Marty Hurney and John Fox will return for the Carolina Panthers

just in from www.charlotte.com:

Carolina Panthers general manager Marty Hurney has confirmed that his job and that of coach John Fox are safe, at least for the coming season.

“John and I had an out-of-town meeting with Mr. Richardson (team owner Jerry Richardson) Thursday and Friday in which we reviewed the season in detail,” Hurney said Monday evening. “We went into detail over what we want to accomplish and what we have to do to accomplish it, which means getting to the playoffs and winning the Super Bowl.

“It was a two-day session, in-depth, thorough and intense; we were very detailed about what we want to do. And we came out on the same page.”

There had been some speculation that Fox and Hurney’s jobs might be in jeopardy while the Panthers watched a 4-2 start slip to a 7-9 finish, the second straight year the team missed the playoffs.

But there were reasons for the team’s collapse — four quarterbacks started during the season — and Carolina won two of its final three, both against division winners.

Richardson, who has not spoken with local media on the subject, did tell the NFL Network’s Cris Collinsworth before Dallas’ game at Carolina Dec. 22 that both men’s jobs were safe.

Last week’s meeting confirmed that.

The key point of the meeting was a sense that all three of the men involved would like to see the Panthers return to the style of play that took the team to two NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl since Fox took over in 2002.

“We want to get back to the personality of those teams,” Hurney said.