Here at Cat Scratch Reader we have counted down the final 100 days leading up to the Carolina Panthers season opener by 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.
#56. Dom Capers
The first ever head coach of the Carolina Panthers was obviously going to make the top 100 Panthers of all time. It was just a question of where on the list he’d end up. The answer to that question is here. It’s right here. He’s number 56.
Dom Capers worked his way up from the bottom. He started his coaching career as a 22 year old graduate assistant at Kent State. He bounced around college jobs, eventually becoming a defensive backs coach, before getting his first professional football gig as defensive backs coach for the Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars. He then made the leap to the NFL as the New Orleans Saints’ defensive backs coach. He then became the Steelers’ defensive coordinator before reaching the top of the ladder. His first head coaching gig was as the first ever head coach of your Carolina Panthers.
The beginning of Capers’ time in Carolina was unprecedented for an expansion franchise. He led the team to a respectable 7-9 record in their inaugural season, which is a record for most wins by an expansion franchise. He one upped that the following season by coaching the team to a 12-4 record and an NFC Championship berth. Under the leadership of their defensive minded head coach, the upstart Panthers suffocated their opponents with an elite defense and an offense that evolved into a ball control group that could complement that unit.
Unfortunately, as has been the case throughout Panthers history, the success would be short lived. Cracks started showing in Capers’ third season between lagging performance and off field conflicts. Those cracks turned into a full implosion in 1998, resulting in a 4-12 season and the dismissal of Capers and his staff.
Capers has gone on to serve most of the rest of his career as a defensive assistant save for one other attempt at coaching an expansion team with the Texans from 2002 to 2005. Everything came full circle in a way when he returned to Carolina in 2023 a senior defensive assistant on Frank Reich’s “all star” staff. That also didn’t end well, but coming back to Carolina always improves your standing.
While Capers wasn’t able to sustain success as the team’s first ever head coach, he gets points simply for holding that title. He gets lots of bonus points for the success he brought the team in its first two seasons, even if it all crashed and burned shortly thereafter. As the first man to ever lead the Panthers to a winning record and conference championship game, Dom Capers lands at number 56 on the list of top 100 Panthers of all time.
