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Report: NFL team working to finalize deal to make Matt Rhule next head coach

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

After three seasons at Baylor, it looks like Matt Rhule is going to get his shot at the NFL.

Tuesday morning, Pete Thamel of Yahoo! reported that the Carolina Panthers are working to finalize a deal to make Rhule the next head coach of the franchise. Rhule was expected to meet with the New York Giants Tuesday for a chance to fill that vacancy, so the news comes as somewhat of a surprise.

Rhule will replace Ron Rivera, who was fired after 12 games.

Rhule just concluded his third season at Baylor, leading the Bears to an 11-3 season, which included an 8-1 mark in the Big 12 and an appearance in the Big 12 Championship Game. Baylor reached the Sugar Bowl this year, but fell short to Georgia.

In three seasons at Baylor, Rhule has a 19-20 record, but turned a 1-11 program into an 11-win and top 10 team. That unbelievable turnaround has sparked a lot of interest in Rhule among the NFL markets.

Prior to taking over at Baylor, Rhule was the head coach at Temple for four seasons. During his time, Rhule guided the Owls to back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2015 and 2016 and owned a 28-23 overall record, with two bowl appearances.

Rhule, who was a linebacker at Penn State from 1994-97, hasn’t had much coaching experience in the NFL. The one year he did spend at the professional ranks was in 2012 as an assistant offensive line coach for the Giants.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB