Tag: rod wood

Shelia Ford Hamp, Rod Wood release statements on Detroit Lions’ coach Dan Campbell

The Detroit Lions have Dan Campbell as their new head coach and owner Shelia Ford Hamp and team president Rod Wood have released statements.

The Detroit Lions have officially Dan Campbell as their new head coach and principal owner Shelia Ford Hamp and team president Rod Wood have released statements on the move.

Like with their statements following the hiring of general manager Brad Holmes, both offer glowing reviews of Campbell and have high hopes for what he can accomplish in Detroit.

Shelia Ford Hamp

“This is an exciting day for our organization as we introduce Dan Campbell as the new head coach of the Detroit Lions. With more than 20 years of experience as both a coach and player in the National Football League, Dan knows the rigors of professional football and what it takes to be successful. He will help promote the culture we want to establish across our organization, while also bringing with him high energy, a respect for the game and an identity with which everyone can align themselves.”

Rod Wood

“Dan’s passion for this opportunity was evident throughout our interview process. When we began the search for a head coach, it was imperative that we find the right leader who values our commitment to building a winning culture based on organizational alignment and collaboration. The leadership Dan has exemplified throughout his football career has prepared him for this next step, and we are excited to support him as our new head coach.”

It’s official: Detroit Lions hire Dan Campbell as their head coach

After a week of speculation, it’s now official: the Detroit Lions have hired Saints tight end/assistant head coach Dan Campbell as their head coach.

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After a week of speculation, it’s now official: The Detroit Lions have hired former Saints tight ends coach/assistant head coach Dan Campbell as their next head coach. The deal is reportedly a six-year contract.

From the beginning of the coaching search, the Lions said they were targeting a coach with great leadership and teamwork skills who can work alongside a general manager to create a positive culture of inclusivity, awareness, and open communication. With Campbell, they believe they got their man.

Campbell was selected in the third round of the 1999 NFL draft by the New York Giants. He would play in the league for 11 years, including three (2006-08) with the Lions, and retired after being part of the Saints 2009-10 Super Bowl-winning team.

In 2010 he took a coaching internship position with the Miami Dolphins and was promoted to tight ends coach the next season. He remained in that role until 2015 when he took over as interim coach after Joe Philbin was fired, finishing out the final 12 games. He would go 5-7 over that period and was not retained at season’s end.

He was immediately offered several coaching opportunities, including deals from the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings, but he took a job as a tight ends coach and assistant head coach with Saints because he wanted an opportunity to work with coach Sean Payton. Campbell played for Payton and Bill Parcells in Dallas, and because of this previous relationship, Campbell believed it provided him an opportunity to maximize his development.

Campbell has been interviewed regularly for head-coaching positions since leaving Miami, even being one of the finalists for the Colts job in 2018, but he never found a fit until Detroit came calling.

The Lions were looking for a coach with intangibles, not necessarily someone an offensive/defensive guru.

“My No. 1, core traits were, first of all, he’s got to be a leader of men,” Lions general manager Brad Holmes said when describing what he was looking for in a head coach. “He’s got to be a leader of men. He’s got to have presence and within that presence, he’s got to have poise. He has to have confidence. He has to have command. He has to have mental toughness. He has to have intelligence, and I stress the mental toughness part because there will be ups and downs where that stress tolerance has to be at the right level, and to be able to persevere through those moments.”

While Campbell has never been a coordinator, he checks all the boxes Holmes listed above. Campbell is known as a motivator with strong leadership skills. Someone that players want to play for, while also respecting what he has to say because he was once in their shoes.

“He’s a guy who played a long time,” Saints QB Drew Brees told ESPN’s Mike Triplett. “So he’s got a level of respect coming from guys for how he played — he’s a tough, physical guy. He just really cares about his players. You can see that in the way he talks to us, talks to his position group. He’s just got a lot of great leadership qualities in that way. And I think he’s just a good person.

“So you combine all those things, and then he’s a person that you want to follow. And a person you believe in and you know he’s gonna be honest with you.”

Saints left tackle Terron Armstead also spoke highly of Campbell.

