On Thursday, Dan Campbell began his press conference during Lions OTAs by wearing a full-size racing helmet after being named the grand marshal of the upcoming Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix for the NTT IndyCar Series. Campbell, who is entering his first season as Lions head coach, will give the command to start engines for the first race of the Dual in Detroit double-header.
“I know I’m a little muffled, but I figured I would start with this,” Campbell said. “I want to thank the Detroit Grand Prix for allowing me to be grand marshal on June 12 at Belle Isle. As you can see, I’m pretty excited about that. It gives me a chance to go out and see some of our fans who I know will be out there, but then just watch a good race around some good people. I’m pretty excited about it.”
Matt Patricia came in and tried to be Bill Belichick and implement Belichick’s culture. It was a colossal failure. Dan Campbell is coming in and being Dan Campbell and implementing Campbell’s culture. It may or may not work but it’s refreshing to say the least.
I agree with those that say if he flops he’ll be considered a clown.
But this 'clown has aligned himself with a lot of very highly respected football people top bottom, from front office to assistant coaches, probably to the waterboy.
When has Valenti seen that here before?
I think I’ll wait to see some results from the field.
The article takes a slice of Valenti’s talk show and adds into SI articles so that they can get more revenue out of a Valenti hot take. They get a nice article on SI.com and then probably talk more about it on the sports illustrated pod cast hosted by audacy. audacy Also owns 97.1, so a way to circulate one thing around for multiple opportunities to make revenue.
My sentiments, too. Thing for me - its Lion’s PTSD that makes this a critique. Marinelli’s picks and shovels, Quinn’s baseball bats, Schwartz ripping headsets off and trying to fight Harbaugh – they’re all cute if you win. If you don’t, those things look silly. They have no reason to look silly to us now. They haven’t lost a game yet. Or come out in a first game against the Jets and shat themselves. Or blistered preseason games with putrid potential. Or-
Don’t care if he’s cartoon-color or vanilla. Either way would become glorified if they win. Being a fan and hoping/expecting he steps into the successful version of that caricature - no crime in that.
Add to that Vallenti is a cartoon, too - so it’s the pot calling the kettle black.
Just saw this article on Tracy Walker… I don’t think a “clown” coach would get this type of praise. And I love his mentality too. My favorite quote - “Life is 10% what happens to you, 90% how you respond.”
The other - “ And I’m listening to them. I’m bought in, all the way.”
I like to say that it’s not how you ACT, but how you REACT that tells me the most about you. Its easy to establish a path and when everything is going as planned make me feel great about it. But what happens when things go wrong?
This part was addressed by Duce in a great way when he was asked about what it means to be a former player who is now a coach. He basically said your coaching skills will speak for themselves. The only difference is you will get more instant buy in. But you still have to be a good coach.
