The Lions had offered a big college coach the job, and he accepted before changing his mind and heading back to college
Back in 2021, the Detroit Lions hired former Saints assistant head coach Dan Campbell to be their new head coach.
It was a major shift in the Lions as a franchise and has brought us to where we are now, where the Lions are considered to be perennial contenders. All of this almost never happened because the Lions actually offered the job to someone else, and he accepted it.
ESPN's Jake Trotter did a full story on Matt Campbell's journey from Iowa State to Penn State on Wednesda y, and in the story, he wrote that Campbell had accepted the job, but that he had changed his mind and decided to stay at Iowa State.
"The three-time Big 12 Coach of the Year and winningest coach in Iowa State history had rebuffed overtures from other big-time college programs over the years, including from Texas and USC according to sources. In 2021, Campbell initially agreed to coach the Detroit Lions before changing his mind; the Lions hired Dan Campbell instead."
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That is very interesting. As we know, Matt Campbell interviewed for the job and was considered one of the favorites at the time. When he backed out, the Lions then hired Dan Campbell, who, interestingly enough, mentioned Matt Campbell in his introductory presser.
"I told my agent, Rick Smith, I said, make sure that they think I'm Matt Campbell, so I think that's how this has really worked out great for me. So now that I'm in the seat, I am Dan Campbell. But I do know this, you can't go wrong with a Campbell."
It's crazy how this all worked out. No matter what would have happened, a Campbell would have been coming to Detroit. We just never know what would have happened beyond that. It might be safe to say that David Montgomery still comes to town since he was with Campbell at Iowa State.
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