Carolina Panthers FIRE head coach Matt Rhule after 1-4 start to the season

Carolina Panthers have fired head coach Matt Rhule following his side’s awful 1-4 start to the 2022 season.

The New York native was hired for his first top NFL job ahead of the 2020 season, overseeing a 5-11 record in his first year, before a 5-12 season in 2021.

His exit comes just over two years into a seven-year, $62million contract, and the 47-year-old will be replaced on an interim basis by secondary coach Steve Wilks, previously a HC at the Arizona Cardinals.

Matt Rhule has been fired by the Carolina Panthers following their 1-4 start to the season

Rhule leaves Carolina with a .289 winning percentage, having failed to turn the franchise around.

It was hoped the arrival of Baker Mayfield would help to arrest their slide, but defeats by the Browns, Giants, Cardinals and 49ers have shown very little promise.

The Panthers’ only victory of the season came over the Saints in Week 3, and they now head into a tough stretch with the reigning Super Bowl champion Rams next, before the visit of Tom Brady and the Bucs in Week 7.

Rhule has previously had a reputation for turning his teams around in their third year, having previously enjoyed success at Temple and Baylor, but he will not be given the opportunity for that in Carolina.

At Temple, his first head coach role, the team went 2-10 and 6-6 in his first two years, before 2015 saw them go 10-4 to win their conference.

At Baylor a few years later, a 1-11 first year was followed by an average 7-6 record in 2018, before he once again steered the ship around and secured an 11-3 record in his third year.

That said, there was little to suggest Carolina were on a similar path in the NFL, and the Panthers have now pulled the plug and begin their search for a new coach.