The Panthers' most obvious assistant coach hire has been made official.
After being linked to join Matt Rhule in Carolina since the new head coach was introduced, Phil Snow was announced Monday as the Panthers' defensive coordinator. Snow held the same role on Rhule's staff for the past three years at Baylor and four years prior to that at Temple.
Rhule acknowledged from the time he was hired that Snow is someone he wanted by his side for his first head coaching job in the NFL.
"Phil Snow's been in the NFL. I haven't won a game as a head coach without him as my defensive coordinator," Rhule said during his introductory press conference. "If he'll come, I'll certainly have some sort of a role for him somewhere."
The Bears' defense tied for the ninth-most sacks in FBS this year (46) and tied for the second-most takeaways (30). They also led the Big 12 in scoring defense, allowing 19.8 points per game.
Baylor is coming off one of the best seasons in a program history. The Bears finished with an 11-3 record and appearances in their first Big 12 Championship game and the Sugar Bowl.
Snow has had a lengthy coaching career and has significant defensive experience. Before joining Rhule at Temple, the 64-year old was the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Eastern Michigan (2010-12). Prior to joining that staff, he spent four seasons with the Lions, his only NFL experience, as a defensive assistant and then a linebackers coach (2005-08).
He spent two years as the defensive coordinator at the University of Washington (2003-04) and two years in the same role at UCLA (2001-02). While with the Bruins, Snow mentored Rhule, who was a defensive line coach at the time, for a year.
Snow also spent nine years as Arizona State's defensive coordinator (1995-2000) and was a defensive backs coach at many schools, including Arizona State, Cal, Boise State, Laney College (where he was also DC for two seasons). He started as a high school defensive backs coach in Northern California, where he is from.
