Charlotte Hornets coach Steve Clifford saw his team losing its identity defensively. He had run out of ideas to reverse that.
So he reached out to a friend, a guy who works a dozen or so blocks from Time Warner Cable Arena. Another coach in another sport.
The one who will coach in Super Bowl 50.
Clifford and Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera are close. They occasionally lean on each other for support and advice. It started with the occasional "Way to go" text when either won a big game. Then they started trading philosophies each summer when neither one was otherwise occupied.