Which coach will be fired first:Ron Rivera or Tom O’Brien??

They say all of the coaches are hired to be fired and the only two coaches that seem to always be safe are Coach K at Duke and Roy Williams at North Carolina and even Roy has hired some catcalls calling out for his ouster, during recent seasons…

But on the subject matter at hand, Ron Rivera with the Carolina Panthers is (1-6) and many feel that he should have been fired right at the end of Sunday’s game in Chicago…..The Panthers have seen the bottom fall out and Rivera is now the fall guy, with former GM Marty Hurney out of the picture….

Tom O’Brien has been in and out of the Wolfpack fans doghouse over the years, but his job always seemed safe, as long as he kept on beating the North Carolina Tar Heels…That project was moving along real nice until the Pack decided to kick the ball to Giovani Bernard, with just seconds left in a tie ball game in Chapel Hill, on Saturday….That is when the wheels came off and TOB was sitting at (5-0) until Saturday’s meltdown that came from a bombardment by Bernard and now the picture and the skies have grown cloudy for Tom O’Brien once again, in Raleigh….

Who will be fired first??

Conventional wisdom/thinking would tell us that Rivera will be the first to go….But when???

If the Panthers fired Rivera now, they most likely will have to hire another head coach when their new General Manager takes over…The new GM will want his own man to lead the team/system…You let Rivera go this week and then you could let Chud, McDermott or even Mike Shula run the team for the rest of the season and you might not see much difference….You just hate to see teams have to keep starting over and over again…..

What is it about our state?

Our pro football team stinks, our NBA team was the worst in the league last season….Are we living with some kind of pro sports curse in our home state of North Carolina???

Speaking about our state and North Carolina, what about N.C. State and Tom O’Brien?

TOB was in great shape heading into Chapel Hill last Saturday and he still could see that red stoplight in his rearview mirror coming off of Franklin Street, as his team got behind, but then the Pack came roaring back and they were in position to win the game, late in the 4th quarter, in Kenan Stadium….But in the end, the Wolfpack offense went conservative and they started playing not to lose and when they had the chance to put the Heels away, with Mike Glennon throwing the ball up the field, they decided to run the ball and kill part of the clock, but not enough and they gave the Heels time to tie the game and then came the Gio Bernard punt return, for the TD that changed the day and the game and then the rest was history….

N.C. State, out of the running for the ACC Championship Game and now facing a tough road in their last four games of the season and needing to win 3 of 4, to keep Tom’s foot inside the office door and not out on Highway 64, headed to ‘See You Later TOB’….

If N.C. State beats North Carolina this past Saturday, ‘Coach stays’….Now if TOB loses 3 of 4, or even two of his last four games, ‘Coach goes’….

The college season ends before the pro season does, so that tells us we might see TOB gone even before Ron Rivera is shown the door….Either way both men could stay if they win all of their remaining games….

How likely is that?

Not very….

I wish the Carolina Panthers would have defeated the Bears, but they did not and now it is day-to-day and week-to-week for Ron Rivera…If he keeps losing, I give him 3-4 more games and then the Panthers will let one of the assistants finish out the season…No matter what, Ron Rivera will not be back with the Carolina Panthers next season…New GM in, Rivera gone before the new GM’s microphone gets hot….

Tom O’Brien wins three of four games and he stays for at least two more years….I predict he does that and he takes the Wolfpack to a bowl…The Pack seem to play their best ball when they get down and the coaches’ jobs are on the line….The toughest game down the stretch for N.C. State will be the Clemson game…N.C. State beat Clemson last year, while the Pack was making that great ‘end of the season run’ and Clemson won’t forget that game….

The coaches are hired to be fired and looks like for Ron Rivera, his time is just about up and for Tom O’Brien, he is living on the edge…Ron gone, Tom still around for 2013, but barely….

CLICK HERE to see what Tom Sorenson of the Charlotte Observer is saying about Ron Rivera and his job security…..

14 thoughts on “Which coach will be fired first:Ron Rivera or Tom O’Brien??

  1. O’brien will be fired first since State’s season will end first. Rivera will be fired in mid January when the panthers season ends. The only reason that Rivera will not be fired first is because they have already fired the GM and you cannot just let the organization not have a clear locker room leader in the mid of the season. Both can save their jobs with at least 3-4 wins to finish the season. The State fan base will not grow with O’brien in charge so I think Debbie will just make a change no matter what. Rivera is losing the second chance faith of the fans with the media turning on him lately. As usual, we are setting to say I am glad it is basketball season again.

