The Carolina Panthers have named Steve Wilks of Charlotte, North Carolina as their new interim head coach according to Zac Al-Khateeb of the Sporting News on Monday. Wilks takes over from Matt Rhule of New York, New York, who was relieved of his head coaching duties.
This will be the second head coaching job for Wilks in his career. He was previously the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals during the 2018 National Football League season. Wilks struggled in his only prior head coaching assignment in the NFL as the Cardinals only won three of 16 games.
To begin the 2022 NFL season, Wilks was the Panthers’s defensive pass game coordinator and secondary coach. Over his NFL coaching career, he has brought a wealth of assistant coaching experience. Wilks has also been the defensive backs coach of the Chicago Bears from 2006 to 2008, the defensive backs coach of the San Diego Chargers from 2009 to 2011, the defensive backs coach of the Panthers from 2012 to 2016, the assistant head coach of the Panthers from 2015 to 2017, the defensive coordinator for the Panthers in 2017, and the defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns in 2019.
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Rhule had been the Panthers head coach since January 7, 2020. Carolina had a record of one win and four losses, with their only win coming on September 25, when they beat the New Orleans Saints 22-14.
Quite frankly, the fact that Rhule was even coaching the Panthers this season might have been considered a surprise. Carolina had a record of 5-12 a year ago and were last in the NFC South. The Panthers are once again last in the NFC South to begin 2022.
