Dan Campbell and his wife Holly had to move their family into a new house — the former home of Detroit Red Wings legend Igor Larionov — after a rash of safety concerns following the Detroit Lions’ loss in the 2024 NFC title game last January, reports The Detroit News.
This scary, extremely unacceptable episode should remind us all how completely unserious following any sport should be once we distance ourselves from the action. No matter how your favorite sports team fares, it is never OK to start scaring and allegedly threatening coaches and players — especially when it comes to their deserved privacy and their families. It is NEVER this serious, folks.
But that’s apparently exactly what happened to Campbell and his family.
There were at least four police reports involving Campbell’s home starting with New Year’s Eve 2023 and continuing until days after the Lions blew a 17-point lead in the National Football Conference championship game in late January. The reports describe a series of unwanted visitors, phone calls and a social media post that shared his home address. The incidents scared Campbell’s teenage daughter, prompting the involvement of the Lions and National Football League security officials and raising long-term concerns from Campbell’s wife, Holly Campbell, about the family’s security.
After the Jan. 28 loss to the 49ers, someone posted the Campbell family address on Snapchat and called the coach a “dumb f—.” The post was shared by one of the daughter’s male classmates.
Man, that is so messed up. And it’s wild that it seemingly began with one of Campbell’s daughter’s classmates posting the family’s address with an obscene caption on the social media platform Snapchat the day after the Lions fell short of the Super Bowl. According to the Detroit News, the inciting incident was not enough to file formal criminal charges once there was an investigation conducted:
The next day, Lyle Dungy of the NFL Security Department contacted township police. Dungy reported that a classmate of Campbell’s daughter posted the family’s home address on Snapchat along with an obscene text: “Dumb f— trying to go for it.”
Campbell himself downplayed this appalling news last Friday, saying he wanted to focus on coaching the Lions. So, if he won’t say it explicitly in public, I’ll just say it again. No matter how frustrated you are with your favorite sports team, it is NEVER okay to cross the line into their personal lives like this.