“He got it, man. He got it. Everybody here would do whatever for that guy,” Armstead said. “Being so relatable, having done it for so long, just has a great connection with the younger players. I’ve never seen him badmouth anybody, [it’s] more talking up to you. Even when they mess up, he’s gonna talk up to them. And you just want to play for somebody like that.

“You want to run through a brick wall for him. I would.”

The Lions want to change their culture, and with Campbell, they will get an opportunity to do that.

Detroit Lions are restructuring their front office, starting at the top

The Detroit Lions are not only hiring a new general manager and head coach, but they’re restructuring their front office, and starting at the top.

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The Detroit Lions are not only hiring a new general manager (Brad Holmes) and head coach (presumably Dan Campbell), but they’re restructuring their front office, and it’s starting at the top.

Under previous general manager Bob Quinn’s tenure with the Lions, he was not only the GM but also the team’s Director of Football Operations. After Quinn was fired, our Jeff Risdon wrote about how those two positions should be separate and the Lions would be best-served separating the roles between two individuals.

“Handling both jobs was too big for Quinn,” Risdon said. “It’s a mistake the Lions can’t make once again. They need to hire a separate director of football operations from the new GM.”

Well, Risdon is getting his wish.

On Monday, Sports Illustrated’s MMQB author Albert Breer wrote about why the Lions hiring of Holmes was “right along the lines of what they were looking for” and expanded on how the organization’s front office is changing to help him be successful.

The Lions were looking for a GM with a scouting background and Holmes’ 16 years of experience in this area — the last eight as the Rams director of college scouting — fit the bill to a tee.

“Detroit liked hearing from Holmes about how the Rams do things differently,” Breer wrote, “mixing analytics and an intellectual way of looking at players with traditional scouting, while seeing that he’d change some things too.”

One of the changes the Lions wanted to put in place was to allow Holmes to stay focused on what he is good at — scouting.

“In order to get the GM job (Holmes) closer to a true scouting job, the Lions are putting VP Mike Disner in charge of much of the football-operations end of things, which means Holmes won’t have to worry about managing areas like travel, nutrition, training and equipment.”

Disner, a Bloomfield Hills native, has 12 years of NFL front office experience and is considered one of the “rising stars” who is “shaping the direction of the NFL”. He was hired by the Lions in 2018, after six years as the Cardinals capologist, and was tasked with heading up the player contract negotiations and handling the Lions salary cap. He was also a member of the Lions search team that helped identify Holmes and Campbell.

Per Breer’s report, “Disner, Holmes and the new coach (presumably, Saints assistant Dan Campbell) will all report to Lions president Rod Wood”. Keep in mind, this is also an area where Chris Spielman, who was hired as a “Special Assistant to Chairman and President & CEO”, can best make an impact on the organization — giving Wood a sounding board and advising him on the football side of the organization.

At his end of season press conference, Wood said: “What we’re looking for is people that can work together and be partners, and not one working for the other necessarily”.

Based on the way this new organizational structure is progressing, they’re doing exactly that.

Shelia Ford Hamp, Rod Wood release statements on new Lions GM Brad Holmes

Detroit Lions owner Shelia Ford Hamp and team president Rod Wood have released statements on new general manager Brad Holmes.

Early Wednesday afternoon, the Detroit Lions agreed to a five-year deal with Brad Holmes (former Rams’ director of college scouting) to be their new general manager.

A few hours later, the Lions confirmed the hire, along with statements from principal owner Shelia Ford Hamp and team president Rod Wood. Additionally, Rams general manager Les Snead also released a statement on Holmes.

Shelia Ford Hamp

“On behalf of the entire Lions organization, I am thrilled to welcome Brad Holmes to Detroit. Several weeks ago when we embarked on this process, it was critical that we find the right person to fit our vision for this team. It was evident early on that Brad is a proven leader who is ready for this opportunity. We are thrilled to introduce him to our fans as a member of our football family.”

Rod Wood

“Throughout our search for a new general manager, Brad was someone who stood out immediately. His abilities as a critical thinker, along with his extensive experience implementing technology and analytics into his approach to scouting, were among the many decisive qualities Brad displayed in our time getting to know him during the interview process. We look forward to him helping lead our organization as we take the next steps as a team.”

