LIONS SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR DAVE FIPP TRAINING CAMP DAY 16 QUOTE SHEET
August 19, 2025
Opening Statement: “OK, I’m not huge on the opening statements — you guys know that, but I give like one a year, so this will be the one. My offseason was incredible, most of you heard about most of it. I will start by saying we got two kids at the University of Alabama now. Daughter number two is down there so that’s great. She’s doing well and we have a son going into his sophomore year of high school. Obviously, my incredible wife and their mother has been outstanding holding down the fort. Then there’s two other things that happened this offseason that you guys know about, but you don’t totally know how they affected me. In 1990 I was a high school student in San Diego, California, and I would’ve probably been called the king of mischief. I was always in trouble. Just kept me entertained, I guess. I read a book that changed my life, it was one of the few books I read from cover-to-cover. The book was titled “From Ashes to Glory.” It was written by a head football coach in college at the time, he was a head coach at the University of Colorado. He had Michigan ties. He coached at Divine Catholic High School, his name was Bill McCartney. In his book, it was a lot about religion, a lot about finding God, a lot about making good decisions, and his experiences in football and some of his players and really changed my life forever. He obviously passed away this summer, but the impact he made on my life was incredible. I only got to meet him one time, and it was when he signed the book. I’m forever grateful for his commitment to the players he was around and to the game of football. Number two, in 2014 I was at the Philadelphia Eagles, and we were coming off my first season as a coordinator in 2013. We weren’t great and we brought in a player, his name was (former Eagles LB) Bryan Braman. This guy was an amazing player, he played with his hair on fire all the time. He loved special teams, he loved playing the game of football, he loved his teammates, he was ultra-passionate. He had come through an incredible journey to get to where he was at, and the obstacles he overcame were incredible. In 2016 I think we let him walk and then in 2017 we were making a run for the Super Bowl, we ended up bringing him back. In that Super Bowl, we go up – I think we went up by eight. There was just under a minute left and we kick off and he made the tackle on the kickoff. New England tried to run a reverse, and he made the tackle and knocked them down at the 10. New England couldn’t find their way into the end zone, so we won the Super Bowl. He obviously passed away this year and the guy was just an incredible person, incredible player. I think when you stand up here as a coach, you often stand up here and talk about, ‘Oh what a great job.’ And we get a lot of recognition, but ultimately, you guys have heard me say this is a players’ game, this is a players’ League. I’ve been fortunate to be around a lot of great players, and he was an incredible one. He really played the game a different way and I know that he earned the respect of everybody. Obviously I’m certainly grateful for his contributions, and he passed away this offseason also.”
On the depth at the gunner position: “(Lions CB Khalil) Dorsey is huge, I mean this guy is one of the great gunners in the game of football right now. So obviously getting him back is outstanding. Just looking at some of these young players, (Lions WR Isaac) TeSlaa has done a great job really for us, (Lions WR Dominic) Lovett has shown some things for us on the outside, (Lions WR Jackson) Meeks has shown some things from the wide receiver position. So, we’ve got some wide receivers contributing on special teams, which is beneficial because the last time in four years we haven’t gotten a lot out of that group other than (Lions WR) Kalif (Raymond) as a punt returner. For those guys to be able to help out in a core role, potentially it can help take some off of some other players. I would say in general, I love this time of year because to that question, you get the chance to evaluate a lot of different players playing a lot of different positions. TeSlaa, we played inside on kickoff return one week, then outside the next week, see where he plays better at. You’re really working to figure out when roster is all said and done, and they say, ‘Here it is,’ and how can I make the most of any 11 players out there on the field in any particular phase.”
On having stability in the snap-hold-kick production: “It’s huge. You see teams that don’t have a kicker, don’t have a punter, don’t have a snapper and obviously it’s a tough position to be in. I would also say that – like, people have asked me from time to time this training camp, ‘Are you bringing anyone else in? Is there more competition?’ Well, no. Number one, these guys are incredible players and number two, I think the biggest thing there is when you have the right players, their passion is to be the very, very best player they can be and really their passion is to be probably the best player in the League at their position. When you’ve got guys that are motivated like that, it makes my job a whole lot easier and you really don’t worry about competition. These guys aren’t motivated by competition or somebody next to them, these guys are motivated by trying to be the very best in the world at their craft. So, we are very fortunate to have them.”
On the receivers being able to perform on special teams and how that affects roster decisions: “Yeah, number one, if a wide receiver like that can play on special teams and help out in a core role, not just a returner role, but in a core role, then really what it does is also take the pressure off of somebody else on the roster. I think the goal for me, what it’ll always be to balance the workload or the weight that you’re asking these guys to carry throughout all the phases of special teams and offense and defense. So, if you got a guy that can contribute from a position that maybe doesn’t contribute as frequently then it’s a bonus because now somebody else might not have to play that position, now you can ask him to do something else. So, you gain another piece in another phase or area that maybe you wouldn’t have without them. So, finding offenders, wide receivers, offenders who contribute is huge for us. Then just in terms of the roster, the makeup, all that, obviously (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) and those guys do all that stuff. But I think for me the biggest thing is finding out what everybody can do. I think I’ve told you before, but I think that a good coach ends up taking the group of players that he has and finding a way to make the most of those players, and put them in positions that they can be successful at.”
