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David Newton, ESPN Staff Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Somewhere between watching her husband sell cowboy boots, work in commercial real estate, coordinate music at his dad’s church, and even contemplate the ministry that his father and grandfather made their life passion, Lizzy Canales realized in 2005 what others had known for a long time.
Dave Canales, then in his second season as the offensive coordinator of his high school in Carson, California, was born to coach football.
“Two years in, Lizzy goes, ‘I think you’re really good at this. We can take this as far as you want to go,”’ Dave recalled in a June 2023 interview before his first season as the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper apparently saw the same thing in his search for a new coach. Instead of requesting to interview proven winners such as former Patriots coach Bill Belichick or former Titans coach Mike Vrabel, instead of waiting for hot prospects such as Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson to become available (before he chose to stay in Detroit), he hired the 42-year-old Canales, whom no other team was pursuing.
Josh Canales believes those who were surprised by his younger brother’s hire will one day understand why it seemingly came out of nowhere.
“When a scout sees a player that they don’t want anybody to know about, they stay quiet about it,” said Josh, now the pastor at Mission Ebenezer Family Church that his grandfather founded in 1959 in Carson. “And then after the draft, they call them the steal of the draft.
“What he’s been doing quietly the past 15 years, piecing together his career, working hard, sacrificing, taking his lumps learning, being patient — he’s the steal of the draft.”
DAVE CANALES WILL be introduced as Carolina’s head coach during a Thursday news conference that comes a week after he was given a six-year deal.
Those who followed Canales’ coaching journey — which began in 2004 as OC at Carson High, where he was previously a star receiver and defensive back — believe the fifth Latino coach in NFL history is the perfect choice to turn around a franchise with six straight losing seasons.
They believe he is the right man to fix quarterback Bryce Young — who had a historically bad rookie season as the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 draft — like he did with 2018 No. 1 overall pick (and former Panthers QB) Baker Mayfield last season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Geno Smith in 2022 with the Seattle Seahawks.
“This is the perfect guy to get Young back to that level that we saw in college,” said Towson University coach Pete Shinnick, who coached Canales in college at Azusa Pacific. “I’m sure Dave will break him down, show him where he’s at, what took place, where he can be and what he can do.”
Smith, who won Comeback Player of the Year in 2022, agreed.
“He’s going to do wonders, man,” he said. “He’s going to come in and have the right energy and the right mindset, and it’s going to be uplifting.”
Few, if any, are higher on Canales than long-time Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, who brought Canales with him to Seattle from USC in 2010.
“He’s one of the guys that we see coming through the league that have that kind of connection to creativity, to freedom of thought, openness, that allow for so many good, young guys to make it,” Carroll said during the 2023 NFL combine after losing Canales to Tampa Bay.
“I have always gone to him to communicate with him, because he has great vision and great insights, and he works really, really well with people. … So to me, he’s going to be highly successful.”
FIXING YOUNG IS Canales’ top priority, but not with a miracle scheme. His philosophy is to play to the strength of his players and be aggressive, something he learned from Carroll, whose focus was on scoring points.
“I’m never going into a game saying we’re going to pound the rock, or we’re going to spread it out and rip them,” Canales said during a Week 16 news conference in Tampa Bay. “I try to go into the game and say, ‘What are they giving us today?”’
Scoring was an issue for the Panthers last season. They tied with New England for last in the NFL with 13.9 points per game. They also ranked last in the league in yards per game (265.3), and Young finished 29th out of 30 qualified players in Total QBR at 33.3.
The downfield passing game was almost non-existent.
One of Canales’ selling points to the Panthers was Tampa Bay went from 24th in the NFL in downfield passing (6.9 air yards per attempt) in 2022 to third (8.4) in 2023.
But what Canales did for Mayfield was most impressive. Mayfield ranked last in Total QBR (26.3) in 2022 between the Panthers and Los Angeles Rams. He was 18th in 2023 at 54.4 and set career highs in passing yards (4,044), touchdowns (28) and completion percentage (64.3%).
Smith saw a similar transformation in 2022 with a career-high 4,282 yards, 30 touchdowns and a 69.8 completion percentage.
“He’s already a talented quarterback,” Smith said of Young. “And having Dave is going to help him become even better.”
Because the Panthers had a failed run in 2022 with Mayfield, eventually releasing him midseason, what Canales did to turn him around last season played a role his hire. So did the eight years he worked with general manager Dan Morgan in Seattle, when Canales was wide receivers coach and Morgan rose from scout to director of pro personnel.
“He’s got a great knack for speaking, not just to people, but into people, to get them to see what their fullest potential can be,” Shinnick said.
THE BUCS WERE coming off an impressive 30-12 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in December when Canales was asked what prompted him to move his family to Tampa after spending his entire life on the West Coast.
After saying he wanted to make head coach Todd Bowles proud, he got emotional.
“Just a guy who believes in me, gave me a shot,” said Canales, the 11th person interviewed for the Panthers job. “For me, it’s about grinding, working hard, trying to prove him right. It means a lot to me. It’s important.”
Tepper likely saw some of that same passion during Canales’ in-person interview two weeks ago. That passion also includes the same positive energy that exuded from him as a player.
“His personality, and the way he carries himself, you just feel good being around him,” Shinnick said. “You feel like we can get it done as well.”
Much of that came from his dad’s “sky’s the limit” message he always preached.
Family influence is strong in Canales. His grandparents immigrated to the United States from Mexico and established citizenship through the army. Through their story, they instilled in their children that anything is possible.
That’s one reason Canales cherishes the great stories he has encountered in players who have overcome adversity to reach the highest level of their career.
“No matter where you start … set your ambition high and go for it,” he said. “My dad was a huge influence in terms of just having all the possibilities. If you work hard enough, you’ll find a nice niche somewhere and be successful.”
That’s something Smith expects Canales to pass along to his players as the Panthers’ coach.
“He’s got a great perspective, not just on football, but on life,” Smith said. “He’s going to help those young men, not just grow up as athletes but grow up as people. And I think that’s just as important.”
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