Long-time offensive coordinator Mike Shula was fired by the Head coach Ron Rivera on Tuesday, surprisingly just a day after Rivera said that he did not plan any changes to his staff. While announcing about this, Rivera said that the team’s offence needs ‘different perspective.” Along with Shula, Rivera also fired quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey, two days after the team lost a playoff to the New Orleans Saints.
In a news conference, Rivera said, “I believe we need some different ideas going forward.”
Reportedly, Rivera said that he took this decision after evaluating and conversing with General Manager Marty Hurney for 16 hours. And before he took the final call, he again got up at 3:15 am to re-evaluate his decision.
Rivera said, “I concluded going forward the thing we needed to do was bring in a different perspective, different ideas regarding going forward to what I believe is our ultimate goal and that is winning a Super Bowl.” He further said that he and Hurney discussed several plans and candidates that they had in mind and hinted that it would be someone who has NFL experience and not a college coach, from outside the organisation.
Before he was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2013, Shula served as the quarterback’s coach and spent seven seasons with Carolina. Carolina finished 19th in total offence and was 11-5 this season. However, it later struggled with moving the ball through the air and finished 28th in passing. On the other hand, the Panthers were 12th in scoring.
Two coaches who have a prior relationship with Rivera, Norv Turner and Rob Chudzinski are among the potential candidates that may probably be considered. Well, one will have to wait and see who would be appointed to the new offensive coordinator job. Rivera said that it is all about growth as a football team and they do have the room to grow.
