Dave Canales wore a black suit, white shirt and black tie to his introductory news conference. And cowboy boots. The black boots went well with the rest of Canales’ ensemble. But they weren’t a fashion statement for the Carolina Panthers’ head coach, but a reminder of his roots.
Before Canales began a long climb from the lowest rung of the coaching ladder — starting as the freshman/sophomore coach at his old high school and culminating with the Jan. 25 announcement that Canales had agreed to terms to become the seventh coach in Panthers history — he first sold boots for a family friend outside of Los Angeles.
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Canales had graduated with a business administration degree from Azusa Pacific in 2003 and figured he’d get into coaching after playing receiver for the Division II school. But first he needed a job. And Rudy Lara needed help with his boot company — someone to do everything from attend trade shows in New York to take ideas to the factory in Mexico.
“He was pretty creative. We looked at some boots. We designed boots for the American cowboys. He’d design them. We sat there and worked through it all,” Lara said. “David was really putting the time in. He was really making this happen. We’d take an idea (and) he’d run with it. We’d market it. He’d inventory.”
But after about a year, Canales was feeling called to pursue a coaching career around the same time Lara was thinking about getting back to his primary career in industrial real estate.
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“He just said, ‘Putting on a tie every day just ain’t my thing, bro. I’m supposed to be out on the field with these dudes,’” said Josh Canales, Dave’s older brother.
Lara thought Canales could succeed in real estate but encouraged him to follow his heart.
Twenty years and six coaching stops later, Canales has reached the pinnacle of the sport. But he’s held on to his Rudy Lara boots, and broke them out two weeks ago when he was introduced at Bank of America Stadium.
“I knew David would go far in football. I knew whatever he wanted to do, he was gonna get done,” Lara said. “Because he had the multiple-skill level that most people don’t have. He can do it all.”
Carson High School (2004-05)
During his opening news conference remarks, Canales touched on a few of his career highlights. The 42-year-old mentioned the Seahawks’ 10 postseason appearances during his 13 years in Seattle, and the 21 playoff games he’s coached in after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers advanced to the divisional round last month. Canales won a Super Bowl ring as a Seattle assistant in 2013.
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But Canales’ coaching journey began at home — as the freshman and sophomore coach at Carson High, where he was an all-conference quarterback in 1998. Six years later, Canales returned to coach Carson’s underclassmen. He recruited his brother, a 16th-round draft pick who played three seasons in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ organization, his cousin-in-law Kevin Nickerson, who played in the Arena League and the CFL, and several friends to help.
“And it was so fun,” Josh said. “It was like a fraternity out there just loving up on these young men, coaching football and being out there with each other running around.”
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With Canales calling the offensive plays, Carson lost its season opener by three touchdowns to Venice’s JV team. He couldn’t have been happier.
“I’m so excited, we go to play Venice High School. It’s my first game coaching. (His wife Lizzy) is sitting up in the stands with about 35 crazy parents and we got smoked 34-13 that day,” Canales said. “It was the greatest day of my life because I had found it. I found my passion.”
Canales got choked up at his news conference talking about how Lizzy worked three jobs at times so he could continue coaching and substitute teaching. “She said, ‘Hey, don’t get me wrong, I love your dream. You’re really good at this. I think you can go as far as you want, and I’ve got your back and I’ll make it happen, whatever we need to do.’”
Josh Canales recognized it, too.
“Back then what I saw in my brother was something that he was doing that lit him up like a Christmas tree,” he said. “When he was on the field coaching, especially game day, he was in his element. Seeing my brother doing that, it was evident that that was his sweet spot. That was where he was headed.”
El Camino (2006-08) and Southern Cal (2009)
Canales’ next two stints also were close by. And while most people wouldn’t think to link a junior college with one of the nation’s pre-eminent football programs, the two L.A. schools were connected on several levels during the 2000s. Those ties helped Canales make the jump from jucos to an entry-level position on Pete Carroll’s USC staff.
