Steve Wilks released a classy statement via Twitter Friday morning following the Carolina Panthers‘ decision not to hire him as their full-time head coach.
While Wilks was among the finalists for the gig, the Panthers announced Thursday afternoon that they had chosen Frank Reich to be the new leader.
Reich was the first quarterback in Carolina history during their inaugural 1995 season and still has connections to the organization, most notably one of his daughters who recently started working in the organization’s marketing department.
Wilks appears to have taken the high road despite losing out on the post, but his attorneys (Douglas H. Wigdor and John Elefterakis) released a statement after Reich’s hiring, saying they were “shocked and disturbed” with the decision and “there is a legitimate race problem in the NFL, and we can assure you that we will have more to say in the coming days.”
The same firms represent Wilks as a co-defendant in former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores’ suit against the NFL over racial discrimination.
Wilks was the Panthers associate head coach from 2015 to 2017 and rejoined the team for the 2022 campaign. He took over as the interim head coach midway through the regular season when Matt Rhule was fired in October following a 1-4 start.
Despite the team being in clear sell mode (trading Christian McCaffrey among others) and rotating through a wide cast of quarterbacks all season, Wilks led Carolina to a 6-6 finish and near-playoff berth at 7-10 overall.
