Plenty of successful businesspeople can’t quite figure out how to run a successful football team. Some business principles, however, translate very well to football.
Case in point -- when you know that you’re going to move on from a key employee, there’s no reason to delay the inevitable.
That’s what Panthers owner David Tepper has done. He decided that coach Matt Rhule would eventually be fired, so Tepper did it now.
Beyond the obvious fact that there’s no reason to wait, the move puts Rhule immediately in play for one of the various head-coaching jobs that will be available at the college level. With the Panthers getting a dollar-for-dollar credit against Rhule’s buyout on what he makes elsewhere, it’s in Tepper’s financial interests to put Rhule in position to have a land rush for his services.
There likely will be one. He’s been excellent at the college level. At the NFL level, like so many other great college coaches, not so much.
By making the move now, it means not as much of Tepper’s money will be going to Rhule in the form of a buyout.
