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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- After eight failed interviews, Ron Rivera is finally getting his first shot as a head coach with the woeful Carolina Panthers.

Just don't expect a wild celebration despite the windy, bumpy road to get there and the significance of being just the second Latino to be handed control of an NFL team.

Rivera has too much work to do.

He showed up to his introductory news conference on Tuesday all business. The former San Diego Chargers defensive coordinator barely cracked a smile and stayed on point. It was as if he realized the immense challenge in replacing John Fox and in charge of the NFL's worst team.

"I'm thrilled to death for the opportunity. I almost want to say relief," said Rivera, a linebacker with the 1985 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears. "When you get into playing you strive for one thing, that's to be a Super Bowl champion. When you get into coaching, you strive to be a Super Bowl-winning head coach. That's what my goal is."

Rivera inherits a 2-14 team that fizzled under the weight of inexperience, questionable personnel decisions and suspect talent. It led to a messy end of Fox's nine-year run in which he clashed with management over the club's direction.

Rivera is expected to turn it all around.

"It gives me comfort that he's a former player -- a much better player than I ever was," said Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, a former Baltimore Colts receiver. "But the fact that he was a former player and I was a former player, it seemed to be a pretty quick bonding with us."

It's the first head coaching job for the 49-year-old Rivera, a son of a U.S. Army officer who is of Puerto Rican and Mexican heritage. He joins ex-Raiders and Seahawks boss Tom Flores, and Tom Fears, who was the head coach of the expansion New Orleans Saints, as the only Hispanic head coaches.

"I'm very proud of the fact that I am of Hispanic descent," Rivera said. "I'm very honored to have this opportunity."

It took a while. Rivera interviewed for eight head coaching jobs in six years. He said that experience helped when the Panthers called.

"I'm excited for Ron," Chargers coach Norv Turner said. "He has aspired to be an NFL head coach and I expect him to do an outstanding job.

"Ron is an outstanding communicator. He has worked under and learned from a long list of head coaches. That experience will serve him well. The Panthers are fortunate to land Ron."