The Richardson Way

From his first day on the job, Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson has been adorned as a hero. In 1993, Richardson was awarded a National Football League franchise and they would make their on-field debut in 1995. At the Panthers inception, they would play at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina which is on the campus of Clemson University. The Panthers would then move into their current home of Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1996. And regardless of where the Panthers play, they are a team that has brought the Carolinas together.

After defeating the Arizona Cardinals this past Sunday in the NFC Championship Game, the Panthers are set to play in the Super Bowl for just the second time in franchise history. But it is the patience and vision of Richardson that is leading the way.

In 21 years of competing in the National Football League, the Panthers have only employed four head coaches which is a position that any organization needs stability in if they are going to win. Richardson avoids the limelight while instead opting for giving the people under him an opportunity to succeed.

In 2010, the Panthers were coming off of a 2-14  season and as Richardson was looking to rebuild, he decided to not renew the contract of head coach John Fox who has the most wins in franchise history. Richardson would replace Fox with Ron Rivera who played linebacker in the National Football League for nine years as a member of the Chicago Bears. Rivera’s first order of business was to get himself a franchise quarterback, and as the Panthers held the first overall selection in the 2011 National Football League Draft, they selected quarterback Cam Newton.

There was a learning curve for both Rivera and Newton as both were inexperienced in their new positions in the National Football League. And even though the Panthers went 6-10 in 2011, Newton was named as the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year. But after the Panthers began 2012 with a record of 3-9, there were rumors that Rivera might get fired. The Panthers would rally to win their final four games that year and after meeting with Richardson, Rivera was told that he would be returning for 2013. Things didn’t get started on the right foot for the Panthers in 2013 as they stumbled to a 1-3 start. However a seven-game winning streak would ensue for Carolina as they would go on to win the NFC South for the first time since 2008. In 2014, the Panthers would then become the first team in the history of the NFC South to win the division in consecutive years, but they couldn’t get past the divisional round of the playoffs.

After being so close to taking that next step, things began to come together for the Panthers in 2015 in spite of the odds being against them. Last season as a rookie, wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin was tied for the Panthers team lead in receiving yards with 1,008 and he was expected to take a bigger role with the team this season. But on the very first day of training camp, Benjamin suffered a torn ACL which ended his campaign before it even got started. Carolina would being the 2015 National Football League season by winning games ugly as they relied on their power rushing attack and strong defense. And before you knew it, the Panthers were 4-0.

In Week 6, the Panthers showed their maturity as they secured comeback victory on the road against the Seattle Seahawks who have been a thorn in the side of Carolina in recent years. In all the Panthers would win their first 14 games this season and they still felt that they weren’t getting enough respect. The Panthers would become the first team since the 2007 New England Patriots to win at least 15 regular season games and they would head into the postseason still possessing a chip on their shoulders as they felt that they had something to prove.

In the NFC Divisional Playoffs, the Panthers raced to a 31-0 halftime lead against the Seahawks before holding on for the 31-24 victory. Last Sunday would see the Panthers host their first NFC Championship Game in franchise history as they welcomed the Arizona Cardinals to Charlotte. As the regular season progressed and the Panthers emerged as the best team in the NFC, they had to hear about the Cardinals being a team that could go into Charlotte and get a playoff victory. But Carolina would punch the Cards in the mouth as they raced to a 17-0 first quarter lead and they never looked back as they won 49-15. And for Richardson and the Panthers, it marks the second NFC Championship in franchise history as his patience with Newton and Rivera have indeed paid off.

Richardson knows a thing or two about winning as he played for the Baltimore Colts and he was a member of their team that won the National Football League Championship in 1959. After Richardson’s NFL career ended, he had a hand in bringing the first Hardee’s franchise to Spartanburg, South Carolina. As an NFL owner, Richardson has never backed away from making difficult decisions which included him parting with wide receiver Rae Carruth in 1999 once it was revealed that he was involved in the murder of his girlfriend. In 2011, Richardson was influential in the owner’s lockout of the players that summer while in 2014, he didn’t have a problem in parting with defensive end Greg Hardy after his domestic violence incident in spite of some Panthers players pleading to keep him.

Richardson also knows a thing or two about bringing the right football people in to run his team. Bill Polian was the first general manager in Panthers franchise history and he oversaw a team in 1996 that became the fastest expansion team to win a division title in National Football League history. In 2013, Richardson hired Dave Gettleman to be the Panthers new general manager. Prior to joining the Panthers, Gettleman had worked in the New York Giants front office for 14 years where he helped the organization win a pair of Super Bowl Championships. The Giants teams that won the Super Bowl in 2007 and 2011 each had tremendous depth on both sides of the football and Gettleman has brought that same depth to the Panthers; especially on the defense.

This season the Panthers were sixth in the National Football League in total defense while they amassed 44 sacks while being plus-20 in the turnover category. And once you factor in a quarterback in Newton that will more than likely be the NFL’s MVP this season, it is no wonder why the Panthers will be taking the field for Super Bowl 50 next week.

The Panthers are on the verge of something great as Richardson could become the first owner who also played in the National Football League to win the Super Bowl while Rivera could join a very short list of men to play in and win the Super Bowl as a head coach. Newton can also become the first quarterback since Eli Manning in 2011 to be the first overall pick of the NFL Draft and go on to win the Super Bowl. And none of this would have been possible if Richardson had been like most NFL owners do which is listen to the white noise and make a change at head coach quickly, which typically has a bad trickle down effect on the rest of the organization.