Dave Canales’ energy may be somewhat new to the Carolina Panthers, but it certainly isn’t new to one of the men who knows him best.
Sports Illustrated senior NFL reporter Albert Breer profiled the first-year head coach in a piece published on Monday. Breer spoke with Panthers president of football operations and general manager Dan Morgan, who harkened back to his days alongside Canales in Seattle.
“I’d be lying if I said I envisioned this,” Morgan said of teaming up with Canales in Carolina. “It wasn’t because I didn’t think he could ever be a head coach. I think the time that I was out in Seattle, we were both so young and so green at our jobs that you never think about that. I was a pro scout that was trying to become the assistant pro director. He was the quality-control coach that was trying to be a receiver coach. I think that’s the cool part about it.”
Dan and Dave started their working relationship in 2010, when they were both hired by the Seahawks. The two spent eight seasons out west, with Morgan working on the personnel side and Canales as the team’s wide receivers coach.
The two also shared a building with former Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, whose liveliness always shined through over his 14 years on the sidelines. Morgan sees something quite similar in Canales.
“He’s like a young Pete in a lot of ways,” he added. “He’s enthusiastic every single day about his job and makes everyone around him better just because of the energy that he brings and his love for football. It’s really contagious and really similar to how Pete was.”
Canales himself has attributed a piece of his approach to Carroll, as he also told Breer.
“It validates people like us,” Canales said of Carroll. “We’re just a certain type of way. A lot of people have different dispositions, and a lot of them have been successful and it works for them. I think it’s just about being really who you are. I’m just genuinely sunny and happy to be here. I love just connecting with people. Pete has a lot of those qualities. For me, it was just freeing. It’s freeing to know that this model works, too.”
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