Category: Coaching Search

Report: Lions will interview Louis Riddick for GM opening this week

Riddick currently works on the Monday Night Football broadcast team

The Detroit Lions GM search heads to the broadcast booth this week. According to several reports, the Lions will interview ESPN analyst Louis Riddick for the GM vacancy on Friday.

This will be Chris Spielman’s first interviewee since taking over as a special assistant for the team on Tuesday. Spielman is spearheading the newly expanded search committee.

Riddick currently works in the Monday Night Football broadcast booth as an analyst. He does have prior NFL front office experience. Riddick was the director of pro personnel for the Philadelphia Eagles from 2010-2013 and also held the same title for Washington from 2005-2007. He also worked as a pro scout for both franchises.

Before Riddick heads to Detroit, the former NFL defensive back will first interview for the GM vacancy with the Houston Texans.

Lions show growth and learning from mistakes by hiring Chris Spielman

Who knows if it will work, but it is certainly worth the try.

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Sheila Ford Hamp is stepping out and proving these are not her father’s, or mother’s, Detroit Lions. In bringing back franchise legends Chris Spielman and Barry Sanders to help choose the new GM and head coach for the team, it’s proof Hamp has learned the lessons from the mistakes of her parents during their ownership reigns.

The last GM search was the first time Martha Firestone Ford was in charge of the organization’s direction. Her late husband, William Clay Ford, had ruled over the team since 1963. Mrs. Ford moved Rod Wood, a businessman with close family ties, into the president role and, with the NFL’s requested assistance, hired legendary team-builder Ernie Accorsi to run the search for Martin Mayhew’s replacement.

Accorsi proved better at building his own team than helping the Lions. A short search produced just three interviews, one of them being Bob Quinn. Now Quinn was a hot candidate for many jobs at the time. He was regarded then the way many speak of Ed Dodds or Mike Borgonzi today. But Accorsi barely kicked any other bushes in his “search”.

Wood didn’t know better at the time. He was new to the job and new to football. By bringing in Spielman and expanding the search committee to also include (among others) Barry Sanders, the Lions have demonstrated they learned from Woods’ ignorant error.

It’s also a smart nod to fans who have grown tired of the way the team has treated popular alums. Spielman has long been a fan favorite from his days playing linebacker the way many of us were brought up to play. He’s shown his intelligence and communication skills as a respected (by many) broadcaster with FOX, a job he resigned to rejoin the Lions. His brother, Rick, has been a very successful GM with the division rival Minnesota Vikings.

In short, Spielman is a known commodity. No Detroit vetting needed. It’s a smart move to reestablish trust with a fan base sick and tired of the “Patriot Way”.

There were allusions to that failed experiment in the introductory press conference. Spielman riffed upon the “One Pride” that is the Lions broad fandom,

“I think that’s something that we are committed to create. The ‘One Pride’ thing, to me, goes beyond the building. Obviously in the building, but the ‘One Pride’ thing is embracing Detroit. The City of Detroit. The fans of Detroit. That’s something that I think I still identify with, I feel a part of, and for lack of another word, it’s really, really good to be home in that regard.”

Nobody ever got that feeling from Bob Quinn or Matt Patricia. The mismatch of Martin Mayhew and Jim Caldwell never really rang that bell, either. Now building a team in the identity and football values of Chris Spielman, with Barry Sanders helping in the process, that’s something even the most recalcitrant and repulsed Detroit fans can support.

And that’s exactly what the franchise needs. Fan enthusiasm. Real enthusiasm coming from a respect for the game. Hamp and Wood have smartly pivoted into embracing the fans and trying a new way. It demonstrates they are listening and aware of the franchise’s recent, and long-running, errant ways. Wood did not handle the first assignment well, and this time he’s smartly asked for better, more invested help in the process. As fans, it’s nice to see the growth and development in the process from the leadership of the team.

Who knows if it will work, but it is certainly worth the try.

 

Social media reaction to the Lions hiring Chris Spielman is overwhelmingly positive

Hiring Spielman has been a very popular move for the Lions

The news spread like wildfire across social media. So did the enthusiasm for the Detroit Lions and their decision to hire franchise legend Chris Spielman to lead the search for the new GM and head coach of the team.

It was genuinely hard to find anyone in the professional media ranks or the Lions fans base who doesn’t applaud the move by new Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp and team president Rod Wood, who will work with Spielman.

The fans seem to love it too:

And from my friend Neal, my son’s old 8th grade football coach,

NFL lays out coaching interview protocols

The protocols impact who teams like the Lions can meet with and when those can happen

The NFL has informed all teams of the required protocols for interviewing head coaching candidates during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It lays out what the Lions can, and cannot do in their quest to permanently replace Matt Patricia.

