CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ The Panthers are in for a change.
For the first time in history, Carolina has hired a head coach directly from the college ranks and one with an offensive background. The Panthers have hired Matt Rhule as the franchise's fifth full-time head coach, a source with knowledge of the decision told the Observer on Tuesday morning.
The Panthers confirmed the news Tuesday afternoon.
Rhule spent the past three seasons as Baylor's head coach, leading the Bears to an 11-3 record and the Sugar Bowl in 2019 after the team went 1-11 just two years prior.
Rhule, 44, reportedly signed a seven-year contract worth up to $70 million, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
The Giants were also interested in hiring Rhule, and he was originally scheduled to interview with them Tuesday; however, Patriots' wide receiver coach Joe Judge is instead set to become the New York's head coach, according to multiple reports.
The Panthers and Rhule agreed to a deal one day after owner David Tepper and other team executives met with him at his home in Waco, Texas.
When Tepper met with the media following the firing of former coach Ron Rivera last month, he spoke on why a college coach would not be his first choice and the difficulties that can come from the transition to the professional ranks.
"I do understand the difficulty of the transition, though," Tepper said. "That doesn't mean I'm closing it off, but you got to understand anybody that's been around football understands the difficulty of that transition from the college game to here, and different demands here."
But Rhule is no stranger to tough transitions. He took over the Baylor program marred in sexual assault scandals under former head coach Art Briles, who was fired one season earlier, and quickly changed the culture. He led the Bears to the Big 12 championship in 2019 during one of the best seasons in program history. While they lost to Oklahoma in that game, 2019 marked the school's first Big 12 championship appearance. Baylor also became the first Power 5 program to go from 11 losses to 11 wins within two seasons under Rhule.
Before getting the job at Baylor, Rhule spent the previous four seasons as the head coach at Temple, where after going 2-10 and 6-6, he led the Owls to back-to-back 10-win seasons from 2015-16. Prior to that, he spent one year in the NFL as the assistant offensive line coach with the Giants in 2012.
This was not the first NFL offseason that Rhule had interviewed with NFL teams for their head coaching jobs. After each season at Baylor, he has interviewed for at least one NFL job, including reportedly meeting with the Colts after the 2017 season and the Jets last year.
Rivera, who has since been hired in Washington, took select members of his Panthers staff with him, leaving more vacancies for Rhule to fill in Charlotte. Names that have been associated with Rhule include his defensive coordinator at Baylor, Phillip Snow, and Lions quarterback coach Sean Ryan, who was on the Giants' staff with Rhule.
Rhule was also an assistant at Temple (2006-11), including four seasons as offensive coordinator, Western Carolina (2002-05), UCLA (2001), Buffalo (1999-2000) and Albright College (1998). He has experience working a variety of position groups, including offensive line, quarterbacks and defensive line.
He is a New York native and Penn State graduate after walking on to the team as a linebacker under coach Joe Paterno.
The Panthers fired Rivera with four games remaining in 2019 after accumulating a 76-63-1 regular-season record _ the most wins in franchise history _ and a 3-4 postseason record. It was the first midseason head coach firing in team history.
Rhule is the first head coach hired under Tepper.