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Rams’ GM Les Snead

Rod Wood: ‘Adding more people to the process’ of hiring a new GM is important

Wood talked about learning from the mistakes of his first GM search

The last time the Detroit Lions hired a general manager, team president Rod Wood was new to the job and new to the NFL. Owner Martha Ford was also new to the process of making such a big change.

They leaned heavily on longtime NFL executive Ernie Accorsi, who joined the team to help in the search. Accorsi and the decision-makers interviewed just three people, and it was fairly clear from the onset that Bob Quinn, who had ties to Accorsi through Bill Belichick, was the preferred choice.

That did not end well, obviously. Wood believes he has learned from his first time and is applying the lessons to the new GM search. One big change: involving more people in both the decision-making process and in the candidate pool.

“I think experience is the best teacher, and I think having gone through this now twice, there’s things I’ve learned and things hopefully that we’ll do better,” Wood said in his Zoom media session this week. “I think one of the things is adding more people to the process. When Bob (Quinn) and I interviewed for Matt (Patricia), it was just Bob and I. Now, obviously, Sheila’s (Ford Hamp) involved, (we) added Chris Spielman. (Vice President of Football Administration) Mike Disner’s been very involved.

I think having more candidates is a difference, too. With Bob’s process, we interviewed three people. We’ve already interviewed seven for the general manager and we’ll continue to add to that list.”

Wood added that Spielman has been very active and involved in the interviewing process. Having someone fresh from outside the organization but one with deep ties to the Lions like Spielman, still the franchise career leader in tackles, has been an excellent addition.
“He’s been great in the interviews, really focusing on a lot of the football questions that he brings expertise to,” Wood said of Spielman. “He’s also been great in the building, meeting with a lot of the coaches and players. He has contacts all over the country from his media days and playing days with coaches and others. He’s brought a lot of information to the table on candidates that we’re considering and feedback and research. So, it’s been great having Chris here. He brings energy, as everybody knows, if you know him. He’s a very positive influence in the building. Great addition.”

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Rod Wood: Lions won’t rush GM hiring, could hire head coach first

Wood noted the competition for head coaches with other teams

Detroit Lions team president Rod Wood met with the media on Tuesday morning, and the primary topic of conversations in the cordial press conference was the process of hiring a new GM and head coach for the team.

Wood was fairly candid in his answers, and one of them stood out to me. When asked about the timeframe for hiring a head coach, Wood noted the competition with other teams fighting for the same candidates.

“We’re in competition with other teams who are going to meet with some of the same people, and it’s important I think to get the right coach, and if that means we have to hire a coach first, that’s what we’ll do,” Wood said when asked if the decision to hire a head coach before hiring a GM remained a possibility.

As for the timeline on the GM search, Wood indicated less urgency. He said there is “no deadline to our process” in finding the right GM, even if it means waiting until after the Super Bowl concludes. Several GM candidates are part of teams in the playoffs, including Terry Fontenot with the Saints and Ed Dodds with the Colts.

Wood’s more in-depth explanation,

“What we’re looking for is people that can work together and be partners, and not one working for the other necessarily. So, it doesn’t require us to hire a general manager first. It may work out that way because we’re a little bit ahead of the general manager search relative to the head coaching search, but if we find the perfect head coach and we’ve not yet found a general manager, we’re not going to wait on the coach. We’re in competition with other teams who are interviewing some of the same people, and it’s important, I think, to get the right coach. If that means we have to hire a coach first, that’s what we’ll do.”

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Rod Wood on Matthew Stafford: ‘He’s our quarterback’

Wood was quick to note that those are not his decisions and he will not have input in them

One day after interim head coach Darrell Bevell curtly dismissed any notion that the team was shutting down Matthew Stafford for the remainder of the season, Lions team president Rod Wood gave a strong indication that Stafford will be the quarterback in Detroit in 2021 as well.

In a radio interview on 97.1 The Ticket to promote the Lions’ return to the station as the team’s flagship radio station, Wood sure didn’t sound like someone ready to move on from Stafford.

“I know there’s a lot of speculation about the quarterbacks that were taken (in the draft this year) and the quarterbacks that we didn’t take and Matthew’s health and his age. But he’s our quarterback and he’s still playing at a very high level,” Wood told the hosts.

He did keep the door open for drafting a successor, however.