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At various points, Canales coached tight ends, special teams and quarterbacks at El Camino, which practiced against the Trojans in seven-on-seven summer scrimmages before the NCAA cracked down on such workouts, according to an El Camino assistant. Canales and other staffers would spend time at USC with Steve Sarkisian, the current Texas coach who played at El Camino and began his coaching career there.
“In the spring … I would go to spring practices at SC and I’d see Dave in the huddle with Sark. I’m like, ‘What the hell is Dave doing out there?’” recalled Matt Kirk, who coached with Canales at the junior college. “But he was just out there just working.”
As he did in the boot business, the outgoing Canales related well to people and had a knack for networking.
“Every Tuesday he would drive up to USC and he would hang out at the USC football offices and learn and connect with USC. This was when Pete Carroll was in his heyday. And he did that for three years, every Tuesday afternoon,” said Giff Lindheim, the current head coach at El Camino who spent a year with Canales when both were assistants for the Warriors.
“That’s how he got in the door at USC,” Lindheim added. “Because Dave didn’t play at a high level. He wasn’t the son of anybody. And this was when USC was at the height of their dynasty. And he would go up there every Tuesday and try to learn and try to connect.”
Canales began working USC’s summer camps and Carroll eventually offered him a job as an assistant strength coach and video assistant, a position that was maybe a half-step above a volunteer assistant. But it was a way for Canales to get his foot in the door with a respected and spirited head coach, and he attacked it with Carroll-like energy.
“He’s very eager. He’s very excited and willing to put in the work and do the dirty work and all that,” said Ben Malcolmson, a Carroll assistant who met Canales when he was working the Trojans’ camps.
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“I just remember from Day 1, he’s always got a smile on his face. And usually people in those positions aren’t walking around with a smile on their face. They’re bottom of the barrel, lowest rung on the totem pole. He stood out in that regard for sure, and has carried that obviously on to this day.”
Seattle Seahawks (2010-22)
Canales’ timing was fortuitous. After one season at USC, Carroll was named the Seahawks’ head coach and Canales was headed to the NFL as an offensive quality control coach, another entry-level post.
Before Canales coached a snap with the Seahawks, he impressed Malcolmson with his generosity. Malcomson, who was not an on-field coach with Seattle but more like Carroll’s right-hand man, had committed to working a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp in Boise, Idaho, during the summer of 2010. Canales told Malcolmson he’d go, too. So they piled into Canales’ 1999 Suburban with Lizzy, the couple’s infant daughter and the local FCA director for the eight-hour drive to Boise, where Canales and his family stayed in a dorm at Northwest Nazarene University.
“Here’s this guy who’s a first-year, NFL coach, and he’s got a little newborn and wife, signing up to go,” Malcolmson said. “Dave gives up a whole week of his summer break to go be a volunteer coach at this FCA camp to these high school kids. I’m just like, what the heck? This is amazing.”
Malcolmson, now in private business in Phoenix, said Canales was famous for squeezing in 15-minute workouts between practice and film sessions. Canales was known for something else, too.
“He was like the only guy in Seattle wearing cowboy boots,” Malcolmson said. “So it always stood out.”
While the Seahawks were becoming one of the NFL’s dominant teams (with back-to-back Super Bowl appearances in 2013-14), Carroll’s staff was stocked with future head coaches Gus Bradley, Dan Quinn and Robert Saleh, all of whom were on the defensive side. Canales would become another branch on Carroll’s impressive coaching tree, but he was on the slow track.
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Canales said Carroll pushed him to think about the bigger picture. “Quit looking just at the quarterback. Quit staring at the wide receiver’s route. Open your eyes,” Carroll would tell him. “What’s happening with these combos? Did you see what the defense is doing? Did you notice we’re playing a lot more of this coverage this camp?”
Canales spent three years as a quality control coach and two as assistant quarterbacks coach before becoming the primary position coach for receivers (2015-17) and quarterbacks (2018-19, 2022). While getting passed over twice for the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator position, Canales’ only title per se was as their pass game coordinator (2020-21). Former Panther Greg Olsen said Canales spent the 2020 season in the tight ends room.
But Malcolmson believes Canales’ patience and the breadth of experience he received were beneficial.
