Ron Rivera: Carolina Panthers Reunion A ‘Business Trip’

It’s a week of reunions in Carolina as Ron Rivera follows Cam Newton in returning to Charlotte after years away.

Ron Rivera was fired as Panthers coach during his ninth season with the team in 2019. On Sunday, he will return to Charlotte in charge of the Washington Football team. 

It will be his first visit to the Bank of America Stadium since he was fired. In spite of the sentimental aspect, Ron Rivera is trying to treat it like any other game.

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“I know as far as playing against them, it won’t be the same effect,” said Rivera.

“But it’ll be back in Charlotte, that’ll be probably the bigger thing more so than anything else for me. Just because, again, as I said, the thing that I really appreciated about my time there were the people. That’s probably the bigger thing. Now, what I’m doing is I’m limiting my exposure to that. [My wife] Stephanie will do all the visiting and saying hello to folks. Me, I’m pretty much going to try and stick to the mantra that this is a business trip.”

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“There’s no reason to be bitter. I did the best I could,” Rivera said. “When it was time to move on, David Tepper treated me with tremendous dignity and respect. He really did. He gave me an opportunity to say goodbye and I really appreciated it. 

“What’s really kind of cool, kind of speaks to who he is. When we played him here, he did a Rivera Strong, as well. I got a tremendous amount of respect for what he’s doing there right now, what they’re trying to do in terms of their rebuild as well. There is no bitterness. If there is anything, it’s just miss the folks in the friends we had in Charlotte.”