Getty Image / Jacob Kupferman
The Carolina Panthers mercifully fired first-year head coach Frank Reich on Monday following a 1-10 start to the season and the lack of development for first-overall pick Bryce Young. And, former Panthers star tight end and current FOX NFL analyst Greg Olsen would be interested in the job if the team was interested in him.
That’s according to a report from The Athletic on Monday evening.
“Ex-Carolina tight end Greg Olsen, the color analyst on Fox’s No. 1 NFL crew, would be interested in the Panthers’ vacancy if he were approached, according to sources close to Olsen who were granted anonymity so they could speak freely.
It would be a big leap considering Olsen’s coaching experience is limited to coaching his son’s Pop Warner team (incidentally, Panthers great Luke Kuechly has been the defensive coordinator for Olsen’s Pop Warner team for the past couple of years). But the 38-year-old has been immersed in the league since moving into broadcasting after he retired following the 2020 season,” the article said.
Going from coaching Pop Warner to the NFC South is an absurd jump. And, it’s one that I would simply not want to risk if I were the Carolina Panthers.
Yes, analysts with limited coaching experience has worked in professional sports in the USA lately. Most notably, Steve Kerr went from being an NBA on TNT analyst to being the head coach of the Golden State Warriors , and has won four championships there.
But, the NFL is an entirely different animal. Football coaching is significantly more technical, and all-encompassing than basketball coaching. That’s not a knock on basketball coaches or the sport whatsoever. But, we’ve seen so many with not a lot of formal coaching experience have a lot of instant success in basketball. That is incredibly rare in today’s NFL.
That’s not to say that Olsen isn’t knowledgeable. Listening to him do games with Fox’s Kevin Burkhardt shows that he knows the game, though he did make some strange comments on clock management during the Thanksgiving Day game between the Lions and Packers.
Olsen played in Carolina from 2011-2019. For his career, the tight end had 742 catches for over 8600 yards and 60 touchdowns. He was a three-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro.