Panthers re-hire Marty Hurney as interim GM, 5 years after firing him

Marty Hurney spent 11 years as general manager of the Carolina Panthers and now he’s back for another go — at least, for now.

Panthers owner Jerry Richardson is naming Hurney interim general manager after unexpectedly firing Dave Gettleman on Monday. The team announced the move on Wednesday. Hurney is expected to help the Panthers in their search for a new general manager and help ease the transition from Gettleman’s tenure. With training camp less than two weeks away, roster responsibilities will mostly be in Ron Rivera’s hands anyway.

Hurney first joined the Panthers front office in 1998 as director of player operations and was promoted to general manager four years later. In his second season, the team appeared in Super Bowl XXXVIII and lost to the New England Patriots, and they advanced to the NFC Championship two seasons later.

He was fired after a 1-5 start to the 2012 season, but was the general manager responsible for drafting many of the team’s current core players, including Cam Newton, Luke Kuechly, and Greg Olsen.

Gettleman was handed a roster with a backbone mostly made out of Hurney’s selections and turned it into a Super Bowl-level roster in 2015. But he seemed to value wins more than he valued loyalty, and that meant fractured relationships with many of Carolina’s most prominent players.

After Gettleman was fired, Steve Smith, Josh Norman, and DeAngelo Williams — each of whom began their careers with the Panthers — all celebrated his firing.

With Olsen and linebacker Thomas Davis both attempting to negotiate new deals with the team, Gettleman’s abrupt dismissal may have been tied to ownership’s desire to keep key players in place and not lose them the way the team lost Smith, Norman, or Williams.

On Tuesday, Davis pushed back against the notion that he or Olsen’s contract talks were the reason for the firing. Offensive tackle Michael Oher also came to Gettleman’s defense and said he built a strong personal relationship with the executive.

Hurney has spent the last few years as a radio host on ESPN 730 in Charlotte. Now he’ll step back into his old role for a while and try to make sure the team is ready for a rebound after disappointing in 2016.