On if he has been surprised by Lions WR Isaac TeSlaa and Lions WR Jackson Meeks’s performances on special teams: “I would say all of them are really developing players. Like TeSlaa had the penalty on the kickoff return, so those guys go out there and they make some mistakes. But they also show that, ‘Hey they got some upside and potential too.’ So, I think – I had one of the better special teams players who played for me was a safety. He told me – a long time after, he said, ‘Man, it took me like four years until I really felt like I knew how to play the game in the National Football League on special teams.’ There’s just a lot to it. It’s different than any other phase. You’re asked to do a lot of different things – defenders has to be a blocker also. Like an offender’s asked to a defender, like tackling and that’s like – to the receiver point, we really haven’t seen a lot of that yet. (Lions WR Jackson) Meeks had a chance to tackle a guy, the returner on one punt last week. (Lions WR Isaac) TeSlaa really hadn’t been in a position to do that. So, there are still areas that we’re looking to see, ‘Can these guys do it or how good are they at that?’”
On Lions LB Grant Stuard returning kicks: “Yeah, so that goes back to kind of, ‘How can we get the most out of these 11 guys?’ Sometimes I would say necessity is the mother of all invention, right? Like, ‘Who’s our kick returner? Well, I don’t know.’ (Lions WR Kalif Raymond) Leaf, he’s got a big role on offense also. He’s our punt returner, he’s a little bit smaller body type. That returner back there on kickoffs ends up taking some shots. You want a guy who’s going to be able to last and be durable. At the time (Lions RB Sione) Vaki was down early on in training camp, we’ve had (Lions RB) Craig Reynolds back there, we’re about to get (Lions RB Jahmyr) Gibbs back – no, I’m just kidding. No, but what happened was in the offseason, I’ve started watching some of his film. Anytime you bring a player in, you kind of watch everything they’ve done in the history that we have on film. There was some film from him at Houston where he was running the ball, and I was like, ‘Wait a minute, like this looks pretty good right here.’ So that’s what really started the idea and I was like, ‘Man, I’m not sure who the guy is going to be.’ This is a bigger body guy, physical. Looked like he has some natural skillset to do it, and then we fumbled the opening kickoff. No, but he showed a bunch of great things and then it said to us, ‘OK, now we got to invest more time in him, to be fair to him and help him with ball security, and stuff like that.’ But it’s not worth the investment because of what he’s shown. So, we’re excited about him.”
On if he is active or passive in roster cut decisions or if he campaigns for certain players: “Yeah, I think, yeah, it’s a great question. I don’t know what the answer would be from their perspective. I know what I try to do. I try to be very level with it. In my early days of coaching, I was a lot more passionate about that, and I would also get a lot more frustrated with those decisions and all that stuff. I know this, man, the job of making those cutdowns and managing the roster and the money, and all these things that a coach really doesn’t think about, there’s a lot to it. And I think that the best thing that I can do in my position is just tell, or explain to them the repercussions of, ‘If we go with this guy and not that guy, here are the challenges. It’s going to push more weight onto this player, and this player we’re asking an awful lot of already. It’s going to add more to his plate. Do we feel comfortable about doing that? If we do, that’s great.’ I feel like the best thing I can do with my experience is kind of project what’s going to happen and how it’s going to affect the makeup of the team on game day when you go down to 48 players. And then that helps them make the decision, and then ultimately I just put the trust and faith in those guys to make the right decision. I think for me – and like I said when I was young, I wasn’t nearly as good at this, but as I’ve gotten older, it’s just like, don’t worry about that. Just focus on the roster – or just focus on the game. Focus on the game, look at these players, find out how can we make the best 11. Does that mean (Lions LB Grant) Stuard’s a returner, does that mean – and just figure out a way to get the results. Ultimately, it’s a results-based business. Ultimately, really, we live in a results-based world. People don’t care about all the problems, challenges, why it’s hard, they just want you to do well with what you’ve got. And they also don’t have time to hear people complain, and neither do I really. It’s like a player complaining about this, that and the other thing, and hey, we’re going to have to ask you to do something that’s hard, and maybe not your best thing. That’s what the team needs of you, and that’s how we’re going to be the best team we can be. So, for me, that’s always the focus.”
On Lions LS Hogan Hatten, Lions K Jake Bates and Lions P Jack Fox training together during the offseason and attending former K Nick Novak’s camp: “Yeah, I don’t know much about that camp specifically. I know those guys get together a lot. I know they do different venues. There’s different players like that who played in this League in the past. I have a lot of respect for Nick Novak, what he’s done, but to answer specifically to that, I don’t totally know. I love seeing those guys get together and work. I think the more they can do it, the better. I mean, it shows a commitment to their craft, to the game, to the team, the organization, to themselves, trying to be the best that they can be. Like I said, we’ve got the right guys, and they’re all about it.”
On what his superpower would be: “I don’t know. I have no idea.”
On how he is a better coach than when he came into the organization: “Yeah, I don’t know, I don’t know that I am a good coach. The only thing I can tell you – the only thing I can tell you for sure is that I love this game with everything that I have in my body. I cannot believe that I am in front of you guys today. The fact that I am where I am is truly a blessing to me. I grew up dreaming about playing football. I grew up dreaming about coaching football. My high school coach told me, ‘There’s no way. How do you stretch the field vertically?’ I’m like, ‘Oh, four verts.’ He’s like, ‘No, you’ve got to high-low them.’ He’s just a guy who said, ‘You’d never coach.’ He did it because he knew I would. I mean, it’s humbling. I’ve been able to paint the fields before the game, I’ve built lockers and locker rooms for the players, in college football, I-AA football, to be sitting here today – and I did it because I loved it. People say, ‘Oh, man, how do you get into that business?’ or whatever, and it’s like, I didn’t get into the business because I wanted to coach in the National Football League, or I wanted money, or any of those things. I got into the business because I love the game, I love the players, I love being around the players and the game, and I’ve given everything I have to those guys, and this game has given me way more back in return, so I’m super fortunate and grateful.”
