We continue our countdown to the Panthers opening the 2026 season against the Chicago Bears
Here at Cat Scratch Reader we have counted down the final 100 days leading up to the Carolina Panthers season opener for at least the past ten years. We’ve always done this by highlighting the current player on the roster whose jersey number matches the day on the countdown. This year, we decided to change that up a bit by counting down our own list of the Top 100 Panthers of all time. This does not correspond
to jersey number, does not need to be somebody who wore a jersey, and will in no way be controversial.
#62. Steve Wilks
Today we remember the Panthers head coach that almost was — Steve Wilks.
Wilks is a Charlotte native and has North Carolina in his blood. He attended West Charlotte High School then went on to play college football at App State as a defensive back from 1987-1991. After college he played one season in the Arena Football League before hanging up the cleats and picking up a clipboard.
He, like most new coaches, grinded his way through lower-level college football positions at small schools before ultimately landing the defensive back coaching job at Notre Dame in 2004. He moved to the University of Washington in 2005 as the secondary coach before moving to the NFL.
His first NFL coaching break came in 2006 with the Chicago Bears as a defensive backs coach. He was fired two years later but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise after he latched on with the San Diego Chargers the following season. He worked under defensive coordinator Ron Rivera in San Diego, and that relationship ultimately brought Wilks to Carolina.
Rivera became the Panthers head coach in 2011, then one year later he hired Wilks as defensive backs coach. Wilks responsibilities grew to ultimately being named defensive coordinator and assistant head coach in 2017.
And boy did the Panthers have success during Wilks’ stint from 2012 through 2017. The team made the playoffs in four of those six seasons, including three years with at least 11 wins. This includes the Panthers 2015 15-1 season in which the team won the NFC and appeared in the Super Bowl.
In Wilks’ single season as defensive coordinator in 2017, replacing Sean McVay, Carolina went 11-5 and his’ status continued to grow among NFL front offices.
Panthers fans could only salute Wilks and wish him well when he took the Arizona Cardinals head coaching job in 2018. The Cardinals were rebuilding after parting ways with coach Bruce Arians and quarterback Carson Palmer. In 2018 Wilks trotted out overwhelmed rookie quarterback Josh Rosen, went 3-13, and was summarily fired.
After a couple of other coaching stops, Wilks found his way back to Carolina in 2022 this time as a secondary coach under head coach Matt Rhule. After a demoralizing 1-4 start to the season, Rhule was fired and Wilks was elevated to the position of interim head coach. And then the most amazing thing happened: The Panthers played some good football! The team rallied around Wilks and went 6-6 for the remainder of the season. They did this despite a revolving door at quarterback that featured six starts from Baker Mayfield, six starts from Sam Darnold, and five starts from the immortal PJ Walker.
And the Panthers going 6-6 under Wilks in 2022 was a big deal.
In each of the three previous seasons from 2019-2021 the Panthers went 5-12. To start off the 2022 campaign 1-4 only to then immediately go 6-6 with Wilks at the helm breathed some optimism into the franchise and its fans. Players rallied around Wilks and openly expressed their desire for him to have “interim” removed from his title and become the team’s next head coach. Derrick Brown was quoted as saying, “If you ask anybody in this locker room, we want Steve Wilks to be our next head coach.”
Instead, owner David Tepper made the disastrous decision to pass over Wilks for Frank Reich who promptly went 1-10 in 2023 and was fired before finishing his first season with the team.
I genuinely believe there is an alternate reality in the Panthersverse where Wilks was hired as Carolina’s head coach back in 2023. Heck, while I’m dreaming, Carolina would have retained either Mayfield or Darnold, Wilks and his staff would have developed them into the Pro Bowlers they became, and the last several years would have been much more enjoyable for us as Panthers fans.
While the Panthers passing on Steve Wilks as head coach was a sad way for him to end his tenure with the team, he still goes down as one of the more impactful figures in franchise history.
