Dan Campbell was definitely demonstrative, and he might have gotten a bit overheated. But the Detroit Lions second-year coach insists Brian Daboll, his New York Giants counterpart, slightly exaggerated the story he told of Campbell’s colorful interview to be Miami Dolphins tight ends coach in 2011.
“Daboll, he tells that story to everybody,” Campbell said Friday. “He tells it to me every time I see him, we talk, he brings it up again. And I don’t remember throwing chairs through the walls or anything. That didn’t happen. But I did demo on chairs. But, yeah, he definitely exaggerated it. But I was sweating and I was out of breath, and I did use the chair.”
Daboll shared his colorful recollection of Campbell’s interview with New York reporters Wednesday.
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Daboll had just taken over as Dolphins offensive coordinator when then-Miami coach Tony Sporano, Campbell’s one-time position coach with the Dallas Cowboys, asked Daboll to interview Campbell for the job.
“It was a great interview,'” Daboll said, via Giants.com. “He’s slamming chairs on the ground and hitting walls and going through all these drills. You guys know him; he’s a fantastic person, great family. It was an entertaining interview. Knew a lot. Obviously, he was very passionate, tough as nails you could tell. He was out of breath in half that interview with the stuff he was doing. Yeah, great guy.”
A coaching intern with the Dolphins in 2010 whose animated ways have followed him to Detroit, Campbell said he was out of breath in his interview because he spent the time demonstrating “running routes, blocking, everything.”
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The Dolphins hired Campbell full-time as tight ends coach, and Campbell spent most of the next five seasons in the job before being promoted to interim head coach in 2015.
“It was an hour of technique work, talking through things, then he’d give me scenarios, and, ‘How do you handle this? What do you do on this coverage? What if it’s this front?’” Campbell said. “So I just did the whole thing. That was the best way for me to go through it all.”
Though they worked together for just one season in Miami, Campbell said he and Daboll have maintained a “great relationship” throughout the years and praised the work Daboll has done with the 7-2 Giants this fall.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Dabes,” Campbell said. “He’s a sharp guy. He’s sharp. He can think quick on his feet, really good teacher, and great personality. He’s somebody you just — he’s infectious. He’s somebody you want to be around. Look, and his team’s playing hard and they play smart. There again, they don’t make mistakes, and that’s why they’re winning games.”
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Rams tough
The Lions currently have two of the top 11 picks in next year’s NFL draft, their own choice (No. 11 overall) and the No. 7 pick via the Los Angeles Rams, from the Matthew Stafford trade.
Campbell said he has spent “zero” time thinking about where the Rams pick will end up, but he is does not expect it go any higher. The Rams (3-6) have lost three straight, tied for the longest streak in the NFC.
“I don’t even look at it,” Campbell said. “I don’t even think about it, and the Rams are — they’re going to win. They’re going to win games. They’ll get better, but I’m not even worried about that. I’m just worried about winning right now.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.