The announcement was made on Thursday, bringing an end to Tolbert’s six season stint at Buffalo and bringing him over to The Panthers. The experience of Tyke Tolbert will definitely bring a new flavor to The Carolina Panthers.

Tolbert began his coaching career with college jobs at Louisiana-Monroe, Auburn, Louisiana-Lafayette and Florida. He was assigned a short coaching term at the Arizona Cardinals receivers in 2003 before moving over to Buffalo. In his one season with the Cardinals, Tolbert was credited with having coached rookie Anquan Boldin, who made the Pro Bowl that season.

The Panthers are also on the lookout for a special teams coach to replace the fired Danny Crossman. The search has been goin on since last week and is likely to end soon.

Hired 19 days before Dom Capers, Williamson, 68 became the the team’s first head coach in 1995. From a appearance in the Super Bowl in 2003 season to a 1-15 mark in 2001, Williamson had witnessed all.

Williamson, who worked under all three Panthers head coaches – Capers, George Seifert and John Fox, was quoted as saying, “We’ve had a lot of good people, good players and good workers.”

After playing at Alabama under Bear Bryant in the early 1960s alongside teammate Joe Namath, Williamson worked on the coaching staffs at Alabama and Arkansas, till he became head coach at Memphis State in 1975-80. He has head coached Kansas City, Tampa Bay (head coach for three games in 1990 and all of 1991) and Cincinnati since.

Williamson’s idea when he was hired was, “big strong guys who catch balls in traffic and some guys who can really run,” . Panthers had receivers who passed the criteria, five of whom – Steve Smith, Muhsin Muhammad, Patrick Jeffers, Raghib Ismail and Mark Carrier – underwent 1,000-yard receiving seasons under Williamson.

For many a season, Smith and Muhammad were considered to be one of the NFL’s most accomplished receiving duos. According to Williamson, “they were kind of in the same mold, with different abilities,” . Williamson also played Panther’s offensive co-ordinator for part 0f 2001 and the entire 2002 season.

The Panthers fired their special teams coach Thursday afternoon, but it was a too-late phone call from coach John Fox which might say the most about the process and what they were hoping for.

According to a source with knowledge of the situation, Fox called legendary special teams coach Bobby April on Wednesday night to see if he was interested in the opening here. But by the time Fox called, April already had agreed to a contract with the Philadelphia Eagles.

April was one of the most sought-after assistants of the off-season, having interviewed with Pittsburgh and San Francisco and drawing interest from Washington. But Philadelphia swooped in quietly to land him, waiting until they had his name on a contract before they fired incumbent special teams coach Ted Daisher on Thursday.

By waiting nearly two weeks after the end of the season to make their move, the Panthers might have cost themselves a shot at April. While there’s no guarantee they could have convinced him to come here, they’d have at least had a chance if they’d have moved sooner.

Panthers general manager Marty Hurney didn’t return calls seeking comment Thursday.

With him out of the equation, there’s a dwindling pool of experienced candidates, although most of them have some kind of link to this staff or area.

On Thursday he was let go. General Manager Marty Hurney and coach John Fox continues the offseason evaluations.

The ranking of the Carolina Panthers are 31st out of 32 teams in kickoff return average, 30th in kickoff coverage and 29th in punt return coverage.

Danny Crossman was there with the Carolina Panthers since 2003. Initially he not special teams coach. He got promoted to this post in 2005.

Marty Hurney says to the media that was “an extremely hard decision and we wish Danny the best.”

This move of the Panthers came as John Fox prepares to coach the team next season. Next season is the final year of his contract. He has been denied of an extension by Jerry Richardson, the owner of the team.

But, there is also an option left with him and that is if another head coaching opportunity arises and if he likes it then he may leave without the other team owing the Panthers any compensation.

A fresh report on ESPN says Carolina Panthers have given an option to John Fox the right to void the contract of final year.

Observer reports that Carolina Panthers had planned for retaining John Fox but it would not extend his contract. The option is also there for him that he could consider another job opportunity and he may move out of the final year of the contract.

John Fox will be making about $6 million in the next season and then he will be one of the highest-paid head coaches in NFL. Recently Fox also said that he saw himself returning for 2010 season.

According to a Fox TV reporter, John Fox told him that he would coach Carolina Panthers “barring something crazy from developing.”

Last year was not a good year for the Carolina Panthers, which finished 8-8 after rallying to win its final 3 games. After the win of the NFC South, for the Panthers this season was surely a step backward.