“I think a lot of people get kind of overzealous and over their skis a little bit, where they’re just so focused on the next job. They go get that next job, but it usually doesn’t work out very well,” he said. “Dave was just so patient. He just kept chugging along. He just kept showing up and doing his job every day and every year.”
That patience was rewarded after Canales’ work with Geno Smith helped the former Jets quarterback win the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2022. After Smith led the league in completion percentage and set career highs with 4,282 passing yards and 30 touchdowns, Tampa Bay called Canales about its offensive coordinator job.
It was a job many found unappealing, considering quarterback Tom Brady had just retired. But it was Canales’ chance to leave Seattle and call plays for the first time.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2023)
If the Bucs’ gig didn’t look great in February, the perception didn’t change — at least in the eyes of many around the league — a month later when they signed Baker Mayfield in free agency. Mayfield had the worst year of his career in 2022 in Carolina, where he went 1-5 as a starter before being released late in the season.
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But Canales brought out the best in Mayfield by designing the offense to his strengths.
“It’s a good scheme that has a high probability of success, that has answers. And he tailored it to what Baker did well,” said John Wolford, the Bucs’ third quarterback last season. “Part of being a good coach is (not), ‘Oh, this is my scheme and we run my scheme.’ The good coaches go, ‘OK, what do our guys do well and how can we fit the scheme to what they do well? Make sure we call the plays that they like.’”
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Mayfield has always liked airing the ball out, and Canales didn’t shy away from that in resurrecting another quarterback. Mayfield set career highs in passing yards, touchdowns and completion percentage, and his average pass length (8.56 yards) ranked fifth in the NFL. Tampa Bay’s 12 completions of 40 yards or longer trailed only Cleveland, San Francisco and Denver.
“There was a growth curve there with Baker,” Canales said. “Let’s … see where he looks most confident. When I see that back foot planted in the ground and that ball rips out of there without any hesitation, I know we’ve got something. Let’s find more of those. Let’s put it in three different personnels and a couple different formations and motions.”
But it wasn’t just Canales’ scheme that led to Mayfield’s bounce-back season. Wolford, the former Wake Forest standout, said Canales also has a great demeanor for coaching quarterbacks.
“You’re not going to be anxious playing for Dave Canales. If you rip a pick or rip three picks, he’s just gonna be like, ‘Hey, what’d you see? How can we fix it? Move on.’ And he’s never going to MF you or anything like that. I think that’s just who he is,” Wolford said. “The quarterback position is very hard in the NFL. And having someone like that in your corner, at least from the past two years and what he’s done with Geno and Baker, seems to have a positive impact.”
Carolina Panthers (2024-)
That’s what the Panthers hope Canales can do for Bryce Young, who struggled through a tough rookie season after being drafted No. 1 overall. Wolford expects Canales to use OTAs evaluating where Young excels and building the offense from there.
“In the same way that he was helpful to Geno and Baker, I think he’ll be helpful to Bryce,” Wolford said. “Obviously, there’s other pieces to the equation, like what’s around Bryce from a skill-position standpoint? How’s the offensive line? And then is Bryce himself improving?”
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Lindheim, the El Camino coach, said Canales will improve everyone around him with his collaborative approach. Though it’s been more than 15 years, Lindheim still remembers how much fun he and Kirk had putting in a punt block with Canales while preparing for a regular-season game.
“He’s such a thoughtful, authentic, smart human being that when you’re around Dave — try and find someone who doesn’t like him as a person,” Lindheim said. “Being around him every day on a staff, he’s really open to ideas. He’s very human. He’s honest with players. He never takes himself too seriously. A lot of coaches have tremendous egos. He was never an ego guy, didn’t care who got the credit.”
Lara, who hired Canales right out of college, can’t say he knew his former boot salesman would become a NFL head coach one day. But Lara also isn’t that shocked.
“It blows me away,” Lara said during a phone interview from California. “But I’m not totally surprised that he’s where he’s at because he’s a pretty amazing, unique person.”
(Top photo of Dave Canales: Cliff Welch / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
