The Detroit Lions chosen a brand new head coach on Wednesday, January 20, 2021.
Lions proprietor Sheila Ford Hamp introduced the hiring by saying:
“That is an thrilling day for our group as we introduce Dan Campbell as the brand new head coach of the Detroit Lions. With greater than 20 years of expertise as each a coach and participant within the Nationwide Soccer League, Dan is aware of the pains {of professional} soccer and what it takes to achieve success. He’ll assist promote the tradition we need to set up throughout our group, whereas additionally bringing with him excessive vitality, a respect for the sport and an id with which everybody can align themselves.”
Dan Campbell would be the thirtieth head coach in franchise historical past, and his opening press convention was positively noteworthy.
“We’re gonna kick you within the enamel, and once you punch us again, we’re going to smile at you. And once you knock us down, we’re gonna stand up. And on the best way up, we’re going to chew a kneecap off.”
New @Lions HC Dan Campbell had fairly the introductory press convention 😳 pic.twitter.com/cWJTSFtJAQ
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 21, 2021
Listed below are 3 chilly laborious details about Dan Campbell.
1. He’s a former Lions participant.
The brand new nameplate that hangs outdoors the brand new workplace for brand spanking new Lions’ HC Dan Campbell – The Dude. 📸 @Lions. pic.twitter.com/y6xKVy58FB
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 21, 2021
44 12 months previous Campbell performed 10 NFL seasons as a good finish from 1999 to 2008.
A Texas A&M Aggie, Campbell was drafted by the New York Giants within the third spherical (79th total) of the 1999 NFL Draft.
He performed 4 seasons with Giants, three with the Dallas Cowboys, and his remaining three seasons have been with the Lions.
Throughout his time with the Giants and Cowboys, he performed on particular groups.
Over his profession, he performed in 114 common season video games, had 934 receiving yards, and scored 11 touchdowns.
He additionally appeared in 5 playoff video games for the Giants and Cowboys.
Greg Williams, longtime NFL assistant, described Campbell as a participant.
“The massive factor about him is Dan’s a troublesome man now. Dan doesn’t take any bullshit and Dan is a man that when he practices, he practiced how he performed. And he was an overachiever type of man, however everytime you watched him do his commerce or do his work, at any time when he did communicate out to his teammates, you needed to respect the instance he was setting earlier than he talked to you.”
2. He has by no means held a coordinating place.
In 2010, Campbell joined the Miami Dolphins as a training intern.
He turned the tight ends coach in 2011, a place he held by 2015.
Throughout the 2015 season, he was additionally served because the interim head coach following Coach Joe Philbin’s firing on October 5, 2015.
Beneath his management, the Dolphins went 5-7.
He left the Dolphins in 2016 to affix the New Orleans Saints the place he served as assistant head coach and tight ends coach till being employed by the Lions.
3. He performed for and labored along with his two teaching mentors.
Campbell performed for each of his mentors although very briefly for one in every of them.
Invoice Parcells
Campbell performed below Parcells whereas with the Cowboys.
Parcells was additionally working within the Dolphins’ entrance workplace when Campbell joined the workforce.
Campbell wrote a university analysis paper on Parcells and in contrast him to his then-Aggie coach R.C. Slocum.
The comparisons have been favorable; he later summarized the similarities of the 2:
“Simply from a philosophy standpoint on the way you play the sport, offensively and defensively, it was like equivalent. It’s about working the soccer. Your quarterback makes sensible choices. You don’t win or lose with the quarterback. Your protection is balls-to-the-wall, all-out.”
Sean Payton
Following Campbell’s departure from the Lions in 2008, he signed as a free agent with the Saints in 2009.
He suffered a MCL harm within the preseason which landed him on injured reserve for your entire season.
Although the Saints gained the Tremendous Bowl, Campbell didn’t earn a hoop as a result of his tenure was so temporary.
However he constructed a relationship that enabled him to come back again to New Orleans as Payton’s assistant head coach.
Dan Campbell inherits a Lions workforce that has not been to the playoffs for the reason that 2016 season.
His predecessor Matt Patricia, a Invoice Belichick disciple, couldn’t flip the workforce round.
Campbell has an enormous problem on his palms.
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