Ex-Teammate Defines Dan Campbell’s Genius: ‘You See Why They’re Winning’

Getty Dan Campbell walks the sideline for Lions vs. Packers in 2022.

The Detroit Lions have one of the NFL’s most unique head coaches in Dan Campbell, and those that know him the best understand what the coach is all about.

Fans might embrace Campbell, but there’s a reason current and former players seemingly would run through a wall for the coach, or always seem to speak highly of him as a person and a leader.

Dominic Raiola played 14 years for the Lions after being a second-round pick in 2001, and overlapped with Campbell from 2006 to 2008. During that time, he got to know Campbell well. Raiola loves rooting for his former NFL team, and especially more now that Campbell is in charge.

Speaking to Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com on the Twentyman in the Huddle podcast, Raiola discussed his relationship with Campbell, being the two were teammates in Detroit. As he said, there’s way more to Campbell than even meets the eye for the fans.

“I love Dan Campbell. People always ask me, ‘is that that who he is?’ I’m like ‘yeah, you have no idea. That’s just a little bit of who he is.’ When a coach is passionate about winning as a lot of the players are, now you’re going to have a lot of success and it’s a huge offseason for them. I’m excited,” Raiola told Twentyman. “It’s no better time to be a Lions fan, but you talk about drinking the Kool-Aid. You kind of wish you had about four or five more weeks in the season just how hot they got.”

The Lions may not have made the playoffs now, but the seeds of the team’s turnaround were planted long before, perhaps even when Campbell first came to Detroit. Raiola remembers the coach’s toughness at the position, and how mentally and physically tough he was coming to Detroit the first time.

“When Mike Martz brought Dan in, he was smart, he was physical, loved the weight room but he was a competitor and he was one of those dudes where you didn’t want to mess with him. He was whistle to whistle. He wasn’t cheap, but he was who he was and he’s tough and and he’s a competitor. He got drafted by (Bill) Parcells and and coached for Sean Payton for a while, so not only does he have the the mettle inside of him to the makeup of these guys, he was also drafted and groomed by these guys. Then a little bit of Dan, a little bit of Parcells, a little bit of Sean Payton, a lot of Detroit. You can see why they’re winning and have success and and the players believe in it. You can see how they’re playing. They play with that type of intensity,” Raiola said.

Intensity and focus are a big reason the Lions are having success, and it seems as if Campbell has been prepared to have a team that has those hallmarks for a long time. Someone like Raiola isn’t too surprised about the success the team has enjoyed lately considering those factors.

Raiola Not Surprised With Campbell’s Success

To see Campbell get into coaching may have been a shock to some, but not Raiola. While he admitted to Twentyman it was a bit of a surprise, that factor wore off when he considered the whole picture.

As he explained, the former tight end was nothing if not intentional. All the steps he took were culminating in trying to set himself up for the biggest amount of success possible in his new profession.

“I was surprised when he was, but you knew whatever he was gonna do he was going to be successful because he took it serious. He took everything he did seriously and when he went down to Miami and had that one year and then he just became a coach, you weren’t surprised,” he said. “You never questioned if this guy was a coach or not. It’s just, I didn’t think he would be a coach but yeah, you know he’s going to be good at it because everything he did was intentional.”

Campbell generating experience working at Texas A&M after retirement, then working in Miami and finally being tapped by Payton to serve on his staff in New Orleans was an intentional development. In those situations, he was mentored by quality veterans like Mike Sherman, Joe Philbin, Parcells and Payton, all of whom were figures that enjoyed success in the league.

Those moves have managed to help lay the groundwork for Campbell to become a rising star in the profession.

Raiola Explains Genius of Campbell’s Lions Staff

A big reason the Lions have been able to have the success they have early on under Campbell would seemingly be the support of his staff. Campbell has filled his group with former players, and that looks to be paying off in a big way so far.

Some saw that decision as a gamble by the Detroit coach early on, but as a former player, Raiola knew the advantage of having lots of veteran players coaching and teaching. He said he sees the kind of player the Lions have on the staff as a good indicator that the team will be finding the right pieces in order to sustain success.

“There’s a ton of good coaches on this staff. Really good coaches that had a lot of success in the NFL and they didn’t have success because they cut corners,” Raiola said. “So when you bring people in like (that), like I just saw Dre (Bly) got hired. He called me so excited the week before he was gonna get hired and he knew it. It was just so exciting because they care. A bunch of guys that care and when those guys care, they can read players and know if they care enough to change a place or care enough to take this team to the next level.”

Campbell cares right along with his staff. That combines to make him impressive in the mind of Raiola, who like a lot of folks is simply excited to watch his team again.

“It’s fun to root for them again. There were some years there where it was hard to root for them just because the way a lot of stuff went down, but I love Danny,” Raiola said.