Lions head coach Dan Campbell knows people think he’s a meathead. And he’s just fine with that.
Campbell, the second-year coach who boasted at his introductory press conference that he’d build the kind of team that bites off opponents’ kneecaps, told Dan Pompei of TheAthletic.com that he likes it if opposing teams are underestimating his intelligence.
“It doesn’t bother me,” Campbell said. “If you’re an opponent, the dumber you think I am, the better off we are.”
Campbell did indicate, however, that he has mellowed a bit in his second training camp as the Lions’ head coach.
“I’m still being me, excited as ever,” he said. “But I don’t always feel like I’m going to rip my shirt off and run around. Once you’re in it a year, you have a feel for what it is. You can keep your emotions in check.”
Campbell went 3-13-1 in his first season coaching the Lions, and he’d be the first to admit that’s not good enough. Whether he’s a meathead or an intellectual, or a little bit of both, he’ll ultimately be judged on whether he can improve on that record in Year Two.
