You don’t know what you got until it’s gone. But now that the Carolina Panthers have gotten themselves a new head coach, we certainly know what’s gone now.
And that’s Matt Rhule, who was a small topic of conversation for Steve Smith Sr. on the latest episode of his Cut To It podcast. When asked by co-host Coley Mick what he’d look for in a head coach, the franchise legend brings up what he wouldn’t want—and what he wouldn’t want is what Rhule brought to the Panthers.
“Now, I’m listening to him make this whole media tour,” Smith Sr. said of Rhule. “He’s talking about what kind of coach he’s gon’ be, what kind of players he want. I find it very interesting . . . Mr. Bojangles over there changing his tune now in Nebraska when I saw him up close here in Carolina and I’m going, ‘Wow, this dude is a college coach trying to run an NFL team like these his boys.’ He thought he was in college. He thought he could control everything.
“Man, I heard so many stories about Matt Rhule and what he was trying to do and orchestrate. He thought he was at college where he could tell the ticket office what to do, he could tell these guys what to do, ‘Hey, I need these guys to be on advertisements, I don’t want these guys. These guys are okay to interview, these guys are not.’
“And people are starting to write reports and articles about what we’re saying on our podcast, so ‘preciate it. I thank you. But I’m telling you, Matt Rhule did some things in the pros that he thought he was in college and it didn’t fly well.”
Why you’re very welcome, Smitty. Oh, and thanks for the shoutout!
Here’s the sound bite in its entirety:
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