The Group Chat Episode 23: We Need To Talk

And we all agree on that this has not been a normal week for any of us. Yeah, I mean this is the first time I've experienced head coaching change Carolina. No, you've experienced one before before you got here. But it man quite a few days um in and then in some many different ways, really emotionally for the people in this building from a just work standpoint, and made for a long night. Um just a lot on your plate

all of a sudden. Uh. And obviously, this this new owner here in Carolina does things a little bit differently. He sat down with the media and there was a lot to kind of soak in after that discussion. As you start thinking about the future. So just just a lot really to digest there. It definitely is is Max, as you touched on for all of us, you know, just it's a little bit different when you do have those personal emotions that you're dealing with as you have

to continue working. And I think that's from a business side, from a football side, from you know, all the way around of you know, and and we'll kind of touch on this as we go forward. Caroline's gonna touch on this a little bit. But just what we did and what the last forty eight hours were in this building is a little bit unique and a little bit different than a lot bit a lot big and and and so that kind of led to just some I think, some challenges, but also just some kind of weird emotions

as you kind of went through it. Yeah, you mentioned it of of Max. You said, I've been through this before. I was in Indianapolis when they parted ways or whatever. The terminology has always find that interesting too. There's relieved of duties fired, parted ways. That's always a careful consideration by the organization. But this one was the Panthers parted ways with Ron Rivera. I don't remember what the verbiage was when Pagano was um like, oh, but that was

after the season. It was immediately following the very last game of the season, when this did not wait until Monday. If I remember correctly, it was Sunday night. It happened directly after the game. There was riding on the wall, And I think that was such a different experience because, like you've heard Ron Rivera say throughout the last couple of days, and even I heard Stephanie Rivera say it too, this is the business there in and when you go into this, you think that this may happen. So are

they overly surprised by this? No? I think the timing is what is surprising everyone. But then when you hear, you know, Tepper's reasoning behind it, you can't help but respect that. But with Pagano, he did not have that abrupt ending. He knew about a month out that this could be happening, and the more that the team was struggling ended up with a four and twelve record that season.

He knew what was coming. And the last show that we did together, the last interview we did together, all of these things, it was a hug and you know, thank you, coach. I sat down with Ron Rivera last week, and we had no idea that that was the last interview with me and him as the head coach of the Carolina Panthers. So that is an odd piece of this, of of why it was abrupt and why it was

a surprise to a lot of people. But I think the reaction from fans, the thank you and response that he's gotten from the organization and the players in this almost grieving is what it felt like from the players of we're losing our leader that we've had here for so long. Especially, that's how it felt with Greg Olsen and Luke Keickley and these guys that have been with him their entire time here for this long time that they've been in Carolina, he has been their coach, So

it has been unique. I think it's been very cool to see and the southern hospitality that everyone talks about is so true and it's more so of Okay, the football piece is why he was let go, but let's not make that who all. Yeah, I mean, nine years is a really long time, right, was one of the longest tenured coaches in the NFL. UM I mean, look, we we saw Steve Wilkes get one year. You know, I mean like this is this is unusual to have

somebody here this long. And we all know what made Ron so um loved here was how personal personal he was and how he connected with people. He was not a screamer, he was not an intimidating guy. He was a guy who was going to kind of put his arm around you and he wanted you to be part of the family here. And I think that's why, Yes, everybody got very frustrated with how the season went these past two years. But I think that's why everybody really

respected Ron was because he treated everybody that way. All of his players vouch for him. He is he is what the cliche would be a players coach. I mean to a t that that that's who Ron was. Um So yeah, I think he deserved and it was fitting for him to have a send off. Really, this is not a slammed the door, see you later, I'm out of here. Ron was fired and he stayed in the building to help Harry Fuel get ready, and that's that's