One of the key points from the memo deals with the interview process for currently employed coaches. There will be no in-person interviews allowed until the current employer’s season is done, whether it’s the regular season or the playoffs. There will be no in-person interviews permitted with anyone before January 4th.

That puts a crimp in the hiring process for candidates like Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy, Colts DC Matt Eberflus or Giants OC Jason Garrett, all of whom would be employed by playoff teams if the season ended today.

Masks will be mandatory for all in-person interactions, as well as enforced social distancing. The league also strongly recommends a series of shorter interviews than one long one with a candidate.

Michigan legislators want the Lions to hire native son Robert Saleh as head coach

Over 30 members of the state house sent a letter to Lions ownership on behalf of Saleh

A group of elected officials in Michigan has sent a letter to Detroit Lions owner Sheila Hamp Ford asking her to hire Dearborn native Robert Saleh as the new head coach of the team.

Saleh is currently the defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers and is widely considered one of the leading candidates to earn a head coaching gig this offseason. And some members of the Michigan state legislature, led by Rep. Abdullah Hammoud, have asked Ford to make that happen in Detroit.

“We understand the difficulty of these upcoming decisions,” the bipartisan letter reads. “As passionate and loyal Lions fans, we are asking you to hire Robert Saleh as the head coach of our team. He is the best candidate for the job and measures as such across every metric. A head coach like Robert can bring tremendous energy and heart to the franchise and would help us reach peaks that have seemed unobtainable for so long. We have an exceptional opportunity here and we trust you to make the best decision.

“To turn the corner and become a winning franchise, these next hiring decisions are critical. We hope that you will consider Robert Saleh as the head coach, not only for us, but for everyone across the loyal fanbase of our beloved Detroit Lions.”

Saleh grew up in Dearborn, attended Fordson High School near the team’s training facility and played collegiately at Northern Michigan. Hammoud represents Dearborn in the state House of Representatives, though over 30 other members of the state congress also signed.

Could Darrell Bevell win his way into the Lions head coaching job?

Bevell views his interim gig as an audition

Darrell Bevell sees his appointment as the Detroit Lions interim head coach as an opportunity to keep the job full-time. It’s the offensive coordinator’s first-ever chance to be a head coach.

Could he really parlay a five-game interim gig into being the next head coach of the Detroit Lions?

Bevell hinted at that possibility in his Zoom press conference on Monday, his first interaction with the media as the interim coach. But he also hinted that it’s a broader opportunity for both himself and his players with all eyes around the NFL on how they handle the end of the Lions season.

Here is Bevell’s full quote, and it’s important to peruse the full quote in the context he presents it rather than just cherry-picking a sentence or two,

“I hate the circumstance at which it happened, but it’s an opportunity. You have to take full advantage of opportunities that you’re given, however they come your way. Like I told the players, I’m jacked. I’m excited. I get a five-game audition to show what I’m capable of. But I also told them that everybody is watching them, whether it’s our team, whether it’s other teams, whether it’s the opportunity for them to continue to play – people are watching them. So how we react in this moment, and how we’re able to bring out our best in these next five games, is going to tell all. Regardless – no one cares about the circumstances, how I’m doing this head coach-thing, but they’re going to judge me on those five games. So I want to do my best in that.”

Bevell is right on his full assessment here. He’s got a five-game audition to prove he can handle being a head coach in adverse circumstances. He’s not only auditioning for the Lions but for the other 31 teams. The chances he wins out and impresses owner Sheila Ford Hamp, president Rod Wood and the search committee are quite low, but Bevell showed in his answer he understands how the game is played.

If the Lions win out and somehow seizes the final playoff berth–it’s still mathematically possible–then Bevell has at least earned the opportunity to interview for the position after the season with the search committee. That’s exactly what happened for Gregg Williams in Cleveland when the Browns markedly improved under his interim coaching in 2018 after Hue Jackson’s departure. The defensive coordinator led the Browns to a 5-3 finish after a 2-5-1 start under Jackson.

Williams didn’t get the job despite the impressive performance, and that was with the Browns keeping the same GM (John Dorsey) in place. He’s now the defensive coordinator for the winless New York Jets.

So it seems quite remote that Bevell will remain as the permanent head coach of the Detroit Lions. It’s much more likely he’s auditioning to remain as the offensive coordinator under the new head coach, or putting some feathers in his cap for when he interviews for gigs elsewhere after the new Lions GM thanks him for his effort and sends him on his way after the season.

10 coaches the Lions should consider for their coaching vacancy

10 coaches the Lions should consider for their coaching vacancy

The Detroit Lions have finally fired coach Matt Patricia and while Darrell Bevell is the interim coach, it’s time to begin looking for the long-term replacement.

Lions Wire editors Jeff Risdon and Erik Schlitt have put their heads together to come up with a Top-10 list of candidates we believe Shelia Hamp Ford should heavily consider for the vacancy.

Those candidates are listed below in alphabetical order.