“But we’ll eventually have to make a decision about drafting somebody and when we do, we’ll hopefully have the right team in place to evaluate those quarterbacks at the time and make the right pick for the Detroit Lions.”

Wood was quick to note that those are not his decisions and he will not have input in them. The new GM and leadership team will determine Stafford’s fate in Detroit.

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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.

 

Chris Spielman to join Detroit Lions as Special Assistant to Chairman and President & CEO

The Detroit Lions announced that former linebacker Chris Spielman to join the team as Special Assistant to Chairman and President & CEO.

The Detroit Lions announced that former linebacker Chris Spielman will join the team as Special Assistant to Chairman and President & CEO.

Spielman spent eight years with the Lions after they selected him in the second round of the 1988 draft, and he led the team to NFC North (then Central) division titles and an appearance in the 1992 NFC Championship Game. He was a team captain, a Pro Bowler, and team MVP.

After Spielman’s playing career was complete, he entered broadcasting and has spent time across multiple networks including ESPN, FOX, and was the color commentator for the Lions preseason games the last seven seasons.

As this is a full-time role, Spielman will be stepping away from his current broadcasting position at FOX to immediately help Shelia Ford Hamp and Rod Wood in their search for a new general manager and head coach. He will sit in on all interviews moving forward and will go back and revisit the three internal interviews the Lions conducted last week.

“I am humbled and excited about the opportunity to be involved with the franchise that is truly a part of me,” Spielman said in a press release. “The opportunity to work with Rod Wood and every single person in the Lions organization can’t get here fast enough. To Lions fans everywhere, I will do everything in my power to help Mrs. Hamp and the Ford Family achieve their vision of something we can all be proud of.”

Bringing in a football minded advisor in Spielman, to assist business-minded Wood and new principal owner Hamp in their search is a wise move, as it will give them a trusted perspective outside of their own.

Hamp and Wood also issued statements:

Hamp: “Chris Spielman has been a tremendous ambassador for the Detroit Lions since the day he first put on a uniform as a rookie in 1988. He brings great passion for people and the game of football, and we are thrilled to have him on board to help lead our team. This position is a full-time opportunity for Chris that will allow him to work across various departments on both the football and business sides of our organization.”

Wood: “This is an exciting day for the Lions organization. The Ford Family and I look forward to working with Chris and leaning on his knowledge and advice as we take the next steps as a team. His relationship with our team and our city will serve as a strong foundation for him in helping to fortify and sustain our organization’s culture.”

Additionally, the Lions announced that Barry Sanders (former Lions Hall of Fame Running Back), Rod Graves (Fritz Pollard Alliance Foundation Executive Director), Mark Hollis (Rock Ventures Vice President of Business Development) will serve as advisors in the teams search for a GM and head coach.

Lions getting help from the NFL in search for a new GM

The Lions are not using a search firm

The Detroit Lions are not utilizing a search firm to hire their new general manager. That does not mean owner Sheila Ford Hamp, president Rod Wood and the Lions are making the choice on their own, however.

The Lions have already sought advice and assistance in the hiring process from outside places, including the NFL itself. As Dave Birkett noted in the Detroit Free Press, the Lions have already turned to the NFL for some guidance in the process,

The Lions have leaned heavily on the NFL in general, and executive vice president Troy Vincent in particular, for advice in the early stages of their search.

It’s not out of the ordinary for teams to turn to the NFL for help in assembling names and candidates. In the last Lions search that resulted in the Bob Quinn hiring, the NFL recommended longtime league GM Ernie Accorsi as an advisor to the Lions. Detroit employed Accorsi, who didn’t exactly do a thorough search in coming up with Quinn — who was a known top candidate at the time.

As a comparison, the Houston Texans have assembled quite a roster of aid in their search committee to replace Bill O’Brien. From Mark Berman of FOX 26 in Houston,

McNair’s committee includes Hall of Fame coaches Tony Dungy and Jimmy Johnson, former Texans great Andre Johnson, San Antonio Spurs CEO RC Buford and Rod Graves, a former NFL executive who is the executive director of the Fritz Pollard Alliance.  

The Texans did bring in an executive from the search firm Korn Ferry to help make the final choice, along with team owner Cal McNair and president Jamey Roots. Like the Lions pair of Hamp and Wood, neither McNair nor Roots has real football experience.