just not that's not common. Ron was fired, and I walked down to his office and did an interview with him while they were packing up his stuff in boxes. And I'm one, I'll say, extremely proud of the collective effort from our digital apartment and covering this. I don't think a lot of teams cover the way that we did. But I would be remiss if I didn't say that Ron is a big part of that. Ron allowed a lot of that to happen, and I think it speaks

to what his tenure was like here. Not not a lot of head coaches are gonna sit down with somebody like me in that situation and do an interview for the team website that was that was uncommon. And then of course the next day he has the press conference, which is when's the last time you've seen that from a guy who's who just got fired? And then he does a presser in that building to say goodbye. I mean, all of that I think speaks to what Ron's time here was, and I think I think it speaks to

what Dave understood about this situation as well. Yeah, I think you know, Dave didn't say no, no, listen, you gotta go, like gave him that chance. Dave gave him that chance. I think one of the things that I saw in kind of monitoring, you know, kind of seeing live comments on all the feeds, and you know, there are some fans that are like, man, you guys were making him do a press conference, like this man gets

fired and you're making him do all this stuff. And you know, as we understood, like, no, this was an opportunity presented to you to Ron, do you want to you know, Ron gave his heart and he made a pitch for kind of you know, what he wants to do next year. He kind of you know, he used that as an opportunity for himself, which you know, he deserves to be able to do that a little bit, which I think that you know, maybe other coaches might deserve that opportunity to in in these senses that they

don't get. But you know, Dave, Dave took it upon himself to explain himself, to explain what was going on, and then to give Ron an opportunity to have some closure and this organization to have some closure. Yeah, and I think honestly everybody sort of felt like it was time. It's these things are hard. But I think even in listening to Ron the past few weeks, it kind of sounded like he sort of new, I mean, and maybe

he didn't expect it to happen with four games left. Um. But there's like a certain natural life cycle that exists for a coach, right, I mean, it just doesn't last forever, Um, And I think, as Dave said, sometimes you need some fresh blood. I think that could simply be the case here. I think Ron could go somewhere else and have great success again. I think sometimes it's just in a specific place,

it's time for a change. And after nine really good years he leaves as the winning is coach and franchise history, took this team so close to the ultimate prize, it was time for a change here. And I think that's that's a healthy natural part of sports, as tough as it is, as tough as as it is to watch that happen to a guy, Um, with how much he meant to this place, and these players, coaches get hired and fired, and that's just that's the reality of the business.

And we we are fortunate and that we haven't seen that here in a long time. One of the things that stood out to me in his press conference he was asked or he talked about the conversation you had with Jerry Richardson when he was first hired and Richardson asked him, do you how long do you want to be here? And he surprised him by saying eight, ten, eleven years and said, you know why, you don't want to be here forever? And you know, he said, I

think that's I think that sounds about right. That just seems you know, if if you've been here that long, it means you've done some things right. But that that's kind of that's kind of what the NFL life cycle is. And I think, you know, I don't want to put words in his mouth, but I think Ron didn't necessarily want to be here another four or five years. He wanted these years to be able to compete for Super Bowl. Well,

he even said that. They said, would you want to stay for the rest of the season, He said, only if I could guarantee me win all of them. I think that's it. I think another piece of this though, that that I this is a personal opinion for me, and this is not something that Ron has come out and said blatantly. But this was an opportunity for him to get his next job, So we can say it was a wonderful thing for him to be, you know, for Temper to give him this opportunity, and it absolutely was.

But Ron over is a competitive man and he instantly flipped the switch to go find his next job, as he should. There should be no ill will about that. He's absolutely putting himself out there because a lot of times these coaches you don't hear from them, and the question does become when he's had the you know, but thirty three years of being involved in the NFL, of is he done? You know? Is this is this it for him? Is it? Is he going to retire? No?

