While many in the Carolina Panthers community celebrate the hiring of Frank Reich, not everyone is happy. Especially one attorney. After Steve Wilks stepped in and took the team from 1-4 to a 7-10 finish, many thought he was the answer as head coach.
However, after interviewing candidates, Wilks was not selected. The Carolina Panthers went with a more offensive-focused option. Let’s not ignore the main point here, at least from the point of Wigdor Law, which is that Wilks is Black and Reich is white.
There has been a lot of tension over teams hiring and firing Black coaches. The controversy has been going on for so long that the infamous Rooney Rule was put into place. Some think it allows teams to still discriminate while making it look like they are not.
Wigdor Law is a firm that specializes in sexual harassment, discrimination, and similar offenses.
“We are shocked and disturbed that after the incredible job Coach Wilks did as the interim coach, including bringing the team back into Playoff contention and garnering the support of the players and fans, that he was passed over for the head coach position by David Tepper.
“There is a legitimate race problem in the NFL, and we can assure you that we will have more to say in the coming days.”
We will see if anything more comes of this. Many fans pointed out that while they agree the NFL does a bad job hiring minority candidates, this didn’t seem to be that kind of situation. Of course, it is impossible to tell from the outside looking in.
Carolina Panthers Hire Frank Reich
The Carolina Panthers are just going to move forward as best they can. I’m sure they don’t want to deal with controversy in the offseason as they attempt to rebuild. The Panthers did almost make the playoffs, but Tom Brady and the Bucs made sure it didn’t happen.
Hiring Frank Reich looks good on paper. He didn’t end his time with the Indianapolis Colts how he wanted, then again, the Colts have not been a good team in the last few years.
On the plus side, Reich has a winning record as a head coach and two playoff appearances. There’s a legit reason to want him leading the team. But you can’t fault people for wondering why Wilks was passed up after the great job he did turning the season around.
