Looking for yet another example of “out with the old, in with the new” in Detroit? Lions head coach Dan Campbell provided another one in his press conference before Saturday’s practice.
It’s the first day of fans being in attendance at training camp in Allen Park, and Campbell is excited to have the season-ticketholders in the house. He talked up the fan enthusiasm and how the team can feed off the energy of having cheering during practices.
Later, Campbell proved just how different he is handling the job from his predecessor, Matt Patricia.
“I’m all about acknowledging our fans. I want our players to have fun with this. I want (the players) to interact (with the fans), I do,” Campbell said. “I think the roster that (GM) Brad (Holmes) and I have built here is cut from this cloth. It’s cut from people that are just like, ‘what’s in this community’, got a little bit of a chip on their shoulder, had to overcome adversity. I thin there’s a correlation there (with the team), I really do.”
Patricia was never a fan of players interacting with fans, not even outside of the team functions and facilities. He wanted a more insular culture that he could control.
Campbell takes the opposite approach. We won’t know if that works for a few months, but it’s certainly going to be a more friendly and exciting experience for the fans.
