Cowboys Country

Cowboys Ex Dan Campbell Returns To Texas With New Mission as Lions Coach

Lone Star State native Dan Campbell helped the Dallas Cowboys out a deadly gridiron mire. Two decades later, he returns to North Texas with his heaviest burdens yet.

Geoff Maggliocchetti

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Before Detroit, before HBO, before developing a hankering for kneecaps ... the thrill of a Texas gridiron challenge always fueled Dan Campbell.

The Detroit Lions head coach was born in Clifton and later starred at Glen Rose High School and Texas A&M University. A Texas trifecta came to life when he signed with the Dallas Cowboys prior to the 2003 season, which followed four tours with the New York Giants. 

Football hardly spares anyone from its physically and mentally relentless nature and, despite his outwardly jovial personality, Campbell is not an exception. Primarily used for his blocking talents at tight end, Campbell struggled to earn receptions as an Aggie and his Dallas employment in a broader sense was simply keeping the starting tight end's seat warm for future sensation Jason Witten. 

But Campbell managed to build a solid NFL career despite a lack of eye-popping box scores and left a sizable impression on some of the most notable names he ran into. Chief on that list was Bill Parcells, who made Campbell one of his first free agent additions when he took over America's Team. Campbell became a leader on a Dallas team seeking clarity after three consecutive five-win seasons opened the new century. 

The relationship with Parcells came full circle in 2010 when Campbell, having ended his playing career after spending 2009 in New Orleans, was added to the staff in Miami, where Parcells lingered in the front office before retiring the following season. That eventually led to his first head coaching opportunity when the Dolphins fired Joe Philbin early on in the 2015 season. 

"Dan was great. I think Dan was a tough guy. He was a leader. He loved football. He was passionate about it,” Witten told ESPN in 2015. "He (embraces) that opportunity as a guy that really does a great job in kind of focusing on the now and being great today. He embodies that in the way he played, and I'm sure he's that way as a coach.”

That's no different from the Campbell that tore up the turf (and baseball dirt) at Glen Rose, as major players from his life looked back upon his impact on the area in a report from WFAA this week. The visit has some Cowboy loyalists considering rooting against the starred helmets when Campbell brings his Lions to Arlington on Sunday afternoon (12 p.m. CT, CBS).

"Whatever he played, it was intense, passionate," Campbell's mother Betty, who plans to wear the Lions jersey Campbell wore for three seasons after his Dallas excursions at AT&T Stadium this weekend. "You knew he was going to be a leader. (He) had that personality."

"He was such a joy to coach," Glen Rose athletics coaching staple Richard Dye said of Campbell. "Quite frankly, I never coached anybody like that in my life."

Sunday will mark Campbell's first return to Texas as a head coach, as he's currently in the midst of his second season at the full-time helm of the Lions. His employment in Detroit provides yet another link to the Big Tuna, who reportedly coveted the Lions' job during his career.

If viral coaching moments counted toward wins in the NFL standings, Lions fans would probably be booking Super Bowl tickets. Campbell's mix of passion, intensity, emotion, and humor made the woebegone franchise a surprising but relatively easy choice for "Hard Knocks," HBO's annual inside look at a chosen team's NFL training camp. 

Alas, Campbell's seat may feel hotter than July in Arlington. Parcells famously declared "you are what your record is," and Campbell, as it stands, is a man with a 9-24-1 record as Detroit's boss. 

Lively press conferences are always welcome, but, again, they never won anyone a Super Bowl. 

Campbell is facing the challenge predictably: head-on and with a flash of bravado, emotion, and honesty he's well-used to triggering in times of gridiron distress.

"“I’m not discouraged,” Campbell said as the 1-4 Lions emerge from their bye. “I’m not happy with where we’re at. I mean, I don’t think anybody is, but when you really look at it, you’re one or two plays away here and all of a sudden you’re sitting here with three wins. But the reality is we only have one, so that’s where we’re at.”

In another quote-able, Campbell said he told his men that after a heartbreaking 28-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings that "failing isn’t failure unless you don’t learn from it." Gridiron comedians will snicker that there's plenty of source material to do that in Detroit, but Campbell is refusing to back down from his passionate stances.

"Let's just get better,'' he said. "Let’s just focus on the little details, so that’s what it’s about.”

Cowboys fans ... including Campbell's adoring public ... simply hope it won't come against their team on Sunday. 

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags 

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Geoff Maggliocchetti
GEOFF MAGGLIOCCHETTI

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