LIONS' ALUMNUS CAMPBELL RETURNS AS HEAD COACH
Former tight end has earned a reputation as a player's coach and team motivator
As a player, tight end Dan Campbell left the Detroit Lions after an 0-16 season in 2008.
More than a decade later and with the club still struggling on the field, the 44-year-old Campbell returned to the team on Wednesday after being named head coach.
“This is an exciting day for our organization as we introduce
Dan Campbell as the new head coach of the Detroit Lions,”
Lions principal owner and chair Sheila Ford Hamp said in a release. “With more than 20 years of experience, as both a coach and player in the National Football League, Dan knows the rigours of professional football and what it takes to be successful.
“He will help promote the culture we want to establish across our organization, while also bringing with him high energy, a respect for the game and an identity with which everyone can align themselves.”
After that winless season in Detroit, Campbell closed out his 11-year NFL career the following season with the New Orleans Saints. He spent the season on the injured list after tearing a medial collateral ligament in training camp, but was given a Super Bowl ring when the Saints won the title that season.
Campbell became a coaching intern the next season with the Miami Dolphins before becoming tight ends coach in 2011. He was named interim head coach of Miami in 2015 and went 5-7 after the club fired Joe Philbin after a 1-3 start. Known as a player's coach and motivator, Campbell joined Sean Payton's staff in New Orleans the following season as assistant to the head coach and tight ends coach. Campbell played for Payton when he was the assistant head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
During the span of Campbell's five-year coaching tenure with New Orleans, the club captured four NFC South Division titles, ranked first in the NFL in points scored (2,361), touchdowns (277), net yardage (31,147) and posted the third-most wins (56) in the league.
“When we began the search for a head coach, it was imperative that we find the right leader who values our commitment to building a winning culture based on organizational alignment and collaboration,” Lions chief executive officer Rod Wood said in a release. “The leadership Dan has exemplified throughout his football career has prepared him for this next step and we are excited to support him as our new head coach.”
Campbell was one of six people known to have interviewed for the Detroit job, joining Darrell Bevell, who finished this season as the Lions interim head coach after Matt Patricia's firing, Tennessee offensive co-ordinator Arthur Smith, who was named head coach in Atlanta, former Cincinnati head coach Marvin Lewis, Kansas City offensive co-ordinator Eric Bieniemy and San Francisco 49ers defensive co-ordinator and Michigan native Robert Saleh, who was named head coach of the New York Jets. Tampa Bay defensive co-ordinator Todd Bowles was scheduled to interview with the Lions, but withdrew when it appeared Campbell had become the favourite.
Campbell's hiring comes a day after the Lions named 41-yearold Brad Holmes as general manager. The two are expected to have equal input on the roster.
“Initially, right immediately, once the head coach is on board, I want to make sure that we sit down and make sure that I am in direct alignment and full understanding of what his philosophy is and what his vision is,” Holmes said Tuesday.
“I've always had this question of, `Well, what is your vision of the team?' I can tell you what I want it to look like, but truly it is the head coach's vision. He's the face of the team. He's the voice of the team. So, I want to make sure, like I was saying about the service role as a GM, I want to make sure that I'm providing the head coach and aiding him with the best possible resources to make sure that his system and philosophy is running at an elite level.”
When we began the search for a head coach, it was imperative that we find the right leader who values our commitment to building a winning culture.