According to a recent story from ESPN, the Detroit Lions were all prepared to hired Matt Campbell as their new head coach in 2021. Campbell, the Iowa State head coach at the time, initially agreed to be the Lions’ new head coach, but eventually pulled out, per the story.
In 2021, Campbell initially agreed to coach the Detroit Lions before changing his mind; the Lions hired Dan Campbell instead,
“Leaving Ames wasn’t something that I was looking to do or wanting to do,” he said.
This is the latest development
in a story that had conflicting reports almost immediately after Detroit hired Dan Campbell.
At the time, there was certainly a lot of smoke regarding Matt Campbell and the Detroit Lions. There is no debate as to whether he interviewed the job—he did—but what happened after has been disputed.
A few months after the Lions ended up hiring Dan Campbell, there were reports that Matt had turned down an eight-year contract with the Lions worth $68.5 million. A few days after that, a conflicting report came out that Detroit never even offered Matt Campbell a contract, with a team source telling the Detroit Free Press that his pursuit never went beyond a first interview.
Back during Dan Campbell’s introductory press conference, team president Rod Wood avoided questions about the team’s interest in Matt Campbell.
“I’m not going to comment on any college coaches,” Wood said. “I think we talked to a couple of you about that out of respect for their current position and recruiting. I’m not going to say whether we interviewed a college coach or whether we didn’t or whether we extended an offer. I’ll just leave it at, ‘No comment,’ on any college coaches.”
Of course, the details of this coaching search hardly matter at this point. Dan Campbell has gone on to help build a winner in Detroit, amassing a 48-36-1 record (2-2 in the playoffs) despite starting his career 4-19-1 in his first 24 games in Detroit. He’s the first Lions coach to get Detroit to the NFC Championship in three decades, and under Campbell, the Lions set a franchise record for wins in a season with 15 (2024). He already sits fourth in Lions coaching history in wins (48), just 18 behind Wayne Fontes, and his .571 win percentage also ranks fourth in team history.
Meanwhile, Matt Campbell stayed at Iowa State through the 2025 season before opting to take the Penn State job back in December.
