The Dolphins didn’t want to keep Dan Campbell around as head coach after his stint as interim last year, but plenty of other teams wanted him on staff.
So Saints coach Sean Payton had to go back to a college tactic to land Campbell as his tight ends coach.
“In his case, it was a little bit of a recruitment,” Payton said, via Mike Triplett of ESPN.com.
The Dolphins expressed some interest in keeping Campbell, but he wasn’t comfortable with staying as an assistant after having been head coach, even if it was just for three months. The Cowboys and Vikings were also interested in Campbell, but Payton had the advantage of having coached Campbell when he was playing for the Giants, Cowboys and Saints.
That and an assistant head coach title was enough.
“To me, it was a pretty easy sell,” Campbell said. “And the biggest factor was Coach Payton. I know who he is, I know what he’s about. And hey, man, he’s proven himself as a coach. I’d be lying if I didn’t say [the title] had something to do with. At the same time, I’m just happy to be here. And I was happy to get the opportunity to coach under Coach Payton and be part of the Saints again because it’s a winning organization.
“Anybody can say what you want; the last couple years haven’t been the way everybody wants. But I know where this team is headed and I know who’s at the top, and that was the biggest deciding factor.”
Payton said he was happy to add someone with Campbell’s ability as a teacher, and Campbell’s passion has been often cited. But while it was borderline cartoonish when he was an interim coach in Miami (running Oklahoma drills with professionals earned him immediate skepticism), it has been embraced in New Orleans, where they could use a little spark.