Chances are you have probably never heard of him, but Panthers assistant special teams coach Tony Levine -- yes, the Panthers, like most NFL teams these days, have an assistant special teams coach -- left the Panthers to take a job with the University of Houston late last week.
Levine will join new coach Kevin Sumlin at Houston. The two have a history together, as Sumlin was Levine's position coach at the University of Minnesota about 10 years ago. Levine was hired to coach tight ends and special teams for Houston.
Are other coaching moves coming?
If they're going to happen, chances are they will happen within the next 10 days.
The coach feeling the most heat may be Danny Crossman (special teams), whose unit failed to improve much over 2006 and remains statistically near the bottom of the league in many categories, including kickoff return average. It would see that if head coach John Fox stays then offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson would get a free pass, too, given Carolina's quarterback problems this year. The jury is still out on defensive coordinator Mike Trgovac.
As for coach John Fox, we've still heard no confirmation from owner Jerry Richardson that he will return next season to coach the Panthers.
We are still operating under the assumption Fox will be back based on what he told the NFL Network in an impromptu conversation prior to the Dallas game. However, Richardson has failed to confirm his conversation with Cris Collinsworth through the team's PR department and therefore the speculation continues. All it takes is for Richardson to release a one-line statement through the PR staff that Fox and GM Marty Hurney are staying. As I've said all along, I think they will return, but you can't help but wonder until Richardson actually speaks.