It’s not clear when Ron Rivera first wore a funny t-shirt to a press conference.
Sometimes it was a cute recreation of a moment from the previous game; a not-so-subtle advertisement for one of his players to win an award; or even a throwback Panthers tee that he would break out at the perfect moment. But he would never reveal where the custom shirts came from, always giving that sly grin before replying that they had been made by ‘elves’.
There were no funny t-shirts Wednesday morning at Bank of America Stadium – at least not until later – and although Rivera flashed the sly grin the media had grown so accustomed to over the past nine seasons a few times throughout his almost 30 minute farewell press conference, it was a mostly serious affair. But the mere fact that Rivera was holding a farewell press conference, that he had spoken to the team one last time Wednesday morning before entering the room, that he had spent almost an hour talking to interim head coach Perry Fewell about travel plans for the team this weekend felt odd but somehow appropriate for him.
It’s not often that a man who’s relieved of his duties stays in his office the morning after so that his replacement can ask him where the company’s travel schedules are. It’s also not commonplace for a fired coach to have a chance to say goodbye to the local media or appear on sports radio with his wife; nor is it common for an owner to choke up when talking about the impact a man he just let go had on the community, but that’s what David Tepper was doing Tuesday evening when he was asked if the next coach would have the same sensibilities and be the same type of man that Rivera was.
“I would like to see those qualities in the next head coach if they can be there, along with the other things which I value,” said Tepper. “If you want to ask me a separate question, I don’t want a bad person in there, but I’m hiring the person to win football games.”
“Long term sustained winning first.”
That’s ultimately the reason Rivera was let go – after that magical 15-1 campaign, Rivera’s team has had only one winning season, his overall record was 29-31 and the defense of a defensive-minded coach hasn’t been up to snuff the past two years. While Rivera spoke with some defiance in his voice about the fact that he came into a 2-14 team and was the first NFC South group to win back-to-back-to-back division titles, it wasn’t enough to save his place atop the Panthers coaching staff. It holds true that with a new owner, a new coach isn’t far behind – “sometimes you just have to bring in fresh blood to change it, the culture, because it can’t be done otherwise,” according to Tepper – since 2005, seven NFL teams have changed hands, including the Panthers.
All seven have had new coaches within two seasons – but most, if not all of those coaches, were ushered out the door with a terse press release and awkward exchanges – not given a chance to say farewell to their teams and community.
“I think it just speaks volumes about Ron and it just echoes all the things we’ve been talking about all day,” said Greg Olsen, who has spent the entirety of Rivera’s tenure with the Panthers. “A lot of times when guys are let go during the season, everyone takes a deep breath and they’re relieved – it was a bad situation, there was controversy, scandal…..we just happened to lose a couple of close games that didn’t go our way.”
All the best to you, Coach pic.twitter.com/5Tt8YhbiRC
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) December 4, 2019
The locker room was filled with stories of not what Rivera taught the players on the field, but their relationships off the field – it felt less like a firing and more like a buddy at the office retiring and riding off into the sunset….cathartic instead of cold and callous.
“It’s funny,” said Rivera. “One of the things I always tell the players is the best team has a great sense of family. The best family has a great sense of culture. Within that culture, there’s tremendous character, and when you think about that last phrase, ‘There is tremendous character,’ there’s a lot of young men in there that have tremendous character. A lot of guys that fight through a lot of things, a lot of guys that have to deal with a lot of stuff, not just on the football field, but off the football field.”
“I pointed out guys like Greg Olsen, who’s dealt with his son’s heart situation and through all that has been a champion on the football field. I mentioned Eric Reid, whose strong belief and never wavering on that speaks to his tremendous character, and I wanted to remind those players that at the end of the day when you walk out that door, as I will pretty soon, it’s all about your character.”
“I think we all love Ron,” laughed Fewell. “I’m included in that, so I think we’re playing for Coach Rivera in a sense and we’re playing for ourselves, the Panthers organization and the Panthers Nation, but we want to do this for Coach.”
Rivera played the hits at his presser Wednesday morning – anecdotes from his playing days with the Bears mingled with his time in Carolina, he spoke of his wife and daughter, went out of his way to praise both the players in his locker room and the coaches on his staff that he would soon be leaving behind. He reminisced about his house catching on fire in 2015 and his neighbors inviting him in for breakfast the same way he would consistently bring up the full-size candy bars he would give out on Halloween and make the same joke about how he didn’t want to see the media ringing his doorbell – before flashing that grin and a wink.
The catchphrases were there: figures liar and liars figure. He took the time to compliment a story he had read and poked fun at a beat writer for writing his team off for dead in 2014. The biggest thing was, moreso than anything else, his cadence felt familiar. But like the skilled performer he is, he saved his biggest hits for the grand finale as he reached into a green reusable shopping bag from The Fresh Market that had sat on the ground next to his podium for the entirety of the press conference and pulled out two t-shirts and held them up to the assembled media.
The first said Missed Opportunities.
The second said Thank You.
