DETROIT – What Holly Campbell is saying about her husband, Dan Campbell, will have Detroit talking. Bet you didn’t know Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell is a huge Celine Dion fan.
“He loves talent. So someone is, it doesn’t matter really what it is. If someone’s really good at it, then that’s something that he can respect and get into. So Celine Dion,” Holly Campbell said. “He loves Celine Dion. He’s a huge fan.”
Our conversations with Holly are continuing as we talk about the couple’s love of the city, Dan’s love of opera, and what it was like trying to get the job of head coach.
The journey to head coach
“There were some really hard times whenever he was, you know, he wanted to be a head coach so bad, you know, and he had a lot of coaching interviews, and he wouldn’t get it,” Holly said. “But I was just like, ‘Well, if you can’t get a job for being you, then it’s not a job that you want, no.’”
The head coaching job wasn’t Dan’s first job with the Lions. In 2006, he was signed as a free agent as a blocking tight end. And since he’s come back to town, he’s changed the energy of the team and the energy of Detroit.
“When he played here, we loved it. We absolutely loved it, and we always said, if there was any reason to go back, we would go back in a heartbeat,” Holly said. “You can feel it, and it’s not just the Lions. I mean, the Tigers, it’s the Pistons. You can just feel the excitement and the joy and the pride radiating off of everybody, and it’s contagious. I feel like it’s the best place on earth to live.”
Life off the field
Dan and Holly are dedicated to building a life on and off the field. Whether it’s gardening in the backyard or just spending time together as a family.
“We have different processes. I’m the kind of person who likes to research, plan things out, know what I’m doing, have a plan, right? And he’s more like, let’s just take some stuff and throw the ground and, I mean, and his way of working, it was very fruitful,” Holly said. “All football stuff is family time, and then we just hang out. I mean, we’ll just do movies and stuff and go, you know, go shopping with both my kids, you know, whatever.”
A partnership built on honesty
The Campbells, you could say, are winning at life. Dan credits his wife, Holly, as a pivotal support in his life, describing her as his “rock” over their marriage.
“Oh yeah, I’m pretty honest, but he is with me too,” Holly said. “I think when you trust somebody, you trust them. That when you ask a hard question, they’re going to answer you and give you the answer that you need, not that you necessarily want.”
She said she helps Dan mentally by anticipating what he needs.
“Because sometimes he needs you to be completely supportive, sometimes he wants the advice, sometimes he wants a sounding board, and sometimes he just wants you to listen,” Holly said.
The drive to win and this year’s outlook
Following an extraordinary season that ended abruptly, Dan Campbell approaches this year with a renewed sense of determination and grit.
“Our season was, I mean, it was a dream. It was amazing last year, and then it was just gone like that,” Holly said. “We know we’re still that team and we know we can get back there, but we’re not going to let that happen again. So I think it’s just more of, like, saying it’s the same, but it’s like, there’s another, like, another layer, a little bit of a hardened, a little edge, a little more grit. That’s what Dan’s calling. It is, like, this year’s the reckoning.”