Four Burning Questions in Charlotte Sports

To make noise on the national scene, to pull tourists in from near and far, to brand yourself as a something-class city, you gotta have your sports, and Charlotte’s finally gotten its crown on straight in that regard. An NFL team, NBA team, MLS club, and Triple-A baseball team all play uptown. College sports could use some more profile, but hey, those 49ers up in University City have themselves an honest-to-God football program after only a decade, and they knocked off Duke a couple of years back. So all’s rosy, right?

Yeah—so long as you don’t pay attention to the box scores. As of this writing in late November, the Carolina Panthers are 1-10, the worst record in the NFL. The NBA’s Charlotte Hornets have begun their 2023-24 season with a 5-10 record, following a 27-55 season in 2022-23. Charlotte FC remains in its honeymoon phase with the fans—and, despite a playoff appearance, finished in the lower half of MLS’ Eastern Conference. The Niners have a bit of an excuse—2023 was UNC Charlotte’s first year in the American Athletic Conference, considered the cream of the so-called “Group of Five”—but they still finished the season with a 3-9 record. Even the Charlotte Knights, with their still-delightful uptown ballpark, finished dead last in the 20-team International League.

Who knows? By the time you read this, the sporting sun might be shining again. In the meantime, we have questions.

➊ Will the Hornets ever buzz again?

For the 13 years he was the franchise’s majority owner, Michael Jordan was by far the most recognizable name associated with the Hornets. That gives you an idea of the team’s fortunes since 2004-05, when Charlotte returned to the NBA with the then-Bobcats: four winning seasons and three playoff appearances, none of which went beyond the first round.

Now that Jordan has surrendered his stake in the team, new majority owners Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall will try to do something M.J. never managed: Restore the buzzing passion this city once had for the team that gave us our first taste of the big time. Has it really been more than 30 years since Zo’s shot to beat the Celtics at the old Hive on Tyvola?

➋ When will Charlotte FC make its move on the pitch?

Another Tepper production, Charlotte FC, made the playoffs in its second season. Hooray! The club also won three fewer matches than in 2022, finished ninth in its 15-club conference, pulled a one-and-done in the playoffs, and fired Head Coach Christian Lattanzio. Ugh. The future still seems generally promising: Home attendance was nearly as high as the inaugural season’s. But keep an eye on the fan base in 2024. Year three is when even the most ardent fans expect progress on an expansion club’s win-loss ledger. Nothing douses fan passion like losing.

➌ Can UNCC build a winner with Biff Poggi?

Intriguing man, this Francis Xavier “Biff” Poggi. He grew up lower-middle class in Baltimore’s Little Italy neighborhood, played college football at Pittsburgh and Duke, then started and managed a successful hedge fund while he coached football and taught at a small private school. Poggi ended up as an off-field analyst under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan and, starting in November 2022, head football coach at UNCC. He’s 64.

Poggi has demonstrated a pronounced, refreshing, and un-Charlottean tendency to NGAF about certain things, like coaching decorum. He’s turned the sleeveless T-shirt he typically wears into a campus fashion accessory. During AAC media days in July, he slapped a lectern and growled at reporters for asking just three questions, then stormed off. After the 49ers’ third game, a 41-25 loss to Georgia State, he proclaimed himself “on the warpath” and demanded better performance from his staff.

He’s different, the kind of guy whose heart-on-his-nonexistent-sleeve manner intrigues and delights—so long as it leads to wins. If it doesn’t, it gets old quickly. So that’s his challenge: to build a homegrown college football team worth noticing and cheering—another brand-new thing for a city busy racking them up.

➍ Where’d the Panthers’ growl go?

Man, 2015 seems like a long time ago. Superman, dabbin’ on ’em, Riverboat Ron, that stomping of the Cardinals at BofA Stadium in the NFC Championship. Hasn’t been the same since. Bryce is in Cam’s place, Frank was in Ron’s until he was fired in November, and, most significantly, David is in Jerry’s.

Tepper was initially welcomed as an open, what-you-see-is-what-you-get alternative to the saturnine, old-school Richardson. But signs are emerging that Tepper’s hedge fund manager’s approach to team ownership is undermining results on the field. Matt Rhule, his first hire as coach, was a catastrophe. “Tepper, who bought the team in 2018, has long been regarded as one of the league’s more hands-on or (less charitably) meddlesome owners,” Alex Kirshner wrote in The Guardian in mid-October. “(S)hould any members of the club’s front office need advice on market dynamics, Tepper would no doubt be of great use. On football matters, Tepper’s team would be better served if he invested more passively.” Delegate, my dude.

Greg Lacour is the editor.