CHARLOTTE — As a young assistant with the Seahawks during the peak of their rivalry with the Panthers in the 2010s, Dave Canales admired Ron Rivera from afar — because of the way his team played.

When Canales moved into Rivera's old office in 2024, he admired him in a new way — because of the road Rivera paved for him, in more ways than one.

That bond only grew stronger with every passing Monday, when Canales would open his phone to find a new text from his predecessor, offering advice, encouragement, and occasionally something specific to football.

"He reached out to me when I got the head coaching job here, and that's probably my favorite part about this, is to be able to talk about the human, the guy that texted me every Monday," Canales said recently. "He wanted to make sure that I was encouraged, that he understood what it's like to come in for the first time as a head coach and to try to build something, and he would stress that things take time, but I can see the results. I can see what you're doing, and he would just encourage me and say, hey, these are the things you said were important to you. They're coming alive. Stay with it. Keep the messaging simple. Bring them back to a couple of things, and that'll last you for the whole season.

"And so I was very encouraged by him reaching out and having that understanding."

Rivera understood the challenge Canales was facing, as a builder and as a minority.

"First off, Dave's a really good coach," Rivera said. "The job he's done building there, the patience he's shown, to be willing to build steadily, it's been impressive."

And Rivera knows about patience, from waiting for his own chance to lead a team — and then to build it into a winner.

Rivera wasn't the first Hispanic coach in the NFL (that was Tom Fears in New Orleans in 1967), or the first to reach a Super Bowl (that was the Raiders' Tom Flores). But for years he was the only one, a distinction Canales now shares.

During his time as the Panthers' head coach, Rivera was named coach of the year twice, and led the Panthers to a 15-1 record and a Super Bowl appearance in 2015. But it took him years to get there, as the Panthers were the ninth team to interview him, before he finally broke through.

And once he got here, inheriting a 2-14 team from the year before, he had to shape a new group into a winner, getting to the playoffs in his third season the same way Canales did.

Rivera was honored for his career as a player and a coach this spring, when he was named to the inaugural class of the Hispanic Football Hall of Fame.

And while the 45-year-old Canales was too young to have vivid memories of Fears or Flores as head coaches, what Rivera did resonated with him because he saw it with his own two eyes, from across the sideline and across the desk he now sits at.

The team he coached in Seattle and the one he saw Rivera coach shared clear similarities, from star quarterbacks like Cam Newton and Russell Wilson to aggressive defenses, so Rivera was an easy role model.

"Early on, before I had a chance to meet him, I was really first and foremost just impressed with the style of football that he had built here," Canales said. "For whatever reason, probably Cam and Russ, that defense, our defense, Panthers-Seahawks was a favorite on the schedule every year. And being able to play them in different modes in the playoffs, on prime time games, coming here, you got to see the style of football that Ron had built on toughness, on fundamentals, on just good football, and so I was always inspired by that.

"Then you take in the fact that he's a Latino coach in the NFL and, at the time, I think, was the only one, so then feeling that inspiration to say, look, it really just comes down to creating a fantastic football product. That's what matters. But to see the pride that he represented the Latino community with excellence in football, so that was an inspiration to me."

That's what Canales strives for now. His first win as a head coach came against the Raiders, a career symmetry he thinks back on now as he considers the legacy of a coach like Flores.

"I was young when he coached; I can remember, but when I look back now, it's meaningful, it's impactful," Canales said. "I'm grateful for Al Davis, for giving him an opportunity.

"And again, it just points back to good football. And that's a comforting feeling to know that if we can have a consistent product, it shouldn't matter who you are, what you look like, or where you come from. But it is special to be able to represent the Hispanic community in this way."