was like, if you're celebrating, you think about with your family a birthday or um, a promotion or whatever it was. It was a very uh intimate celebration at his daughter's house. It was just her and her husband and Frank c Reik and his wife Linda, and um. They had like a little charcuterie board set out.

You could tell that they were celebrating as a family and they have a lot to celebrate about. In addition to him getting this job, something that was very near and dear to my heart. His other two daughters live in Greensboro with their families, and so now as a family, they are all going to be able to live full time in the same state. Frank Reich and his daughter. I gotta stop saying Frank Reich too. It's just a nice It's like a good name that has like a

double name. But I gotta go to Frank. Uh. Frank and Linda have four grandchildren and so they're going to get to be around them. And something very similar happens to my family. We've all lived all spread out, my brothers and I and then within the last few years, I'm I'm the furthest away now in Charlotte, about two hours away, and for my mom and my dad to be able to watch their grandchildren all grow up together as a very special moment. So that was something that

was very touching to me. Um And it was really a privilege to get to to kind of get a peek into the family life there and what this really meant for everyone. So I thought, I thought fans would really appreciate that. It was something that I'll certainly remember, sure, And Frank's got He's got such history here. He kind of laughed when when we spoke on Monday, the day before the press conference, I was just talking as we walked through the hall from one place to the next.

I was like, hey, you you and I actually spoke class back in the spring, because when we were doing Sam Mills stuff for Hall of Fame. I called him up and talked to him about playing with Sam and everything, and Frank kind of left. He said, I actually do remember that, and I was like, oh, yeah, I'm sure it was the highlight of your spring. Of course, talking to some guy in Charlotte about, you know, something that

happened twenty eight years ago. But he he says and he was kind about it and said he actually did remember it, but he doesn't mind talking about a lot of that stuff. And it was such a brief moment of time. He was able to, uh make a pretty big impact in a short amount of time. And one of my favorite things about the build up to this was talking to Carry Collins, who was the rookie quarterback who eventually and everybody knew was going to inevitably replace Frank.

When we were going through the all the memorability, he was like, we all knew Carrie was yeah, and everybody knew. But I thought it was so cool in talking to Carry, who's now living in Nashville and he settled down. He's kind of got a farm there, coaching in high school football, raising kids. Um. But Carry said it didn't hit him at the time because Carrie had his own journey in football.

He was a first round pick. Uh, he matured during the time he was here and after he left here and and sees things differently now than he did maybe when he was a rookie in n But Carrie talked about there was a point in his career in two thousand and six when the Titans brought him in late in training camp two basically be the veteran mentor for their first round pick, Vince Young and and Carrie kind of caught himself and he said, I knew what to

do in Tennessee because of Frank. I knew how to handle that role because I saw it with my own two eyes and I lived it every day. And you know, carry kind of acknowledged. He probably didn't appreciate it at the time, but with a decade of perspective, it's like, oh, here's how you're supposed to fill that role. Here's how you're supposed to be that guy. Because I watched Frank

Craig do it. That's really that's really neat. And you know what, he was not hired because of his connections to Charlotte or North Carolina certainly, but it is neat to see someone, uh appreciate the history that is here and um, we all live here, and certainly Darren and I grew up in North Carolina. And it's nice, you know, when you've got someone that that appreciates what it means to to be here. It's just it's the cherry on top right of of everything. And so it's been it's

been neat to see um how excited they are. And then also here the history a little bit. It is really special. Yeah, I've always said anytime I've got an excuse to talk to Dom Capers, that's a good day. You know, Don's just one of the great people in the business. And and when I talked to Bill Polly and whose first gm UM, Bill was pretty upfront about saying, you know, Frank's just one of those great people in

the business. And he equated him to tell him, he equated him to Marv Levy, he equated him to uh, Dom Capers, and he's just like, that's that's who he is. He's just that kind of quality character. And anybody that's every encountered Dom kind of knows that Dom carried himself a certain way, was very regimented, was very direct, was very together. And that's kind of what Frank presented yesterday

in that press conference. I mean, you know, exactly going in what to expect out of a Frank Wright team, you know exactly what he expects people to be like.

I think another thing that I would want fans to know, and I I said this yesterday and I've I've certainly said it um to two people that we worked with, is that when when the news came out, the news broke, I got multiple text messages right away from several people that had worked with him, UM, and they said, you all are going to to love him and his family and he's a great person, great co worker, great leader, um and and I said, oh, you know, thank you

so much. And then the text messages kept on coming in, you know, the praise and stuff. And I think that's a great sign. And if I were a fan, I would want to know that. You know, there's still or as as Darren said, there's going to be a lot that comes out over the next few days. There so a lot of decisions to be made. Were now turning the page to three, and there's all the football stuff

that that has to happen. But I think that's a great start to to know that the people that he has worked with for long periods of time, and I was not the only person I know around our team, certainly a lot of people got messages like that and calls like that. So UM, I just think that's a

that's a really great start. So Augusta take us through Monday Tuesday, with Tuesday being the big press conference day, and not just the press conference that you saw, but there were a lot of um of photo ops and UM, you know, opportunities for him to meet the staff and things like that. So what's it been like from your perspective. Yes, So right after it happened, I actually got in contact

with his brother, who coaches at Wingett nearby. He's been there for over two decades, and that was really that was kind of the first taste of me getting to know the right family. UM. I talked with him on Friday, gave me thirty minutes of his time, and I thought it was very general risk because today is national signing day for college and so he he told me he goes. Uh. When Frank got higher down in Carolina. UM, on Thursday,

