NFL: Each team’s greatest head coach in franchise history

Carolina Panthers: John Fox (2002-10)

Despite only having four coaches in their history, it’s hard to narrow down who is the best in the Carolina Panthers’ history.

Current head coach Ron Rivera deserves a lot of credit for what he’s done and surely is in the running. He has the highest winning percentage at .559 and will be first in wins as soon as they get their third victory of the 2019 NFL season. He also took the team to the Super Bowl and had a 15-1 record in 2016.

As great as all that is, he just gets edged out here by John Fox. Currently, Fox has the most playoff games and the most wins. He sports a 5-3 record in the postseason and has the most wins all time with 73. His winning percentage is just slightly over .500, as he had 71 losses, but Fox did more for this team than anyone else.

In 2002, Fox took over a 1-15 franchise that had completely fallen off in George Seifert’s final season. He quickly turned them around, as they were 7-9 in his first campaign which was a huge improvement. He then won 11 games in his second campaign and took them to the Super Bowl.

They lost to the New England Patriots on a last-second field goal, but Fox and his team deserve a lot of praise for how they performed that season. Unlike Rivera, Fox didn’t have an MVP under center as the 2015 Panthers did in quarterback Cam Newton.

Instead, he was coaching an unknown quarterback by the name of Jake Delhomme. The first-year starter had 3,219 yards with 19 touchdowns and 16 picks, but the coach found a way to get within three points of winning it all despite the mundane numbers.