Former Carolina coach joins infamous list headlined by Urban Meyer, Chip Kelly

Patience is in short supply these days across the NFL when it comes to the tenures of head coaches. No more so is that the case than with the Carolina Panthers and owner David Tepper, who pulled the plug on head coach Frank Reich 11 games into his (1-10) tenure on Monday. A quick release given the team knew it was rebuilding around 2023 first overall pick quarterback Bryce Young, whose 5.4 yards per pass attempt is the lowest in the league among qualified quarterbacks. Reich’s 11-game pitstop with the Panthers now stands as the shortest tenure for an NFL head coach in 45 years. The last time a team fired a head coach this fast was when the San Francisco 49ers dumped Pete McCulley after a 1-8 start in 1978, according to Sports Illustrated. The 49ers obviously rebounded with their next hire, bringing in Bill Walsh, who would become a Hall of Famer for his three Super Bowl titles won with the team. When looking across the last decade, since 2013, tolerance for slow starts for NFL head coaches has thinned. Reich is now the 10th head coach in the last 10 years to be fired in or after his first season, joining the likes of Urban Meyer, Chip Kelly, Nathaniel Hackett and more. The Panthers have been even more chaotic than the rest of the league. They have had six different head coaches in six seasons under owner David Tepper including interims like current interim Chris Tabor. He started the season as the Panthers special teams coordinator. Carolina’s six coaches under Tepper since 2018 are the most in the NFL. They only had four different head coaches in their first 23 seasons of existence. Under Tepper the team is 30-63, which gives the Panthers the second-worst record in the league under his ownership. Only the New York Jets are worse at 28-65.