After his team’s humiliating 42-21 defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, Carolina Panthers interim head coach Steve Wilks made coaching adjustments on Monday morning. Both defensive line coach Paul Pasqualoni and cornerbacks coach Evan Cooper were let go by the team.
In 2020, when Matt Rhule, a former coach, was hired by the Panthers, Cooper joined the team. This summer, Pasqualoni, a former head coach at Syracuse, was hired. The personnel changes that have occurred since Rhule, defensive coordinator Phil Snow, and assistant special teams coach Ed Foley were sacked last month continue with these changes.
The Panthers will assign defensive coach Bobby Maffei some of Cooper’s responsibilities with the DBs, and interim DC Al Holcomb will also take on a bigger responsibility with that group. Don Johnson, a specialist in pass rush, and Terrance Knighton, an assistant defensive line coach, will continue to work with the D-linemen. Only time will be able to judge how wise these choices were.
