Fox noncommittal on future

CHARLOTTE -- John Fox’s future as coach of the Carolina Panthers was very much in doubt Sunday as the season drew to a close with a 23-10 win against New Orleans.

Clearly, he’s a man with options and more leverage than you’d expect for a coach with one year remaining on his contract.

He was noncommittal Sunday about whether he wants to remain with team, saying he planned to confer with his family and made a point to note that he has an agent who handles contractual matters.

“I’m kind of not totally done with today. Like every offseason, there’s evaluations and things you look at,” he said. “I usually talk to my family and see where all that goes. We’re just getting started with that, so I can’t really comment at this point.”

The Observer reported last week that the Panthers do not intend to fire Fox, but that they also have no plans to extend his contract, leaving him with one year remaining and putting him a potential lame-duck situation in 2010.

If head-coaching opportunities arose elsewhere in the coming days and weeks, Fox likely would be interested if he could get freed from the final year of his contract. But he’d almost certainly only leave for a situation he believed would allow him to be competitive.

Even if he stays, he’ll be one of the NFL’s highest-paid coaches with a salary about $6 million, with the likelihood that he’d have a chance to be a highly sought coaching free agent after the 2010 season provided the Panthers remain successful.

On Sunday, Fox wouldn’t say how he felt about the possibility of coaching in the final year of his contract.

“I’d just like to get through this day and we’ll see where everything goes after that,” he said. “I haven’t really had any postseason conversations yet. I have an agent who handles those things.”

Fox has meetings planned with players today, and coaches today and Tuesday before taking about a week off. He wouldn’t say whether he’d meet with team owner Jerry Richardson.

He said he didn’t have a timetable on when he’d like his job situation to be resolved.

“Sometime after today,” he said.

Sunday’s win was the Panthers’ third straight and they closed their season with an 8-8 record, making him 76-60 counting postseason games in his eight seasons with the team.

Receiver Muhsin Muhammad said he hopes there’s a quick resolution to the coaching situation. “The sooner the better for this organization that they make a decision on the leadership as far as who’s going to be the coach and who’s going to lead us in 2010, so we can start putting this team back together again,” said Muhammad, who’s in the final year of his contract and has said he hopes to return to the Panthers.

Muhammad said he’s “anxious to see what happens” on the Fox front.

Fullback Brad Hoover said Fox has the right to do whatever he wants, but that most players hope Fox returns. “Whatever he does, I wish him the best,” said Hoover. “But to have him back is really what we want … He’s a real players’ kind of coach. He fights just as hard as we do when it comes to game day.”

Strong safety Chris Harris said he has enjoyed playing for Fox since the team traded for him before the 2007 season. “He knows how to win,” said Harris. “That’s one thing he is – a winner. He’s a heck of a motivator as a coach. “Guys really respect him … so it’s easy to go out and play for a guy like that and to try to win for him.”