Panthers Hire Phil Snow as Defensive Coordinator After 3 Seasons with Baylor

The Carolina Panthers officially named Phil Snow as the team's defensive coordinator Monday, meaning he'll continue to work with newly hired head coach Matt Rhule.

Snow was the defensive coordinator for the past three seasons at Baylor and the three years prior at Temple, working under Rhule at each stop. He was also the defensive coordinator at UCLA in 2001 when Rhule was the defensive line coach.

The 64-year-old Snow has been coaching football for 44 years, and all but seven of those seasons have come at the college level.

His only experience in the NFL came with the Detroit Lions from 2005 to 2008 as a defensive assistant and linebackers coach.

This adds another college element to the Panthers heading into 2020. Rhule has almost exclusively worked in college football, spending just one year in the NFL in 2012 as an offensive line assistant with the New York Giants. He also hired offensive coordinator Joe Brady from LSU after last week's national championship.

Carolina will hope this formula can help turn things around after a disappointing 5-11 season.

Snow brings an aggressive style that helped Baylor finish 2019 second in the country in takeaways and ninth in sacks per game. It ended the year 19th in FBS in scoring defense, a major improvement from the unit that ranked 91st a year earlier. The team hadn't been inside the top 70 in points allowed per game since 2014.

Snow also helped build elite defenses at Temple, UCLA and Arizona State.

The Panthers could provide another tough challenge after allowing the second-most points in the NFL last season before losing superstar linebacker Luke Kuechly to retirement.