NFL · NFC North · Est. 1930 · Ford Field
Detroit Lions
Current Leadership
Principal Owner & Chairman
Sheila Ford Hamp assumed control of the Detroit Lions in June 2020 following the death of her mother, Martha Firestone Ford. The daughter of William Clay Ford Sr. and Martha Firestone Ford, she had served on the team’s board of directors since 2014 and was deeply involved in franchise operations for years before taking the lead role. Under her stewardship, the Lions hired general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell in 2021 — a tandem that engineered the franchise’s most dramatic turnaround in decades. Hamp has been credited with fostering a culture of accountability and ambition that had eluded the organization for much of the 21st century, and with reconnecting the franchise to the city of Detroit through community investment and civic engagement.
Minority Ownership Group
The Detroit Lions remain a family-held franchise. Sheila Ford Hamp’s siblings — including Martha Ford Morse, Elizabeth Ford Kontulis, and Benson Ford Jr. — hold minority ownership stakes and serve on the organization’s board of directors. The Ford family’s involvement with the Lions dates back to 1963, when patriarch William Clay Ford Sr. purchased the team, making the family’s stewardship of the franchise one of the longest continuous ownership tenures in professional sports. The family structure has provided organizational stability, even as the on-field product endured prolonged stretches of futility.
Head Coach
| Name | Position | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Dan Campbell | Head Coach | 2021 |
Offense
| Name | Position | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Drew Petzing | Offensive Coordinator | 2025 |
| Scottie Montgomery | Associate Head Coach / Wide Receivers | 2021 |
| Mike Kafka | Pass Game Coordinator | 2025 |
| David Shaw | Pass Game Specialist | 2025 |
| Hank Fraley | Run Game Coordinator / Offensive Line | 2021 |
| Mark Brunell | Quarterbacks Coach | 2023 |
| Tashard Choice | Running Backs Coach | 2023 |
| Steve Oliver | Tight Ends Coach | 2025 |
| Bruce Gradkowski | Assistant Wide Receivers Coach | 2024 |
| Marques Tuiasosopo | Offensive Assistant | 2024 |
| Dan Skipper | Offensive Assistant | 2025 |
| Justin Mesa | Offensive Quality Control | — |
Defense
| Name | Position | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Kelvin Sheppard | Defensive Coordinator | 2021 |
| Jim O'Neil | Assistant Head Coach / Safeties | 2025 |
| Kacy Rodgers | Run Game Coordinator / Defensive Line | 2025 |
| Deshea Townsend | Passing Game Coordinator / Defensive Backs | 2025 |
| David Corrao | Senior Defensive Assistant / Outside Linebackers | 2023 |
| Shaun Dion Hamilton | Linebackers Coach | 2025 |
| Caleb Collins | Defensive Assistant | — |
| August Mangin | Defensive Assistant | — |
| Dre Thompson | Defensive Quality Control | — |
Special Teams
| Name | Position | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Dave Fipp | Special Teams Coordinator | 2021 |
| Jett Modkins | Assistant Special Teams Coach | — |
Historical Figures
Owner & Chairman
Martha Firestone Ford inherited ownership of the Detroit Lions following the death of her husband, William Clay Ford Sr., in March 2014. The granddaughter of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company founder Harvey S. Firestone, she brought a no-nonsense approach to the role and proved willing to make decisive changes. She fired general manager Martin Mayhew and head coach Jim Caldwell during her tenure, and oversaw the hiring of Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia — a combination that ultimately failed but demonstrated her willingness to shake up the status quo. Martha Ford stepped back from day-to-day control in 2020, passing leadership to her daughter Sheila. She passed away in 2024 at the age of 99.
Owner & Chairman
William Clay Ford Sr. — grandson of Henry Ford and the youngest son of Edsel Ford — purchased the Detroit Lions in 1963 for $4.5 million, beginning a half-century of family ownership that continues to this day. Ford was a devoted and loyal owner who loved the franchise deeply, but his tenure was marked by a painful paradox: unwavering commitment paired with an inability to build a consistent winner. In 51 years of ownership, the Lions won exactly one playoff game. Ford’s reluctance to interfere with football operations was seen by some as patience and by others as passivity. He died on March 9, 2014, at the age of 88, having never seen his team reach the Super Bowl.
Owner
Edwin J. Anderson, a Detroit-area businessman and syndicate leader, headed the ownership group that controlled the Lions through their greatest era of on-field success. Under Anderson’s stewardship, the Lions won four NFL championships — in 1952, 1953, 1954, and 1957 — a run of dominance that remains the high-water mark in franchise history. Anderson oversaw the Bobby Layne years and the golden age of Lions football, presiding over a team that was among the most feared in the league. He sold the franchise to William Clay Ford Sr. in 1963.
Owner
Fred Mandel Jr., a Chicago department store magnate, purchased the Lions in 1940 from Dick Richards (who had acquired the team from George A. Richards’s estate). Mandel guided the franchise through the turbulent World War II years, when NFL rosters were depleted by military service and the survival of several franchises was uncertain. The Lions remained competitive during the war, though they did not win a championship under Mandel’s ownership. He sold the team to a syndicate headed by Edwin J. Anderson in 1948.
Founder & Original Owner
George A. Richards, a Detroit radio executive who owned WJR, purchased the Portsmouth Spartans in 1934 for $7,952.08 and moved the franchise to Detroit, renaming them the Lions. Richards was the visionary who brought professional football to the Motor City and established the Thanksgiving Day game tradition that endures to this day — a promotional masterstroke designed to build a fan base in a city that, at the time, cared primarily about baseball and the Tigers. The Lions won the NFL Championship in their very first season under Richards in 1935. He was forced to sell his stake in 1940 after an NFL investigation into allegations that he had instructed his radio broadcasters to slant coverage in the Lions’ favor.