Panthers' coach will attempt to 'out-Fox' his ex-employer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It's impossible to predict the course John Fox's coaching career might have taken if not for a one-year furlough with the St. Louis Rams.

Perhaps he wouldn't be in Carolina, where in less than two years he has successfully rebuilt the Panthers from the worst team in the NFL to NFC South champions.

Fox knows he owes some of his progress to his time in St. Louis, where he'll return Saturday to lead Carolina in the divisional playoffs against the Rams.

"They were very, very good to me," Fox said. "I don't think they're going to be as good to me this time."

Jobs were hard to come by for Fox in 1996, after he abruptly quit as an assistant in Oakland following a fallout with Raiders owner Al Davis. The Rams offered him a consultant position and he spent the season evaluating personnel and potential free agents while rekindling his love of the NFL.

"I worked five days a week and got to spend a lot of time with my family," said Fox, whose wife, Robin, is from St. Louis.

"It was a good break, to be honest with you."

His one year with the Rams put him back on the NFL coaching track, and Fox was hired the next season as an assistant with the New York Giants. His time in New York helped rebuild his image after the fallout from the Oakland split and led to his 2002 hiring in Carolina.

Rams lend a helping hand

But it all started in St. Louis.

"Basically, it was a nice gesture on (former general manager) Steve Ortmayer's part to set that up for me," Fox remembered. "It was a good experience. I was able to stay up on what's going on in the league, and help them out as far as evaluating free agents."

All that's in the past now as Fox prepares for one of the biggest games of his coaching career.

Although he went to the Super Bowl in 2001 as defensive coordinator with the Giants, and orchestrated a 41-0 victory over Minnesota in the NFC Championship Game, this is his first postseason as a head coach.

But his debut went surprisingly well, as the Panthers dominated Dallas on Saturday night in a 29-10 victory in the first round of the playoffs.

Simply advancing to the playoffs made Fox just the third coach in NFL history to inherit a one-win team (Carolina was 1-15 in 2001) and take it to the postseason two years later. He joins Vince Lombardi, who turned around the Green Bay Packers and led them into the 1960 playoffs, and Bill Parcells with the New York Jets in 1998.

But in beating the Parcells-led Dallas team on Saturday night, Fox gained a bit of redemption from Carolina's 24-20 regular-season loss to the Cowboys.

Fox was widely criticized after that November loss for being outcoached by Parcells -- the Panthers had several opportunities in that game but Fox's decisions that were later heavily second-guessed could have changed the outcome -- and he carried it with him into the rematch.

"You pay attention to everything, the criticism just comes with the territory," Fox said. "It's a very competitive business and most of us are fairly competitive people. So everything drives everybody differently. I will say I'm driven and I'll be driven this week as well as last week."