Giants coach Daboll shares 'entertaining' story about Lions' Campbell

Allen Park — New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll has met a lot of coaches in his day.

With 25 years of coaching experience at the pro and college levels under his belt, he's also done a lot of interviews. It's hard to imagine that any of them are more interesting than the one he shared Wednesday about the time he interviewed Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell.

It came back in 2011, when Daboll was offensive coordinator for then-Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano.

"Tony said, 'Hey, I got this guy that I think would be good. Why don't we interview him? You take care of the interview,'" Daboll recalled. "So, I interviewed Dan, and it was a great interview. He's slamming chairs on the ground and hitting walls and going through all these drills. You guys know him; he's a fantastic person, great family. It was an entertaining interview.

"(He) knew a lot. Obviously, he was very passionate, tough as nails. You could tell he was out of breath in half that interview with the stuff he was doing."

Yup, sounds like Campbell. Though the two only crossed paths briefly during that 2011 season in Miami — for Daboll, it was a one-year stint in between coordinator jobs with Cleveland (2009-10) and Kansas City (2012), and for Campbell, his coaching start in the NFL — Campbell said that he's watched Daboll's growth from afar and shares a mutual respect.

"Man, I (was) always real impressed with him. He's very smart, high energy, he's got a real good personality about him. He can mesh with just about anybody, and he was — man, he was fun to work with," Campbell said. "... He's got a ton of experience with a lot of good coaches, a lot of different places. He's met a lot of different people. ... I think just being able to kind of be around and get a vantage point of different — a little bit of everything — players, coaches, schemes, I think has helped him.

"So, I've got a lot of respect for him. I think he's a hell of a coach."

It should come as no surprise that two lunch-pail-branded coaches share this type of admiration for one another.

"He's a tough guy, very smart. That's the way his team plays," Daboll said.

We'll have to wait until Sunday to find out who will win a meeting of the minds on the gridiron, but as far as first-interaction stories go, Daboll already has him beat.

nbianchi@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @nolanbianchi