The Lions have their new head coach in Dan Campbell. But, before they inked the former Saints assistant to a six-year contract, they offered an eight-year, $68.5MM megadeal to Iowa State coach Matt Campbell, according to Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports (on Twitter). 
[RELATED: Lions Sign Penei Sewell]
M. Campbell was a hot commodity in this last cycle, starting with early interest from the Jets. He was an early Gang Green favorite after Adam Gase got canned, but he declined to meet with owner Christopher Johnson and GM Joe Douglas. Instead of going to New York or Detroit, the Cyclones coach stayed put to build on last year’s 9-3 record.
Matt Campbell has been on the NFL radar for a while. The Browns, for example, had him on the list before they hired Freddie Kitchens in 2018. Hearing the footsteps, Iowa State locked up their young HC with a lucrative extension through the 2025 season.
The Lions haven’t made the playoffs since 2016, so they were willing to invest heavily in their next head coach. They might not have landed Matt, but they firmly believe that Dan can turn things around, as shown by his six-year commitment.
Smart move by Matt to stay away from the Lions franchise. Why waste something good in the college program? On the Lions end, it’s likely for the best that they hired someone with coaching experience under a strong NFL franchise instead.
I can give you 68 million reasons and they are all the same
Are NFL head coach contracts fully guaranteed?
Yes
Wow. Can’t imagine passing up that kind of money.
I understand some of the thought. A 9-3 season will keep you employed until you retire at Iowa St. It gets you fired at other big time programs and same for the NFL.
9-3 is a 75% win percentage. You do that in the NFL, you’ll have a job as long as you’d want. There’s a lot of teams that would go for consistent 12-4 seasons
True, but if you look at Pitt, the fans are screaming for Tomlin’s job because hasn’t been to a SB in 11 years. Plenty of talent for the past decade and plenty of wins as well.
keyword fans. Tomlins job is pretty safe
Agreed. Owners are going to keep the winning guy.
Does it matter that according the PF Rumors, he wasn’t interviewed by Detroit?
link to profootballrumors.com
Wow. I’d have a hard time passing up enough money to set up my extended family for life, but this guy must have a different set of dreams and goals than most of us have. Choosing to stay Iowa St., of all places, over $68 million dollars makes no sense whatsoever to me, but it does make sense to him…and whatever his reason is, that’s what counts
I get your point, but he reportedly makes over $3MM per year now… He seems like a smart guy. That kind of cash should cover the “taking care of the family” scenario… and if that’s true, you move to the “factors besides money” checklist.
Can’t be fun to be a Detroit sports fan. I don’t follow hockey so I don’t know how the redwings play but the lions, tigers, and pistons are bottom feeders of their leagues
Welcome to detroit where we have had every single one of are pro teams were in the bottom 5 worst teams in each of their leagues in the past 2 years