By Thomas Luce

The Carolina Panthers fired Head Coach Matt Rhule on Monday, ending a tumultuous tenure of just over two years. This made them the first NFL team to fire their head coach this season. However, the Panthers are not free from Matt Rhule’s reign of terror just yet. They still owe five years of his 7-year, $62 million fully-guaranteed contract. Matt Rhule will receive his remaining $40 million no matter what. The only question is who will pay him. If Matt Rhule sits on his couch and watches TV for the next half of a decade, he will receive the same amount of money as he would coaching the Panthers. If he takes another coaching job, his new contract will offset whatever the Panthers would have owed him. This means Matt Rhule has a 5-year paid vacation to look for the best college job available. Analysts say he will have his pick of many job openings. His name has already been connected to Auburn and Nebraska. Rhule had an 11-27 record (.289 winning percentage) in the NFL, and was coaching a Panthers team that projects to win no more than three games this season. How did his 7 years of college head coaching with only one CFB playoff appearance land him such a lucrative contract? Only the Carolina Panthers can answer that question. But who was the biggest winner of Matt Rhule’s firing? Without a doubt it was Matt Rhule. Well done coach. We’ll see you next college football season… Or maybe we won’t. Imagine if we all got paid $40 million dollars to watch college football for five years? Matt Rhule might not have a knack for coaching NFL football, but he (or perhaps his agent) is a financial genius. For that he deserves some serious credit. And he’ll receive it to the tune of $8 million per year.