  2. Only State fans would want to fire a guy who beat the number 3 team in the country and will likely finish 8-4 and go to a decent bowl game, simply because he lost to Carolina for the first time in 6 games.
    Unbelievable.
    If I were him, I would quit simply because of the bizarre email Yow sent out on Sunday. Crazy AD perfect for a crazy, delusional fanbase.

  3. I think Tom O’Brien likes to be in that ‘Me Against the World’ position….He seems to thrive in it….

  4. I look for Ron Rivera to be gone in the next two weeks or as soon as they lose two more games and that will be real soon if you ask me.

    One of the Panthers assistants will take over and my guess is it will be the offensive guy since he knows more about Cam Newton and the assistant will run the team the rest of this year.

    The Panthers will clean house and bring in the new GM and a whole new coaching staff and many new players too. Whole new look next year.

    Tom O’Brien will be back in 2013 and then gone in 2014 after he loses to Larry Fedora, Gio Bernard and the Tar Heels again in 2013.

    That’s the way it will be.

    Rivera first and then Tom O’Brien second.

  5. So our AD writes a letter to our fan base regarding not having a chance now at representing the Atlantic Division in Charlotte, how idiotic.

    If I was TOB I would have walked yesterday, that was so like she did @ maryland ask Gary Wiiliams one of the all-time greatest coaches ever she literally ran off.

    I see another Herb Sendek sequel materializing. People our best season ever we only won 10 games and went to the Gator Bowl and played a terrible Notre Dame team and had a parade afterwards. We need to get over ourselves and remember we really havn`t ever been relevant in football and may never be. And as far as our schedule being difficult down the stretch 3 of 4 games are @ home against teams combined to only have 2 league wins. You can`t even convince this delusional fan base otherwise Sorenson.

  6. Ron Rivera will be gone after this coming Sunday’s loss at the Washington Redskins. The Panthers will only win one more game this season and that will be the Kansas Chiefs game. 2-14 Panthers and Ron Rivera gone after the game with Washington this Sunday. Mark my words.

  7. But Andy, just a couple days ago you said you didnt see how TOB could be fired? What gives? Has something changed?

  8. I have TOB staying and let’s say they win 3 of their last four games and he should be retained….On the other hand, if State were to lose three of the last four games, we may be talking a different game…

    If N.C. State would have won that game back on Saturday, we would not be having this discussion right now, even if they lost the last four games of this season….(6-0) vs. UNC would = name you stay for TOB….

    As it is, there is a lot of work left to be done in Raleigh….

    “They say Rusty Neese used to love to say, “Go Heels” and I’m sure he was enjoying himself, even in absentasia, on Saturday….

  9. they will both be fired at the exact same time, Friday, December 21st, at 6:28 pm eastern standard time…

  10. TOB will be fired at the end of the season. The only thing that kept his lack luster career going this long was beating UNC every year. His teams played mostly uninspired and just to the level of the competition much like the Herb teams but Herb also kept a job until UNC started beating him. Rivera will also be fired at the end of his season.

  11. If TOB wins 3 of 4 and a bowl game he will be back in 2013.
    The UNC loss was very similar to the Miami loss. Both of these games were blown by the Pack’s own mistakes.
    Miami loss due to dumb penalties(blaming State not the officials) and UNC was due to dropped passes.
    BTW–smh needs to Stop The Frivilous Utterances on this site. He sounds more FOS than a Christmas turkey.

  12. 2 thoughts on the subject:

    !) Ron Rivera will (and should) be fired long before TOB. TOB beat the #3 team in the country this year. Also, it wasn’t like Carolina blew out state or handedly beat them. State should have won the game, but that’s a story for another day. Rivera has the resources and just isn’t getting it done.

    2) Our pro sports team stink because North Carolina cares about college sports. We have 4 major universities in the state and most of the focus in the sports realm around here is college football and basketball. Can you think of another state with 4 universities in the same BCS conferences? The only state I can think of that resembles NC is Texas. They have UT, Baylor,TCU, and A&M. But Texas also has the cities of Dallas and Houston. We do not have two cities of those populations.

  13. Vinnie,

    Which part of smh post do you take exception too? His comments seem to be supported by Pack fans in this very thread and certainly on this site. This aint Pack Pride gentlemen. You are gonna get some push back every once in a while.

  14. Who gets the ax first is kinda meaningless, the fact is that both deserve to get fired and both WILL get fired before next season begins. State makes a ton of mental mistakes which isn’t acceptable for a team with this much talent and someone who has been the coach for 6 years. Ron Rivera may be an excellent coordinator, but he simply isn’t head coach material, ala wade Phillips. I really don’t think anyone on that team respects him.py

Comments are closed.