Ron Rivera spent part of Wednesday packing memorabilia and personal items from 40 years as an NFL player, assistant and head coach into boxes in his house in northern Virginia. The movers will get the big stuff, but Rivera and his wife, Stephanie, wanted to handle the things that held special meaning.
Rivera, the former Carolina Panthers coach, is returning to northern California next week to take a still-to-be-defined position with the Cal football program. It’s a full-circle move for Rivera, an All-American linebacker at Cal before being selected by the Chicago Bears in the second round of the 1984 draft.
With quarterback Cam Newton hurt and the Panthers mired in what would become an eight-game losing streak, owner David Tepper fired Rivera late in the 2019 season. He left as the franchise’s all-time winningest coach, having guided the Panthers to the playoffs three consecutive years and four times in a five-year span from 2013-17.
Rivera’s daughter, Courtney, lives in Charlotte, where she’s a freelance videographer who does contract work for the Panthers’ social media department. Rivera, the Washington Commanders’ coach from 2020-23, was back in Bank of America Stadium in December as an analyst for a national radio broadcast of the Panthers’ 36-30 overtime win…
