Dan Campbell thought Aaron Glenn was gone.
When Glenn, the Detroit Lions’ 49-year-old defensive coordinator interviewed for the New Orleans Saints head coaching position in February, Campbell thought for sure his good friend and trusted assistant was going to be the Saints’ pick to replace Sean Payton.
“I was going to be happy as hell for him,” Campbell said Thursday before the Lions’ third organized team activity practice of the spring. “But the thought of losing him, I just had this feeling of like I was going to be walking around without any pants on. So I would say having A.G., there is a comfort level. I think that pretty much says it all.”
Glenn, who also interviewed for the Denver Broncos job this winter, is back to run the Lions defense for a second and potentially final season in Detroit.
Glenn should be a top head coaching candidate again next winter after taking part in the new NFL Accelerator program this week, where he met with the owners for most of the league’s other 32 teams.
The program brought 60 top minority and women coach and general manager candidates to Atlanta to help improve a hiring process that has skewed white for the entirety of the league’s existence.
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Currently, the NFL has five minority head coaches: Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Robert Saleh of the New York Jets, Ron Rivera of the Washington Commanders and new hires Lovie Smith of the Houston Texans and Mike McDaniel of the Miami Dolphins.
Glenn called his experience in Atlanta “awesome” and said he spent most of his time with owners talking about non-football related things. One highlight, he said, was spending 45 minutes debating whether Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant or LeBron Jones is the greatest basketball player in history with Dallas Cowboys executive Stephen Jones.
Glenn is a Jordan guy.
My mindset was, ‘Listen, I’m not here to talk football,’” Glenn said. “That’s just, I’m not here to be disrespectful to any coach across the league. That’s not my responsibility. My responsibility is to get to the know the owners and also let them know me. And as I did the interview, I said there’s a lot that we have in common. A lot. Just different backgrounds, upbringing, but likes and dislikes. Man, there was a lot. I said the only real difference is their bank account’s bigger than mine. That’s what it is.”
The Lions, coming off a 3-13-1 season in which they allowed the second most points in the NFL, are breaking in a new defense this spring, one that Campbell said was tweaked at Glenn’s behest.
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A disciple of 3-4 defensive schemes, Glenn, who played 15 NFL seasons with five teams, suggested a switch to an even-man front after evaluating the Lions’ defensive personnel early this offseason.
The change, he said, should help get the most out of players like defensive linemen Alim McNeill, Levi Onwuzurike and this year’s No. 2 overall pick, Aidan Hutchinson.
“I always go back and watch college and see what they were doing and Alim was always in this zero technique,” Glenn said. “But once he came here and I stated seeing how athletic he was, or watching Levi at the Senior Bowl and seeing him be able to penetrate, shoot gaps, attack his technique — now that’s a huge word that I want you guys to understand. I say attack technique. I don’t want you guys to think that we’re just running up the field. That’s not who we are and that’s not what we’re going to do. But it is a more aggressive style of defense and I want to be able to take advantage of every player, their ability as much as I can.”
Campbell said he expects the Lions to “play more on (the offensive) side of the line of scrimmage” with their new defense this fall.
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The Lions still will work out of varied fronts, and Glenn, whose aggressive nature and easy-to-comprehend teaching style is lauded by players, still will mix up his calls in the back end.
And players are happy to have him back, for however long he’s around.
“He’s the man,” Lions safety Will Harris said. “Everyone here loves playing for A.G. and to be able to have somebody with that bank of wisdom that he has and that football knowledge having played for such a long time and having coached for a long time, having him here is a tremendous tool for us for all the players to be able to just soak up everything that he has to say.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.