If Matt Rhule could do it all over again, he would’ve never stepped foot in Carolina. After two years and five games with the Panthers, he was sent his walking papers.
The new University of Nebraska head coach was featured on Tuesday’s episode of The Season with Peter Schrager and reflected upon his failed tenure in Carolina. Some of his comments were quite eye-opening, especially when asked what he would’ve done differently.
“I think I probably would just probably [have] taken another job,” Rhule said. “It’s a great place. Wonderful people. But I just don’t know if I was a fit there. You know, at the end of the day, you know, we talked about, ‘Hey, we’re gonna have a four-year plan, a five-year plan.’ You know, if you tell me, ‘Hey, we got a two-year plan,’ then I’m gonna go sign a bunch of free agents and do it. So what was a four-year plan became a two-year-and-five-game plan real quick.”
Basically, Rhule is saying he would’ve done much better record-wise if he knew he had such a short lease. The biggest rumor surrounding the team during his time there was there interest in Deshaun Watson. Unfortunately, he did not want to play for the team.
“I’m not angry about it,” Rhule added. “At the end of the day, I understand. But if it’s gonna be that quick, then we’re gonna sign some more free agents, we’re gonna go make the blockbuster trade, we’re gonna do those things. I think the trajectory we were on was correct.”
“It was to have a team that next year could maybe make a big trade. I think you see the signs of it now. When they play well on offense, they win. There’s a good defense there. I give Steve all the credit, I give the coaches all the credit. But I’m part of that building process. So if that had just stayed through maybe this year and maybe made the big free-agent signing this year to get them over the top—I think that the Panthers could win the NFC South for years to come.”
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Over that two-year and five-game timeframe, the Panthers went 11-27. During this year, the team started 1-4 and that became the final straw for the ownership.
Nebraska introduced Rhule as its coach on Monday, exactly seven weeks after the Panthers fired him five games into his third season. He now has to deal with a program coming off a sixth straight losing season.
“I am here because this is the right fit, it’s the right time,” Rhule said. “And if I have one message for you: We can absolutely do it. We can absolutely get University of Nebraska football exactly where it’s supposed to be. It will be hard. It may take time, but it will be done.”
Rhule signed an eight-year, $74 million contract that makes him the third-highest-paid coach in the Big Ten. When the Panthers fired Rhule, he was still owed $34 million on his seven-year contract.
Rhule, who was 11-27 in two-plus seasons with the Panthers, was hired because of the success he had in his two college head-coaching jobs.
His hiring comes days after the Huskers closed a 4-8 season.
