Phil

Snow

The Panthers fired head coach Matt Rhule early Monday morning, and have now given Snow his walking papers. Snow had served as Rhule’s defensive coordinator at each of his three head coaching stops dating back to his days at Temple, which made this dismissal somewhat inevitable. The Panthers rank 21st in points allowed per game (24.4) and have allowed the 13th-most yards per game. Carolina’s defense feels like the least of their concerns as they head into a Week 6 matchup against the Rams with P.J. Walker under center. The Panthers also fired special teams assistant Ed Foley.

Snow has now served as Matt Rhule’s D coordinator at each of his three head-coaching stops (Temple, Baylor and Carolina). The 64-year-old has spent most of his career at the college level, though he did serve as the Lions’ LBs coach from 2006-08.

Rapoport said Snow “could” be the Panthers defensive coordinator, too. It’s just a report right now, but coaches usually bring in the people they know best to fill their top assistant positions. At Baylor, Rhule and Snow brought a previously 1-11 team into the College Football Playoff hunt with an exciting offense and overachieving defense. Snow’s only NFL coaching experience came in the mid-2000s as a linebackers coach with the Detroit Lions. He’d be a complete question mark if he were to be assigned defensive play-calling duties.