| Detroit Free Press
Here’s who Detroit Lions will play in 2021 NFL season
A look at the Detroit Lions’ 2021 opponents, home and away, in what is expected to be the NFL’s first 17-game regular season.
Marlowe Alter, Detroit Free Press
Dan Campbell is the favorite to be named the next Detroit Lions coach as of Friday night.
The 44-year-old played 11 seasons in the NFL, has coached in the NFL for 10 years, and is seemingly well-liked by those who played with and for him. He’s currently the New Orleans Saints assistant head coach and tight ends coach under Sean Payton.
But while he was a tight end at Texas A&M in the late 1990s, Campbell caused a major controversy.
Speaking at a pep rally called the “Aggie Bonfire” before a game against rival Texas in 1998, Campbell, a senior at the time, made an anti-gay remark in front of about 40,000 students, staff members and alumni, causing outrage from some students and professors, according to a media report at the time.
After expressing hatred for the Longhorns, Campbell said he was proud to attend a university where “men like women and women like men.”
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A local newspaper published an apology from Campbell in the days after the event: “I offended some people, and I’m sorry for that. It was heat of the moment. It’s not necessarily that I directed it at anyone.”
“I suffered the pain of listening to a football player tell me that A&M is NOT my university,” said Eric W. Trekell, a spokesman for Texas A&M University Allies, a support network for homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered people on the campus.
After saying nothing at the rally and facing outrage, university president Ray M. Bowen released a statement a week later, acknowledging Campbell’s words were inappropriate. “The university’s position is that the university is inclusive,” Bowen said.
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The incident was particularly harmful for some because, according to a university spokesman at the time, Texas A&M had come a long way since the 1980s, and had incorporated many educational programs for students and faculty members that involve issues of sexual orientation.
“This university has a history of refusing to recognize its gay, lesbian, and bisexual community,” said Trekell, noting in the 1980s, a gay-student organization had to sue the university to gain official recognition.
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Detroit Lions GM hire analysis: Is Brad Holmes the right choice?
Free Press reporters Carlos Monarrez and Dave Birkett discuss and debate Detroit Lions decision to hire Brad Holmes as general manager, Jan. 14, 2021.
Dave Birkett and Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press