The Detroit Lions have officially announced the hiring of Jim Caldwell as the franchise’s new head coach. Jim Caldwell is the second minority candidate to land an NFL head-coaching job this month, joining Tampa Bay’s Lovie Smith.
“On behalf on my entire family, I want to express how thrilled we are with the appointment of Jim Caldwell as our new head coach,” Lions Owner and Chairman William Clay Ford said. “We believe Jim is the right man to lead our team and deliver a championship to our fans.”
The Lions had a very specific plan and profile for their next head coach, and are convinced that they have found the right man in Jim Caldwell.
Caldwell’s resume is full of impressive feats including being a part of 3 Super Bowl teams (1 as a head coach, 2 as an assistant) and a two of his quarterbacks, Peyton Manning (Super Bowl XLI) and Ravens QB Joe Flacco (Super Bowl XLVII) were named Super Bowl MVPs following their teams’ respective championship runs.
He has 3 years of experience as an NFL head coach with the Indianapolis Colts and during that time he posted a 26-22 season, two of which saw the Colts have at least 10 wins. From 2003-09, Caldwell was the Colts quarterbacks coach and was also promoted to assistant head coach and associate head coach during that time. He worked closely with QB Peyton Manning and the team’s quarterbacks. During that span, Indianapolis set NFL records with seven consecutive seasons finishing with 11+ wins. Manning won all four of his NFL MVP (2003, 2004, 2008, 2009) awards under Caldwell’s tutelage which is something Detroit hopes that Caldwell can pass on to Quarterback Matthew Stafford.
With a resume full of success with quarterbacks and winning football games, it seems that Caldwell will be a good fit in the Motor City, using his abilities to groom Matthew Stafford into the quarterback that Chairman Ford knows he can be. Detroit is a team that is full of talent but lacked focus on discipline down the stretch, something that Caldwell is hoping to change.
