Former San Diego Chargers defensive coordinator Ron Rivera has agreed to become the Carolina Panthers' next head coach, league sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.
The Panthers are now putting the "finishing touches" on their agreement with Rivera, who will become the second Latino NFL head coach in history.
The Panthers have called a 5 p.m. ET news conference, presumably to announce the hiring of Rivera.
Rivera is interested in talking with former University of Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt, who wants to become an assistant head coach, about the Panthers' defensive coordinator's job, sources told ESPN's Chris Mortensen and Schefter.
Rivera, who will get his first NFL head coaching position in the ninth time he's been interviewed for an opening. He's set to replace John Fox, who was let go after Carolina went an NFL-worst 2-14 in his ninth season.
The 49-year-old Rivera, who is of Puerto Rican and Mexican heritage, has run the Chargers' defense since midway through the 2008 season. San Diego ranked tops in the NFL in total defense and pass defense this season.
The former Bears linebacker, who was part of Chicago's Super Bowl winning team in 1985, also was defensive coordinator in Chicago from 2004-06.
He'll join ex-Raiders boss Tom Flores as the only Latino head coaches.
Rest of story after the jump
Rivera was one of four defensive coordinators to be interviewed by Panthers general manager Marty Hurney and team president Danny Morrison last week. The others -- Perry Fewell of the New York Giants, San Francisco's Greg Manusky and Rob Ryan of Cleveland -- were not asked in for second interviews.
Rivera arrived in Charlotte on Monday, with the team proceeding with meetings and interviews despite a crippling snow and ice storm that shut down much of the city the past two days.
Once a contract is worked out, Rivera will become the fourth head coach in the franchise's 16-year history. Fox was 78-74 with a Super Bowl appearance and two other playoff berths, but the team never had consecutive winning seasons and last made the postseason in 2008.
News of the impending hire spread quickly, with quarterback Jimmy Clausen congratulating Rivera on his Twitter account Tuesday.
"Look forward to meeting him and getting to work," Clausen wrote.
How Rivera fills out his offensive staff to deal with Clausen and the NFL's worst offense will be one of his first key moves. Richardson said last week that he wanted an upgrade after Carolina had 16 offensive touchdowns this season.
"It appears that the play of our quarterbacks has deteriorated over the last few years," Richardson said.
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