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List of Detroit Lions head coaches

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Dan Campbell is the current head coach of the Detroit Lions and is already widely considered to be the best coach in Lions history, having a 2–1 record after his first postseason, with every other Detroit Lions Coach since the AFL-NFL merger having a combined 1-12 postseason record.[1]

The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are currently a member of the North Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The franchise has had 30 head coaches in team history, which includes its existence as the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans (1930–1933). In the 1934 NFL season, the franchise moved to Detroit and changed their name to the Lions.

George "Potsy" Clark is the only coach to have more than one tenure. Three coaches have won NFL championships with the team: Potsy Clark in 1935, Buddy Parker in 1952 and 1953, and George Wilson in 1957.[2] Wayne Fontes is the all-time leader in games coached and wins, and Clark leads all coaches in winning percentage with .679 (with at least one full season coached). John Karcis is statistically the worst coach the Lions have had as he never won a game.[3] Karcis is followed by Marty Mornhinweg with a winning percentage of .156. Of the 30 Lions coaches, two have been elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Dutch Clark and Joe Schmidt.[4] Gus Dorais was inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1954. Several former players have been head coach for the Lions, including Dutch Edwards, Buddy Parker, Harry Gilmer, Joe Schmidt, Dick Jauron, and the current head coach Dan Campbell, who was hired on January 20, 2021.[5]

Coaches

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Note: Statistics are accurate through Week 11 of the 2024 NFL season.

GC Games coached
W Wins
L Losses
T Ties
Win% Win – Loss percentage
Div Division titles
* Elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
† Spent entire professional head coaching career with the Lions
# Image Name Term Regular season Division
titles 		Playoffs Awards
GC W L T Win% GC W L
Portsmouth Spartans
1 Hal Griffen† 1930 14 5 6 3 .464 0 – – –
Portsmouth Spartans / Detroit Lions
2 George "Potsy" Clark[N 1] 1931–1936 74 48 20 6 .689 1 1 1 0
3 Earl "Dutch" Clark* 1937–1938 22 14 8 0 .636 0 – – –
4 Gus Henderson† 1939 11 6 5 0 .545 0 – – –
– George "Potsy" Clark*[N 1] 1940 11 5 5 1 .500 0 – – –
5 Bill Edwards† 1941–1942 14 4 9 1 .321 0 – – –
6 John Karcis† 1942 8 0 8 0 .000 0 – – –
7 Gus Dorais† 1943–1947 53 20 31 2 .396 0 – – –
8 Bo McMillin 1948–1950 36 12 24 0 .333 0 – – –
9 Buddy Parker 1951–1956 72 47 23 2 .667 3 4 3 1 UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1956)[7]
10 George Wilson 1957–1964 104 53 45 6 .538 1 2 2 0 AP Coach of the Year (1957)[8]
11 Harry Gilmer† 1965–1966 28 10 16 2 .393 0 – – –
12 Joe Schmidt* 1967–1972 84 43 34 7 .554 0 1 0 1
13 Don McCafferty 1973 14 6 7 1 .464 0 – – –
14 Rick Forzano† 1974–1976 32 15 17 0 .469 0 – – –
15 Tommy Hudspeth† 1976–1977 24 11 13 0 .458 0 – – –
16 Monte Clark 1978–1984 105 43 61 1 .414 1 2 0 2
17 Darryl Rogers† 1985–1988 58 18 40 0 .310 0 – – –
18 Wayne Fontes† 1988–1996 133 66 67 0 .496 2 5 1 4 AP Coach of the Year (1991)[9]
Pro Football Weekly Coach of the Year (1991)[10]
UPI NFC Coach of the Year (1991)[11]
19 Bobby Ross 1997–2000 57 27 30 0 .474 0 2 0 2
20 Gary Moeller† 2000 7 4 3 0 .571 0 – – –
21 Marty Mornhinweg† 2001–2002 32 5 27 0 .156 0 – – –
22 Steve Mariucci 2003–2005 43 15 28 0 .349 0 – – –
23 Dick Jauron 2005 5 1 4 0 .200 0 – – –
24 Rod Marinelli† 2006–2008 48 10 38 0 .208 0 – – –
25 Jim Schwartz† 2009–2013 80 29 51 0 .363 0 1 0 1
26 Jim Caldwell 2014–2017 64 36 28 0 .563 0 2 0 2
27 Matt Patricia† 2018–2020 43 13 29 1 .314 0 – – –
28 Darrell Bevell 2020 4 1 3 0 .250 0 – – –
29 Robert Prince† 2020 1 0 1 0 .000 0 – – –
30 Dan Campbell 2021–present 61 33 27 1 .549 1 3 2 1

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Potsy Clark's full coaching record with the Lions is 85 regular season games coached with a record of 53–25–7 and a W–L percentage of .665. He is also 1–0 in 1 Playoff game.[6]

References

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  1. ^ Reisman, Jeremy (January 25, 2024). "Dan Campbell named NFC Coach of the Year by select media". Pride Of Detroit. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
  2. ^ "Detroit Lions Championship History". NFLTeamHistory.com. Archived from the original on May 27, 2008. Retrieved March 19, 2008.
  3. ^ "Marty Mornhinweg's Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Archived from the original on December 20, 2007. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
  4. ^ "Hall of Famers by Franchise". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on October 15, 2015. Retrieved March 19, 2008.
  5. ^ "Lions agree to terms with Dan Campbell to become team's new head coach". detroitlions.com. January 20, 2021. Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  6. ^ "Potsy Clark's Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Archived from the original on February 11, 2011. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
  7. ^ "Buddy Parker". Databasefootball.com. Archived from the original on January 27, 2008. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
  8. ^ "George William Wilson". Databasefootball.com. Archived from the original on November 24, 2010. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
  9. ^ "Wayne Howard Joseph Fontes". pro-football-reference.com. Archived from the original on December 9, 2010. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
  10. ^ "Pro Football Hall of Fame Field at Fawcett Stadium". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
  11. ^ Vainisi, Jerry. "Barry Sanders retire? No Payton record? Not a chance". Archived from the original on September 28, 2008. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
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