Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 8, 1994 TAG: 9410110012
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Who besides a visitor has time to stop and look out the window wall a few blocks down the street to where a 73,000-seat stadium is starting to gird itself for the 1996 season?
It's 46 weeks until the Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars kick off their first NFL regular season, and the carpet-wearing happy feet in the Panthers' den may be anxious, but they're not pacing. So far, their work has centered on tickets, logos, sales, promotions, construction, computer systems, uniform designs.
There's more to grow in this franchise than the sample of sod that's sprouting near an office window, but it's also time for Hank Williams Jr. to appear on the NFL highlights-beaming lobby monitor and ask a familiar question:
Are you ready for some football?
Bill Polian certainly is. The man who pieced together four Super Bowl teams in Buffalo is a general manager with not much more than a view and a vision, although that is about to change. The Panthers may begin signing players Dec.15. They are hopeful of having a familiar coach before then.
It's no secret the Panthers wanted a particular transplanted Carolinian as their first coach. Joe Gibbs said he didn't want the job. Polian said he and Panthers president Mike McCormack have a ``short list'' of no more than six other names - college and pro coaches - they also are considering.
They're hoping Joe will say what he said ain't so.
``No, the thing with Joe is not totally history,'' Polian said. ``We will revisit it with him around Thanksgiving, and we're hoping he'll change his mind. That's our fervent hope. He's still our No.1 guy. If he tells us again he's not going to coach and he intends to stay in broadcasting and racing, then we'll respect that and have to move on. Until he tells us he isn't, however, he's first on our list.''
Finding players won't be as difficult. There's plenty of quantity, if not quality. Six players ran through the Panthers' first tryout Wednesday before an incredible number of media and spectators Wednesday. Three of them, including former VMI receiver Greg Clifton, were cut by the lowly Redskins in training camp. Polian expects to run about 100 players through similar sessions before minicamp in May.
If the question is whether a player not good enough for the Redskins could be the ``first'' Panther, Polian's answer is, ``Sure.'' And more than a few of the 1995 Panthers who will play their first season at Clemson's Death Valley - an ominous name for an expansion team's debut site? - are listed in the club's scouting room, where the walls are covered by the names of every NFL player on every NFL club and most draft-eligible college seniors.
The Panthers and Jacksonville will each select 30 players, or players with a 1994 aggregate salary of $14 million, whichever number is greater, in the February expansion draft. Each of the existing 28 franchises must put six players into the draft, although one of those may be from the injured reserve list and another may be a player with 10 or more years experience.
Carolina has not only the first pick in the April college draft, but because NFL clubs voted to allow the Panthers and Jaguars two picks per round, Charlotte's franchise will get three of the first 34 picks. Polian has said repeatedly that when a club is being built - or rebuilt, as in Buffalo - what you look for is either a franchise quarterback or a dominant defensive lineman.
Bruce Smith became the Bills' AFC championship cornerstone. It's been reported that the Panthers are considering quarterbacks Steve McNair of Alcorn State, Eric Zeier of Georgia, Rob Johnson of Southern Cal and Brigham Young junior John Walsh, who's expected to leave school. Polian said that's no more than draftnik dabbling, however.
``I can honestly say that I haven't yet seen the kind of quarterback I'm talking about,'' he said. ``I don't know if there's a Rick Mirer out there. The draft is a little deeper in defensive linemen and there are a pretty good number of outstanding running backs.''
Can training camp at Wofford College really be nine months away?
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB