Lions' Dave Fipp: 'I'm Living a Dream'

Dave Fipp is one of a handful of assistant coaches remaining from Dan Campbell’s original Lions coaching staff in 2021. He’s entering his fifth year as the team’s special teams coordinator in 2025, and he continues to enjoy every moment of being part of the organization. 

“I feel very fortunate to be here,” Fipp told reporters during a recent media session. “This is a great organization. I love Dan Campbell and I love working for him. And I feel very grateful for that. I would never take one day in this building for granted. And I say that to the players all the time, but for me, I’m living a dream and I really mean that. Every day, it’s incredible, especially this time of year, the weather’s getting good. I mean, this is why we live in Michigan.” 

Fipp spent several years coaching at small colleges before making the jump to the NFL ranks in 2008 as an assistant special teams coach with the San Francisco 49ers. He first served as the special teams coordinator and secondary coach at Holy Cross (1998-99) before also spending time at Arizona (graduate assistant), Cal Poly (secondary coach and defensive coordinator), Nevada (co-defensive coordinator) and San Jose State (safeties coach and defensive coordinator). 

To Fipp, all of his college coaching stops prepared him for coaching at the NFL level. 

“I know for myself, I feel like the greatest thing that ever happened to me was I coached at a bunch of small college football programs,” Fipp expressed. “And I had to learn to paint the lines, to cut the film. So, when you come into a building like this, you take absolutely nothing for granted. And I know there’s something to be said for those guys that played in the NFL and then came right into coaching, in these buildings and all that.” 

Fipp also loves the energy that has been brought to Detroit’s coaching staff by the team’s new, young assistants, like running backs coach Tashard Choice and offensive assistant Tyler Roehl.