Watch: Lions Wire and Detroit Lions Podcast break down the firings and what’s next

Watch: Lions Wire and Detroit Lions Podcast break down the firings and what’s next

Emergency podcast engaged!

The Detroit Lions made some massive changes on Saturday. In firing GM Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia, new Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp made the first real move of her reign since taking over for her mother, Martha Ford, last December.

Lions Wire’s managing editor Jeff Risdon joined with Chris and Andy from the Detroit Lions Podcast for a live breakdown of the move. Streamed live on YouTube, the trio discussed why it was a necessary move but not necessarily an easy one for Ford Hamp.

Among the other topics in the wide-ranging breakdown:

  • Ford Hamp’s press conference should help win back some fans
  • How we knew very early that Patricia was destined to fail
  • Why Rod Wood is still in place
  • How the GM and coaching search will start
  • Names and ideas for replacements

If you prefer the audio version, it will be available at your favorite podcast provider. Search for Detroit Lions Podcast. There might be some adult language and references that require discretion.

Sheila Ford-Hamp: Takeaways from the Lions owner’s press conference in firing Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia

Ford-Hamp talked about why she fired QuinnTricia, Stafford’s future and more

Detroit Lions owner Sheila Ford-Hamp made it a happy Thanksgiving weekend for long-suffering fans of the team on Saturday. Ford-Hamp fired GM Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia after another embarrassing loss, this one on Thursday to a Texans team that already cleaned house earlier this season.

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The new owner, who took over in December for her mother, Martha Ford, earned some goodwill with the move. And in her press conference announcing the firings, Ford-Hamp struck a lot of high notes that should engender some confidence that the team will head in the right direction.

In her first time speaking in public since taking over the team, Ford-Hamp admitted the ugly losses in the last two weeks forced her to change her mind on keeping the Quinn/Patricia combination.

“Honestly, yes,” Ford-Hamp said when asked if the losses to Carolina and Houston in a span of four days made the difference. “Ten days ago, we looked like we had a good chance to be playoff bound. Both of those games were extremely disappointing. It just seemed like the path going forward wasn’t what we wanted it to be. So yes, we thought this was a good time to make the change.”

She acknowledged her mandate of “meaningful games in December” she gave Quinn and Patricia when she took over meant something to her.

“I meant what I said last December, and I still mean it. So yes, things were not going well, it was not what we wanted. We were hoping to be playoff bound – I guess we still have a slight mathematical chance. But things were just not seeming to go in the right way.”

That shows Ford-Hamp is true to her word. She didn’t accept the excuses of the weird pandemic season or the myriad injuries all over the Lions roster. It also demonstrates Ford-Hamp is aware of the fan perception of the product of her team. Those are positives for the fans that we all needed to hear.

She didn’t bite on any questions about who she has in mind or what direction the team will turn in the hiring process. But she did handle the tricky question of Matthew Stafford’s future with the team with open-ended answers.

“Well since I’m not the coach, I’m probably not the right person to ask that question to. So, we’ll see what the new coach has to say,” Ford-Hamp said of the quarterback.

The follow-up question covered the same basic theme, and Ford-Hamp stayed true to her answer.

“I think he’s (an) extremely talented young man, and he’s tough as nails. It’s been tough for him. Again, I think (the new) coach will make that decision.”

She indicated, as did team president Rod Wood, that the team would be open to using outside resources to help find the replacements. Wood did note that the Lions have not yet engaged with any search firm, dispelling a rumor they already had.

Ford-Hamp also showed some self-awareness in respect to the fans who believe that the ownership has been the fundamental root of all the team’s problems over the last few decades.

“Well, again, hindsight is 20-20. Yes, mistakes have been made,” she said without pandering. “I’ll be the first one to admit when I’m making mistakes, too. I’ll look at that, but I really would rather look forward and try to really dig into what’s in front of me and make this hopefully a homerun for us. But it’s going to be a lot of work. Rod (Wood) and I are rolling up our sleeves already and we’re going to get to work immediately.”

That’s good. There’s a lot of work to be done and the Lions need to get it right in Mrs. Ford-Hamp’s first hire.

Darrell Bevell named Lions interim head coach

With Matt Patricia fired after leading the Lions to a 4-7 record, the team has named Darrell Bevell as the interim coach for the remainder of the season.

With Matt Patricia fired after leading the Lions to a 4-7 record, the team has named Darrell Bevell as the interim coach for the remainder of the season.

Bevell has been the team’s offensive coordinator during the entire three-season run under Patricia. He has never been a head coach at any level of football prior to his interim promotion.

The Lions offense has struggled with injuries to several key players in recent weeks. Bevell, 50, has tried to keep it together around QB Matthew Stafford while WRs Kenny Golladay and Danny Amendola, RB D’Andre Swift, and several offensive linemen have been in and out of the lineup with injuries.

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