The Panthers will have a new running backs coach in 2019 as they’ve announced that 70-year old Jim Skipper, who has coached the running backs of the Panthers for 15 of the past 17 seasons and has been in the NFL for 32 seasons with five different franchises, will retire.
Skipper has coached in the NFL since 1986 and even spent a lone season as head coach of the San Francisco Demons of the XFL in 2001, but his success as a running backs coach is borderline unparalleled throughout the league – Skipper has led the Panthers to the top 10 in rushing for five consecutive seasons, overseen nine 1,00 yard rushers and had a 30-game streak of 100-yard rushing games from 2014-2016 that was the longest in the NFL since the 1970’s.
Skipper helped Christian McCaffrey rack up almost 2,000 yards from scrimmage in 2018, a franchise record.
After turning over each of their three coordinators and almost every position coach heading into 2018, the Panthers will have slightly more continuity heading into 2019 – although not much. With Skipper’s retirement, the Panthers will have a new position coach overseeing the following groups: running backs, wide receivers, defensive line and secondary, along with new assistants at special teams, linebackers and offensive line.
The team will reportedly replace Skipper with former Alabama assistant coach and Raiders quarterbacks coach Jake Peetz – Peetz spent 2018 with ‘Bama after spending a year there in 2013 under Nick Saban.
“People ask me the secret to coach Saban,” Peetz told the Indy Star about his first tenure in Tuscaloosa. “I tell them it’s so simple that you’re not even going to write it down, and you’re going to think I’m hiding something from you. It’s this: Everybody has a defined role and expectation, and you’re held accountable to that. That’s what it is to the nth degree. Your role is defined. You’re going to have a very high expectation, and you will be held accountable, and you’re going to be given every opportunity to succeed.
“I think I’ll look back at that experience, working for coach Saban, as the defining moment in my learning and my understanding — and being pushed to the limit.”
Jake Peetz spent three years with the Oakland Raiders. Photo Credit: USA Today
Peetz moved from Alabama to the Washington Redskins before spending three years in Oakland and then returning to the Crimson Tide as offensive analyst, where he helped the team finish 14-1 before losing in the National Championship Game. Peetz was expected to join Josh McDaniel’s staff in Indianapolis as offensive coordinator had McDaniels taken the head coaching position, but McDaniels spurned the Colts to return to the Patriots – and Peetz joined Saban in Alabama, where he was heavily involved in implementing the RPO into the Alabama offense.
Alabama averaged 522 yards per game in 2018 after averaging just over 444 in 2017.
