Dan Campbell is a unique coach, but the fingerprints of his longtime mentor, Sean Payton, are readily apparent. Campbell spent several years as both a player and a coach under Payton’s watchful eye in New Orleans with the Saints.
Now that Payton has stepped away from coaching, Campbell was liberated to talk about how much influence he took from his longtime boss.
“Sean was my mentor, man,” Campbell told the Detroit media on Wednesday. “I think the world of him. I learned more under Sean than any other head coach in my time as a player. I was with him for eight of my 11 years as a player under him, and then to coach under him for five years. I got both facets of it, as a player and a coach. And so really everything that I am, or what I’m about, or how I think, really does come from him in a sense.”
One of Campbell’s more notable traits as a rookie head coach in Detroit was his compassionate and emotional interaction with his Lions players. Campbell drew a direct line back to Payton as an influence.
(Payton) knew how to pull the most out of his players, he knows how to put his players in a position to have success better than anyone I’ve ever been around,” Campbell stated. “He knows how to use the totality of the roster on game day. And man, I think his ability to know, hey, this is what this player needs. This player needs a boot in the rear, or this player needs a hug, or just how to motivate. Those are things you never forget.”