Monday Morning Thoughts: Panthers Must Keep Pounding Forward with Steve Wilks

The Charlotte native makes perfect sense for the job.

With the win over the New Orleans Saints to close out the season, Steve Wilks finishes with a 6-6 record as the interim head coach of the Carolina Panthers. No, 6-6 doesn't seem that great but for the hand that he was dealt and all the adversity this team has had to go through since he took over, it's pretty remarkable. 

Over the next week or two, the Panthers will ramp up its search for their next head coach. At a minimum, team owner David Tepper is required to interview two candidates per NFL rules. Those two must be external minority candidates. Even if Tepper believes Wilks is the right guy for the job, he has to bring others in for a cup of coffee. 

According to Jay Glazer of FOX Sports, the Panthers are expected to interview former Colts head coach Frank Reich and Jim Caldwell, who has NFL head coaching experience with the Colts and Lions. Even Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh's representatives reached out to the Panthers to have a conversation about the opening, per Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports.

I don't blame Tepper whatsoever for casting a wide net. He has to get this hire right. There is a solid young core on the defensive side of the ball that is ready to play postseason football right now. There are some pieces on the offensive side as well, but they have to find an answer at quarterback.

Sure, getting a franchise quarterback is going to be key, but it won't matter who you draft if you don't have a coach that knows how to develop talent and has the respect of the locker room. In the 13 weeks that Wilks led the organization, we saw guys like WR Terrace Marshall Jr., RB D'Onta Foreman, DT Derrick Brown, and others make massive strides in their development and clearly, this entire team has Wilks' back.

Derrick Brown via an interview with Good Morning Football

"I speak for everybody in that locker room and say that we want Coach Wilks to be our next head coach. That's for sure," Brown said. "Every single week we're going to come in and he's going to tell you exactly how it is. He don't sugarcoat nothing. He keeps it plain Jane, per se. He lets you know exactly what's going on. I mean, you could be one of the best players, but you walk into that building on Monday and he'll tell you exactly how he felt about how you played. That level of clarity, that's exactly what we want."

Josh Norman

"Guys want to play for him. One of the guys came up to me and was like, J, you coming back? Because if Wilks back, I'm back. I just want to be with him because he's locked in, focused, and I truly believe what he got going on here. It's a good thing. It's a good feeling. And I was just like, big fella, I'm in the moment."

Austin Corbett

"Losing coaches, losing players, and kind of everything going on - Coach Wilks did a great job of just keeping us all together throughout these 13 weeks. Guys really bond over that and come together. That culture that has been built in here is something that we'll carry over into the offseason."

Shaq Thompson via an interview with The Crew NYC

"I think that's one of the biggest things with Wilks. Like, he going to call us out in front of everybody. And I'm not saying Matt Rhule didn't. But coming from someone who's been in the league x amount of years and who coached in the league x amount of years, a lot of players respect that a lot more than having somebody from college coming up and trying to tell people who been in the league six, seven, eight years - a defensive MVP, an All-Pro player and not listening to these guys who understand football, who understand the league, who been on Super Bowl teams who won them. I feel like we had too many checks and stuff going into a defense and you know, football just has to be simple. We don't need x amount of checks. We need one check and just let us play. We need just one, two, three defenses and just let us play fast."

D'Onta Foreman

"As far as Wilks, man, I don't even know what my future is like being here. I definitely think he deserves the job. He does a tremendous job with just giving this team something to restructure, rebuild, and have something to look forward to going forward. He's changed the mindset of this team, this locker room. I think he's a great man for the job. But right now we just got to focus on the Saints and try to get this win."

At the end of the day, Steve Wilks knows what it takes to win in Carolina. He's seen it. He's been a part of it. He led a roster that traded its best player, started three guys at quarterback, and dealt with injuries along the way. Just imagine what he can do with this team and a full offseason to draft, sign, trade, and mold this roster rather than having to do it on the fly. He has instilled an identity and a culture that has been lacking for quite some time and the players truly want him to be their coach. 

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