Greg Olsen comes clean about the Panthers HC gig rumor following Frank Reich’s firing

Greg Olsen explains his stance on considering the role as the HC of the Carolina Panthers.

Greg Olsen comes clean about the Panthers HC gig rumor following Frank Reich’s firing

Greg Olsen (via NBC Sports)

The Carolina Panthers made the call to move on from HC Frank Reich halfway through the season after the team’s 1-10 record. While Chris Tabor has assumed the role of the interim HC for the Panthers, the question that remains on the minds of all Panthers’ fans is who will be the next man to attempt to turn the fortunes of this team around? Recent reports from The Athletic surfaced which revealed that former Panthers tight end Greg Olsen was interested in taking over this role. The sports broadcaster cleared the air on this via The Rich Eisen Show.

Greg Olsen gave a response straight from his heart, he did express some amount of interest in taking over the role because “Who wouldn’t?” The broadcaster went on to reveal:

Obviously, this a city that I love, this is a team that I played the bulk of my career for. I want to see them have success.

Olsen’s career took off during his time in Carolina, the region occupies a special place in his heart.

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Greg Olsen shared his thoughts on the team’s new interim HC:

I love Chris Tabor, the interim coach there. Me and Chris go all the way back to Chicago. He was a young special teams coach when I was in Chicago, we've had a good friendship all the way through these years.

Greg Olsen emphasized that he is enjoying the position he is in right now.

Greg Olsen does not see himself coaching the Carolina Panthers anytime soon

Greg Olsen is enjoying commentating along with Kevin Burkhardt and clearly, he is good at his job as he has won a sports Emmy for the same. Olsen has the most mature attitude towards making a career switch to coaching.

Greg Olsen
Greg Olsen (via Vanity Fair)

He addressed the importance of having to gain some experience in the profession at least as an assistant before being thrust into the position of an NFL HC:

I think there is an instant reaction that unless you've climbed the ladder from assistant to the assistant all the way through coordinator; that unless you've lived the NFL lifestyle in that ladder, that you can't be successful. I think we have to be careful saying experience leads to competence.

Greg Olsen further added:

I think there's a lot of experienced guys who are very incompetent and a lot of inexperienced guys who are highly competent in all industries.

Interestingly, he cited two instances, one of San Francisco 49ers GM John Lynch and the other of Jeff Saturday. The former, despite being inexperienced before assuming this role has thrived in his position and has built the 49ers up to a team worthy of contending in the Super Bowl.

Jeff Saturday on the other hand was hired as the interim HC of the Indianapolis Colts last season after Frank Reich was fired, he had absolutely no professional coaching experience and it showed. His lack of experience was visible and the Colts did not fare better under him. Olsen is trying to put the message across that just because a player is offered a coaching role, does not mean they will succeed at it.

While Greg Olsen does not totally deny and brush aside the possibility of him being in a coaching capacity with the Panthers in the future, he does seem convinced that right now is not the time for him to foray into that position. The tight end is taking a mature approach and is not jumping into a role for which he is not prepared. The Panthers will finish out the season with Chris Tabor and it will not be until the offseason that David Tepper will take a call on who the team’s next HC will be.

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