Dan Campbell was ‘within a whisker’ of being hired full time by Dolphins after interim coach stint

Campbell had a successful run as the Dolphins interim head coach in 2015 and nearly got hired full-time by Miami

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When the Detroit Lions hired Dan Campbell as head coach in 2021, it wasn’t his first taste of running an NFL team.

Back in 2015, Campbell performed well as the interim head coach of the Miami Dolphins. He took over a 1-3 team and finished with a 6-10 record. That performance nearly got him the job on a full-time basis.

The man charged with making that decision, former Dolphins GM Mike Tannenbaum, broke down how close Miami was to hiring Campbell full-time. In a recent appearance on “The Ross Tucker Podcast,” Tannenbaum talked about how Campbell appealed to the Dolphins.

“He was within a whisker of getting the job (of) full-time head coach,” Tannenbaum said. “I think (Campbell) came out of the womb being an NFL head coach.”

After noting how physically imposing Campbell is as a former NFL tight end, Tannenbaum notes that Campbell “is really smart” and “has unbelievable reliability.”

Those qualities have shown for sure in Campbell’s first two seasons in Detroit. Instead of hiring Campbell, Tannenbaum and the Dolphins selected Adam Gase. He went 23-25 in three seasons before being fired, and Tannenbaum was also let go at that time.