ARIZONA CARDINALS
Cardinals candidate Frank Reich to take head coach job with Panthers
Former Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich has agreed to take the opening for the same position with the Carolina Panthers, the team announced Thursday.
It takes Reich out of the list of candidates for the head-coaching job open at the Arizona Cardinals, who according to reports are meeting with former New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton on Thursday.
The Cardinals interviewed Reich for the team’s open head-coaching position on Tuesday, Jan. 17, according to multiple reports. ESPN’s Dan Graziano was the first to report the move.
Arizona’s list of candidates is reduced to Payton, Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, Pittsburgh assistant Brian Flores, Detroit defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, Denver defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero and in-house option Vance Joseph, who served as defensive coordinator under former coach Kliff Kingsbury. The Cardinals interviewed all of those candidates and also had interest in San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans, but he canceled a scheduled meeting.
Reich led the Colts from 2018-22 before getting fired on Nov. 7.
In his only career stint as a head coach, he went 40-33-1 for a .555 winning percentage to go along with a 1-2 playoff record.
The one playoff win was in his lone season with quarterback Andrew Luck, who unexpectedly retired during the preseason in 2019.
Before that, Reich won Super Bowl LII with the Philadelphia Eagles as an offensive coordinator, where he served in that position from 2016-17.
Other stops in Reich’s coaching career featured the San Diego Chargers from 2013-15, where he served as the offensive coordinator (2014-15) and quarterbacks coach (2013).
He was also the Cardinals wide receivers coach in 2012 under then-head coach Ken Wisenhunt after being the Colts wide receivers coach in 2011, quarterbacks coach from 2009-10, offensive coaching staff assistant in 2008 and coaching intern from 2006-07.
In the entirety of Reich’s coaching tenure, he has been the position coach, coordinator or head coach of Hall of Famer Peyton Manning (2006-11), WR Larry Fitzgerald (2012), QB Phillip Rivers (2013-15) and Luck (2018).
He played for the Panthers and was the franchise’s first quarterback in its debut season in 1995.