And he got to say that that's when thing you always wonder, and then you know, maybe they take a year off and then they come back. I remember that with Pagano, No one everyone kind of thought that he might retire, and then he did take that year off. His daughter was getting married, he got to spend some time with his family. He was still getting paid in his contract, so he got to take that year off and then he got back into coaching. No, Ronevera has made it very clear that in a month that job

cycle begins and that's when they start hiring. I wouldn't have been shocked if ron said, like, I'm gonna take some time, you know, I don't know. But to your point, Karl, he came right out and said, and he gave himself like a really good pitch. I thought, Um, so, I don't know what's next for Ron. I do know this though, It's why isn't any profession to keep your options open? And I think what Ron just did was kept that

option open. And if somebody he wants to pick up the phone and call Ron and his Asian and and see, he's made it very clear he's open to that. If Ron wants to be choosy and maybe take some time in Tahoe, he can do that too. I mean I think, yeah, as you said, Ron set himself up pretty well for the next chapter, and obviously Dave Pepper and the Panthers are going to try to do the same on their in. Yeah, it has been a crazy week, as many of you know.

But what has been also interesting about this week is that for the past two days we have gotten to know more about Perry Fuel than we ever thought we would know, including his hot yoga schedule, You've got that correct. We know that this man enjoys waking up on game day and if it's an away game, putting a towel under his door and hot boxing his room to do yoga. Okay, that's what he's doing, and he is. He is sweating it out, being all sin, firing up the YouTube just yep,

just sin the YouTube before becoming crazy. So we've learned a lot about Perry Fuel and I've been in practice watching a little bit just because I knew what was going to be different. There's a different demeanor at the press conference, there's a different demeanor walking around the hallways because Perry feels a different man than Ron rivera both defensive minded coach. I think that's an important piece that that keeps this team rolling. Is not much changes as

far as you know. The offense is still intact and they they have their staff and yeah there's some personnel changes that will we'll get into, but they're still rolling in this way that they know. And I remember talking to Scott Turner earlier in the season. I was walking out at I think it was not close to nine o'clock on a Monday night, walking out to my car and he's walking out to his car and I was like, wow, Monday night, nine o'clock, this is not what I'm expecting

you to leave. And he said, we've been doing this together for so long. We have it down. We we know how to flip that, you know, report over very quickly. And and he said, We've got some more work to do, but I'm gonna go see my kids, you know, before they go to bed. And so they have this this going on on the offensive side, they can roll the defensive side. Now it is different, obviously, and the team is different, but Perry Fueld just brings a different energy

and it's it has been a different practice. I'm excited to see Perry Fuel on the sidelines for the Carolina Panthers. He he has not been down there this season. I will be down there and watching him very closely see if that zin has worn off. And as he put it, he's become ornerary and very cranky. So I'm excited to see this. I think I think it is a new chapter.

And like you said, it's it's new blood down there, and that's what that's what Dave Pepper wants, and he it may not be the blood that sticks around, but this is certainly an opportunity for Perry Fuel to add to his resume as this is the second time being an interim head coach. Yeah, I think he's a logical choice for this, as you just mentioned there, and he's

done this before with Buffalo in two thousand nine. He's been around the league of a long time, coordinated for a long time, has been an interim head coach, So I think this was the logical choice. I think people may be wondering North Turner is a guy who has head coaching experience would have also maybe been a candidate

for this. But I'm excited to see what Scott can do. Um. He's never called place before ever, so this is his first opportunity to do that, and that's a big opportunity for a guy, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Everyone in this league right now wants to see who's innovative, who's doing something new, What new wrinkles is he gonna add? Um And and obviously the personnel is the personnel. He's not gonna make wholesale changes. But I'm curious to see

how Scott handles the offense. And look with Perry on the defensive side, I think he's been here long enough now we kind of know what we're gonna we're gonna see from that group. I'm mainly curious to see if what the energy is from the team, this has been an emotional week, right, How are these guys going to get themselves up for this game? I mean, it's one thing to say we've got to win, We've got to fight for our opportunities, we're fighting for our job. It's

it's now can they do it? You know? I think that's what you want to see after a team that's gone through something like that, is is are they going to look like a team that just lost his leader? Or are they going to look like a team that's kind of rallying behind the new guy? And we'll find out that there is a lot of pride involved here.

