Last summer, it seemed as if Dave Gettleman was in the process of winding down his 25-year career in NFL personnel when he was moved into a new role of Giants senior pro personnel analyst after the previous 13 years as the team’s director of pro personnel.
The new position entailed less travel and Gettleman, 61, said “At this point in my career it was time to take a step back and re-evaluate.’’
That seemed to indicate he was no longer chasing his dream of becoming an NFL general manager. Well, there will be no “step back’’ for Gettleman, because Wednesday he was named the general manager of the Panthers.
Gettleman spent the past 15 years with the Giants, mainly responsible for scouting NFL free agents and has been involved with six Super Bowl teams (Bills, Broncos, Giants). Jerry Reese, the Giants’ general manager, worked under Gettleman from 1999-2001. In Carolina, Gettleman replaces Marty Hurney, who was fired in October by the Panthers.
“I am honored and thrilled to have the opportunity to work in the Panthers organization,’’ Gettleman said. “It is similar to the Giants organization in which I have had the privilege of working the last 15 years and has a lot of pieces in place for success. I am excited about getting started.”
Marc Ross, the Giants director of college scouting, also interviewed for the Panthers general manager job. In addition to talking with the Panthers, Ross has interviewed with the Jets, Chargers and Jaguars about their general manager openings.
“The Panthers interviewed two of the top personnel executives in the NFL in Dave and Marc Ross, and couldn’t go wrong either way, in my humble opinion,’’ said Reese said. “[Gettleman is] “extremely qualified to be the general manager of the Panthers and will do a terrific job.’’
“I have mixed emotions about this,’’ Giants co-owner John Mara said. “Dave certainly deserves to be a general manager, but I am very sorry to lose him.He has been instrumental to the success we have had and we are certainly going to miss him. He will do a great job for the Carolina Panthers.”
Tom Coughlin also had high praise for Gettleman.
“Dave knows what a football player is,” he said. “He knows how to evaluate talent. He has done a great job of assessing our talent and the talent around the league and helping to identify those players who fill our needs. He is more than qualified to be Carolina’s general manager. He is gifted and talented and has worked for years behind the scenes to make sure we are the best we can be.’’
Gettleman had a strong advocate in Ernie Accorsi, the former Giants general manager who recently was hired as a consultant by the Panthers, assisting Carolina owner Jerry Richardson with the general manager search. Accorsi was high on both Gettleman and Ross but did not make the decision on the hire.
“I was very impressed with Dave’s experience and think he will be a very good fit for our organization,” Richardson said. “He has an extensive background in personnel and comes from an organization in the New York Giants that I hold in high regard and played an instrumental role in their success.”
Despite the loss of Gettleman, the Giants remain well-stocked in the pro personnel department, as this past year they promoted Ken Sternfeld, Gettleman’s assistant the past 10 years, to director of pro personnel.