The 2010 will surely be a make-or-break season for Fox. He is having an inconsistent tenure by becoming the top coach of the Panthers.

The recent decision of the Panthers to announce that Fox will remain back for the final year of his contract has left Fox in something like an unfair position.

He is now surely on the hot seat.

If we remember, Fox has given earlier a number of good years also to the Panthers and this should obviously mean some kind of loyalty. In fact Fox deserves better than the last week’s lukewarm.

Though Fox did not got much thumbs-up from the management of Panthers, but he is surly been getting from his players.

This year if the players want Fox for longer then they can play better football.

This years’ offseason will be have some big questions for the Panthers. The answers to such questions will determine where the club finish next season.

On Wednesday, after the practice, John Fox was said to a reporter, “I’ve got a year on my contract. I don’t want get into that right now,” Fox said. “Our focus is to get through the season. I have an agent (who) deals with that.”

When Fox was asked whether it would be difficult for him in coaching the team while he is in the final year of his contract then he only said that he think he had just answered it.

When Fox was further asked by the reporters that if he had discussed the situation with Jerry Richardson, the team owner. He just spoke, “I am speaking English, right?”

Coach John Fox is scheduled to earn about $6 million in next season. With this earning Fox will be one of the NFL’s highest-paid coaches. If there is no future years for him on this deal then it would Fox in a lame-duck situation.

Fox may have opportunities somewhere else, but it has to be clear about which other teams will have head-coaching vacancies.

He said further, “Sometimes to get where you want to go you have to experience a tough time, and I thought late last year that loss at the end of the season stuck with guys. I’ve seen it carry over to our preparation and work this offseason. So I like what I see.”

He also mentioned that with the fun stuff over for now the truth has again smack the Panthers in the face. It is a fact that their best defensive player kept his offseason streak intact by not showing up.

He even said that he prefer guys to be there when Fox was asked about Peppers’ continued absence. He continued, “But I’ve had countless number of excellent football players who trained in the offseason off-site. Steve Smith has done it every offseason and he’s had some pretty good years.”

These two replaced Ken Flajole and Tim Lewis. Flajole left to become the defensive coordinator in St. Louis and Lewis has not been offered again after the contract ended.

Still the Panthers are looking for a defensive line coach. Sal Sunseri’s position has to be filled because he is now with Alabama.

The Panthers have added some experienced staff with the current hires. According to coach John Fox “Richard is a veteran coach who has experience with all phases of defense as a coordinator and has excelled as a linebacker coach.” He also added, “Ron has had success as a secondary coach for the last decade and is an outstanding teacher. We are pleased to have them joining our staff.”
Smith was a coordinator the last four years, 3 in Houston and 1 in Miami, and before that he had been linebackers coach with San Francisco, Detroit, Denver and Houston (Oilers, not Texans).
Now he is entering his 22nd NFL season.

Question: What were the team’s needs prior to the draft and to what extent have you addressed them?

John Fox: We needed to get revitalized at the running back position. We decided very early on we wanted to go high in the draft to meet that need. I think we’ve done that with Jonathan Stewart.

It’s interesting to see that the Panthers had Stewart so high on their draft board. They must see a young Stephen Davis in him.

Question:You must have thought highly of tackle Jeff Otah to trade next year’s number one pick to draft him.

John Fox: We just felt Jeff was a first-round pick at 19 (overall). He probably had some top 10 value, so why not? Instead of a first rounder next year, we got an (extra) first rounder this year.

I guess the Panthers are banking on doing well this year. If they end up doing well, then I think that this would turn out to be a solid trade.

Question: How will third-round draft choice Dan Connor be used?

John Fox: After having just a three-day look at him (Dan), there is no question he is a fine, instinctive football player. Right now, he’s on the second or third tier as far as the depth chart. But I’ve seen guys blast up the depth chart fast and I have high expectations for him.

John Fox compared Dan Connor to center Ryan Kalil of last year’s draft. The Panthers did not need a center at the time, however he was ranked at the top of the Panther’s draft board, and now they are starting to find uses for him.

Question: What will you do to make the 2008 season one to remember for Panthers fans?

John Fox: Regardless of what gets written or what gets said, whether it’s midseason, preseason or postseason, I can just tell you as an organization we are committed to winning and we’re doing everything and utilizing all of the avenues to win. That’s what this League’s about and it’s only fun if you win.

Get ready for an exciting season, Panthers fans.