Last weekend, new coach Dave Canales, GM Dan Morgan and the Panthers’ staff made the short trip to the Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600, getting a look behind the scenes of the race with the Hendrick Motorsports team.
Right after the draft, much of the same group went to the Kenny Chesney concert at the stadium as well. Before that, there was a Topgolf outing. Right after everyone was hired, they had a staff dinner at Steak 48 in the suburbs. And they even had one of these nights, at the Triple A Charlotte Knights game, when Canales couldn’t make it—he happened to be tied up with family in Tampa.
All of this, of course, is intentional, and much more than a series of meet-and-greets.
“It’s really important,” Canales said over the phone Thursday. “One of the things that I’ve learned along the way is, you got to have high ground for hard days. I know that hard days will come in the season, just because of the nature of the business and the work that’s required. If we spend time together, we’re able to weather those storms together. We’re able to talk to each other. We’ve got history with each other beyond just being in the office.
“Those things are really important—the relationship part comes first.”
So the first thing has come first, and the truth is Canales would probably approach things like this regardless of where he landed his first head coaching gig. It just so happens that his team needs what he brings more than just about any of the other 31 teams would have.
Consider being a Panthers player over the past few years. You’re now, if you include the interims, on your fifth head coach in less than two years. You watched your franchise trade away arguably its three best players: Christian McCaffrey, DJ Moore and Brian Burns. The Panthers have changed out offensive coordinators like swing tackles over the last half decade. The front office has been restructured. The owner’s been colorful, to put it kindly.
No matter how you slice it, these guys have been through a lot.
And, now, here comes Canales, 43 years old and ready to take over the NFL’s worst team, and force feed it positivity by the mouthful. You don’t do that, of course, by looking back at the 2–15 record, or the six-year playoff drought that encapsulates Tepper’s stewardship of the franchise. Canales is doing it with his eyes fixed forward, in a place that badly needs to put the past behind it.