my phone kept buzzing. I'm talking to recruits and I have to turn off my phone because it's like distracting me. I didn't even think he said he turned on his phone too. He told me exactly one thirty four text messages like oh, your brother's coming to the Panthers and he was so out of it. But UM, he was really generous with his time. UM just telling me stories about how UM just kind of the whole right, family sort of picked Charlotte as their second at home. I mean,

so he's there. Their sister also lives in Greensboro. Obviously his daughter's and and so. Um. But but one of the things I guess just getting to know Frank obviously Darren and I got to speak with him on Monday for the first time. Watching his press conference on Tuesday, it kinda hearkened back to some of his background in Charlotte. Um,

when they were here. He said yesterday that his family had settled here between when he stopped playing think it was in and when he went started coaching his first stint with the cult. He spent thirteen years here and a lot of that was actually spent um in seminary

and becoming a pastor. And it's it's interesting, like whenever I was watching that press conference, it felt, you know, I felt that energy at times, especially you know, he had all those regimented you know, this is a five step program to this and a fourth step theory to this, and it felt like I was in you know, in a church viewers sometimes you know, just the way he talked,

and it was interesting that delivery. But um, yeah, I mean it's It's been a lot of background work before it happened, and then when it happened, we had a plan set in place of UM. Darren and I both did of people we were going to reach out to, stories, we were going to write UM in the interim before the press conference started, and then you know, get to meet him before the press conference and everything we had plans.

I'm a big planner, so I'm excited for it today because Darren was mentioning the white board and I love knowing what's going to happen, and without having a coach in place, we didn't know, so those days were kind of tough for me personally. But knowing that we'll have a plan, the only thing left, the only dominoes left to fall our coaching staff. So once we get those, we're good to go. Oh, by the way, just that, yeah,

he's going to hire an entire staff. That's a thing, and we'll get to know those guys and and that's what's that's what's neat about right now is there is a gear shifting and it's like there's a lot of stuff and before you know it, we will be in Indianapolis at the combine. We will be talking draft stuff for the next month, and we'll go through free agency and it'll all be on top of us. I would love to um hear one thing as as we kind

of wind this down. I would love to hear one thing that in talking to different people or in talking to him, what's one of your your favorite stories or anecdotes, or something that stood out to you or just a feeling that you got about him. Like I said, for me, it was the family. You know, just how much it meant to the family to to all be back here.

I thought that was really neat. But everyone can certainly read your incredible work on Panthers dot com, but give us a little a little excerpt from something that really just stood out to you. I just think seeing all those old guys. I I got a chance to catch up with John Casey before the press conference and visit with him a little bit, and they all came to the press conference. Are a lot of his former teammates

came to the press conference. Laws was there, Dwight Stone, Jarred Williams, Mark Reddenhouser, I believe was some way in the building. So you know, it was neat to see. Ay, how many of those guys are near and settled here, and you realize when you see things like this that a team really is part of a community. I mean, John Casey is part of Charlotte as much as he

is part of Carolina Panthers history. And he he shows up because of Frank Riike and and John just went on and on about the kind of person Frank is. And I think that's one of the things that's important for a lot of people to know moving forward, is this is a guy who is kind of dug in and he is going to embed himself here. And you know, Charlotte's one of those places I've said before want to retire here and they want to stay here. But we're getting someone who is going to be good for Charlotte

as well as good for the Carolina Panthers hopefully. So um I I'm gonna go back to when I spoke with Joe's brother he told me the story. I actually closed my article about it um or with this story, but I really loved it. Um It's it's kind of like exemplifies uh, Frank as a person, how he kind of like he said that his brother always kind of he he notices the moment, you know, he doesn't let the gravity of things sort of I guess a race. You know, the fact that he can soak in you know,

this is cool that this happened. And he was talking about I'm looking back at super Bowl twenty seven. It was when he came in for Jim Kelly, uh when Buffalo lost pretty bad to Dallas Um and he said after the game, you know, it was a pretty bad Like he was completely honest with me. It's like it was a rough game for Frankie through like two interceptions, lost two fumbles. It was it was kind of rough.

And we're walking out together and he turns to me and you know, there's there's a super Bowl, there's coming in. There's the rough game and getting blown out and he's like but he turns me, goes, dude, like I just played the super Bowl like that that was, and he goes, I love that story and I love it. Just makes me think of my brother because he notices those things.

And he's like whenever I was talking to him after he accepted the job, he's just like, this is so cool, Like he I and I appreciate as a person that can kind of remove yourself from something and and soak it in and be like, this is awesome. And he was so proud telling that story, you know, a younger brother, and I just I appreciated the tone of voice that everything and and that's interesting and I can't wait to, you know, get to know the person who who is

able to soak in moments like that. And as a journalist that's great because someone can tell vivid stories and details. And as a coach that I'm glad that you told me about that I haven't had I got to catch up on all my articles. I have not had a chance to read that with everything that's been going on, and I barely a chance to you know, eat so um. But yesterday I was doing a Q and A and um, someone asked in in the Q and A, what is

something you wish you knew as a player? This is too frank that you would that you teach your current players or that you instill in them, And he said, yeah, just you gotta flush the last play and of course that's coach speak a little bit. But but paired with your story, Augusta, and he, I mean, he really dove into it. Of just the only way that you can

succeed is to put the last play behind you. And what a great example of that you're talking about, you know, to be able to have a game like that and then to have the perspective to be able to appreciate the moment, right, And I do think that's what he's going to instill um in these players, and and that's a's certainly a big part of being able to win and bounce back. All Right, this was fun. I uh, Darren, I guess I hope you both get some sleep at

some point. Um, we're good. I definitely need some. Thank you all so much for listening. We'll talk to you next time on the Happy Half Hour podcast. Wo