Cast your vote for the Detroit Lions’ 2024 Coach of the Year.
The Detroit Lions ’ 2024 coaching staff will be one for the ages. It feels like one of those years where we’ll look back in a couple decades and ask ourselves, “How the hell did they manage to have all of those coaches in one building?” From top to bottom, offense to defense, Detroit had incredibly smart and motivating players across the board. There’s a reason why two coordinators are now NFL head coaches and two position coaches are now NFL coordinators.
So there may not be a tougher Pride of Detroit award to hand out than Detroit Lions 2024 Coach of the Year. Hell, the Lions won NFL Assistant Coach of the Year and damn near won Head Coach of the Year, too .
Here are our nominations for Detroit Lions Coach of the Year. Remember to cast your ballot at the bottom of the page to determine this year’s winner.
Previous awards:
Morgan Cannon: Aaron Glenn
At the beginning of the year, Glenn had the defense playing like a top-flight unit. Then all of the injuries happened, and yet, for most of the season—the unit kept it together. Glenn, along with the rest of the defensive coaching staff, has to be commended for the job they did despite dealing with such rotten injury luck throughout the 2024 season.
Ryan Mathews: Aaron Glenn
The Detroit Lions defense finished the 2024 season ranked fifth in team defense DVOA. Fifth. FIFTH. They were the fifth-best defense among 32 NFL teams despite placing more key players on injured reserve than any other team in recent memory. Some of y’all couldn’t wait for Glenn to be jettisoned from Detroit for years, and you finally got your wish. Hope that monkey’s paw doesn’t curl up on you.
Al Karsten: Aaron Glenn
It’s a long list of deserving coaches who helped propel the Lions to a conference-leading 15-2 season. While Dan Campbell was the battering ram leading the charge and Ben Johnson orchestrated the high-powered offense, it was Aaron Glenn who had to overcome the most adversity after being dealt a tough hand.
At one point, Glenn’s defense was without up to six starters—Aidan Hutchinson, Alim McNeill, Marcus Davenport, Derrick Barnes, Alex Anzalone, and Carlton Davis III—along with several key depth pieces. Yet, despite the constant shuffle, he managed to piece together a resilient unit that finished seventh in points allowed, fifth in defensive DVOA, and seventh in EPA/play allowed.
Glenn never had the luxury of a full-deck defense in his four years here but his ability to adapt to a revolving door of replacement players made for a spectacular swan song in Detroit.
Ty Schalter: Aaron Glenn
There was never any question Glenn could identify talent, coach up marginal players, or inspire a defense to play fast and aggressive. But one question still dogged him coming into this season: given a decent amount of talent, could he actually put together a great defense? Not only did he emphatically answer that over the first two months of the season, he also proved he can improvise, adapt, and overcome as well as anyone in the league.
Erik Schlitt: Dan Campbell
Campbell was not only the best coach on the Lions staff but he was arguably the best coach in the NFL and should have won NFL Coach of the Year. Despite losing starters to injury on a weekly basis, Campbell was able to keep the team focused and the morale up. Not only did he lead the Lions to back-to-back NFC North titles, but Detroit’s 15 wins were tied for the NFL lead. He also shattered multiple team records, overcoming franchise records that had been in place since the 1930’s.
Jeremy Reisman: Ben Johnson
You are free to hate him all you want now, but Ben Johnson was fantastic in 2024 and should go down as the best offensive coordinator in team history. Not only did he lead the team to the No. 1 scoring offense, but his creativity was on display with trick plays that worked at a ridiculous rate. Don’t let one dumb Jameson Williams pass blind you from the fact that Johnson was pulling off genius plays on a weekly basis.
Max Gerber: Aaron Glenn
Despite all of the injuries to the defense, Glenn was able to make things work with who he had. Detroit had a top-10 defense this season without key players such as Aidan Hutchinson, Derrick Barnes, Marcus Davenport, John Cominsky, and so many more. His departure will be felt in Detroit, hopefully his protege Kelvin Sheppard is ready to take the reins on defense.
Hamza Baccouche: Aaron Glenn
he Lions defense was pieced together a different way any given week, but that didn’t stop Glenn from finding a way to generate pressure and make sure his defense bends, but doesn’t break. The operation sort of fell apart in the last month of the season, but the fact that the defense held up as well as it did for as long as it did is a testament to Glenn’s work.
John Whiticar: Aaron Glenn
As evidenced by the offseason coaching poaching, the Lions had very talented staff. That being said, I give the nod to Glenn. No other coach did as much with so little as Glenn. The Lions finished the year as a below-average defense, but up until Thanksgiving, the defense was among the league’s best, even with star Aidan Hutchinson. Glenn got a ragtag group of players to play at a high level, an incredible testament to his coaching ability.
Meko Scott: Dan Campbell
I honestly could give this award to Dan every year, but I feel like he’s especially deserving of it following the performance and resilience his team showed. Despite losing several players on the defense and having to live up to higher expectations, Campbell was still able to prepare, motivate, and lead this team to a 15-2 season, back-to-back division titles, and the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Brandon Knapp: Aaron Glenn
When you are missing countless starters on your team, mostly on the defensive side, it’s a tough ask to have someone adjust and figure out what works best. Glenn was able to put together a defense that had free agents, practice squad promotions, and the seasoned players on the team and created enough problems for opposing teams to struggle.