You know, I think that I think some of those guys, like Christian McCaffrey in the locker room, you know that one of the things that I thought was somewhat unique about what he said was you know, yeah, obviously, you know, we're really heartbroken where you know, we're kind of bummed about this, But you know what, if I would have gotten a couple more yards, if we would have gotten in that end zone there a couple more times, you know,

maybe this hadn't happened. You know, this is I feel some personal responsibility, a lot of two very person and you you kind of think like, okay, like how what's what's that response going to be? Like it is? That's why I'm excited to see it. I think practice has been a little bit more up tempo. They switched some things up, even in the individual open media part where in defensive drills they're they're changing drills with a quicker pace and and I think I get him go ones

on ones too. I mean it was a competitive period, which is different. He is a old school he said today, what do you say? He's old school? And he will get after him and he will be fiery and get in their face, but it's in a loving way. I will scream as will counted, he said. He said the word but four times in that in that little spield he gave right. You know, I gotta gotta kick some butts, kick some butts out there, and you got a hug

on love on them when they do it right. Well, either way, when we're watching these next four weeks of Panthers football, history is changing here. There's a new tide that is turning a new chapter for this team, a new chapter four. Potentially a lot of guys on the team now, the coaching staff that is here. We know this league never looks the same year to year, and that is now certainly true here in Carolina. So thank

you so much for joining us for this. I wanted before the shows that I wanted to share one round of story. I think people will enjoy this. So this was during like the two thousand fourteen or fifteen season, before Ron was going into a press conference. And Ron always thought he was really funny. I don't know that he was as funny as he thought he was, but

he thought he was hilarious. So he had just come out of the office to line meeting room and he was like, I need somebody to do something for me real quick, and like I was the only one in the hallway. So it's like, Max, I need you for something. I'm like, oh God. So it's like, I need you to go into the old line meeting room. Okay, and Andrew Norwell is gonna be sitting in there. I need you to say to him, nor will you really think you can pull that shirt off and then walk out?

And um, okay. The offensive line meeting room the most intimidating of meeting rooms. The gigantic human beings. It's the one that's like their most protective about too, like they don't let anybody in there, especially then that group. Yeah, this is the Ryan khalil Oh line meeting room. So I am like already sweating, but like the head coach just said, so I'm like, what am I gonna do? I have to do this, And I was also kind of like, well, what if this goes great, then I

can like to be like a hero. It did not go great. I walk into the old line meeting room and I'm so nervous because like if everyone every alignment is in there, and like as soon as I walk in, of course everyone looks at me and you can hear a pin drought like so the pressure. So I try to deliver the line. I look at Norwell, who's again the scariest of all of them, and he's wearing this like graphic t that I guess they were like getting

on him for wearing before I was. I missed that part, so I said, I said, Norwell, you really think you can pull that shirt off? And nothing, just like everyone is staring at me, and Ron was like watching this from the back. And so then not like I get out of there, I'm just like, I got what can I do? I'm out? So I get out and Ron's like, you didn't deliver it, right, man, And I'm like, and I'm trying to say. I was like, I don't I just don't think it was funny. So I go back

in and I tell the old linement. I'm like, guys, Ron just told me to say that, and then they started laughing. So it's like kind of saved me. But my my always, I'll never forget this obviously, and Ron the last thing he says to me was like, hey, Max, do you ever get in the old line room? Don't blow it this time. So it's like become a running joke for all the years. But I I contest to this day that the lion he asked me to deliver was not funny. It was never funny. Ron thinks it was.

So he put me in a huge position to fail in front of the most intimidating group in the team, and he never let me hear the end of it. That was I missed opportunity. Thank you so much for listening to the group chat. We are out of here. We are excited for this week of paying their football with Perry Fuel leaving the team. We'll talk to you guys next week. No