Team success in the NFL starts at the top — the very top. Few seem to understand that better than Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell.
Campbell has already arguably experienced more success than any other head coach during the Super Bowl era with the Lions. But during a recent podcast appearance, Campbell argued how much team owner Sheila Hamp has positively impact the organization in recent years.
The head coach expressed gratitude for Hamp’s efforts as well.
“Everything started with her here, and I’m indebted to her,” Campbell said on the LiucciCast for TexAgs. “Really, from the organization to what goes on at the stadium, everything, ticket sales to the football department, health and safety.
“All of it, she wanted to do things different. She wanted everything to run like a team, literally, she wanted to run like a team. That’s what we were charged with, I don’t want any toxicity in this. I want everybody to feel like they’re a part of it. Your job is not minute, whatever you do is gonna have a huge impact on our success here.
“So that’s what it really — ‘How can we be all-inclusive here and everyone has a voice?’ And I just carried that because that’s who I am, and ultimately that’s what they were looking for.”
Campbell led the Lions to a 3-13-1 record during his first season in 2021. But things began to turn around during the second half of Campbell’s second season.
Over the past two seasons, the Lions are 27-7 and have won a pair of NFC North titles. Before 2024, the last time the Lions won back-to-back division championships was 1952-53.
Dan Campbell Commends Hamp on Following Through
One of the more interesting things Campbell added in the discussion about Hamp is how she has lived up to the expectations she set in the head coach’s interview.
“I’ve had like seven head coaching interviews and they all start the same way, ‘We’re looking for a leader of men. We don’t care about this or this, we want a leader of men. We want somebody that can stand in front of the room, they can command respect. They’re good dudes off the field and they play hard on the field.’ All this stuff,” Campbell. “At the end of the day I’m like, and it’s no disrespect to anybody who’s been hired because they’re good men too.
“But there’s so many times like, ‘No, you’re not hiring what you’re talking about. What you’ve got is an unbelievable offensive coordinator.’ And he’s probably gonna be a head coach, but you’re going off of X’s and O’s, or offense or defense or whatever, and you’re not going off of what you’re saying you’re going off of.
“Sheila, to a T, she knew what she was looking for and she took a shot on me.”
Campbell was an assistant head coach with the New Orleans Saints for five seasons from 2016-20. He was also an interim head coach with the Miami Dolphins during the 2015 campaign.
But Campbell was never an offensive coordinator before becoming head coach of the Lions. In addition to his assistant head coaching duties, Campbell coached tight ends.
That had some pundits questioning the Lions hiring Campbell in 2021. Most NFL head coaching hires are former coordinators. But Campbell, interestingly, identified the fact coordinators aren’t always the leaders of men NFL organizations want or need.
Lions Landed Campbell After Years of Striking Out
Campbell now faces the challenge of sustaining his own success. He will also have to do that with two new coordinators in 2025.
But the Lions have experienced success with Campbell after years of bad coaching hires.
On Thursday, CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin ranked the 25 worst NFL head coaching hires of the past 25 years. The Lions hiring Marty Mornhinweg, Matt Patricia, and Rod Marinelli all made the top 10.
Those three head coaches posted a combined record of 28-94-1.
Mornhinweg registered the worst win percentage of those three coaches with a .156 mark. Marinelli’s last Lions team was the first squad in NFL history to finish 0-16.
Detroit appears to be in much better hands with Campbell, but the head coach appears to see Hamp as mostly responsible for the franchise’s success.
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