Martha Ford Enjoying Involvement With Lions, Optimistic For 2015 Season
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - Since longtime Detroit Lions owner William Clay Ford Sr. died last year, his wife Martha has gotten more involved in running the team, now that she is the team's owner, and she has enjoyed the process.
"Wonderful," Ford said Tuesday in her first public comments on the team since her husband's passing. "I've loved it. I've been to every away game along with the ones here. I really enjoy it. It's been part of my life."
While she has been more involved now than she was when her husband was alive, Ford indicated the transition has not been a dramatic one by any means.
"I feel it's just more of the same," Ford said. "I just maybe haven't been as invisible, but I've been there and involved. I'm loving it."
Ford said she and her four children meet often to discuss the team, which went 11-5 last year, and she has high hopes for the upcoming season.
"We had such a good year last year that I'm hoping that we can do the same," Ford said. "I'm sure we can. We have a lot of good players. We lost a few, but we've made up for it with having a few more that are good."
The elephant in the room as far as players lost, of course, would be perennial All-Pro defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who spurned the Lions as a free agent and instead accepted a more lucrative offer from the Miami Dolphins.
"I was disappointed because he was such a nice person and such a good player," Ford said. "I did talk to him ... I told him I was his fan and I would like to have him back. About two weeks later he left."
Last season, the final one for Suh, was the first for head coach Jim Caldwell, who took over after the Lions dispatched former head coach Jim Schwartz following the team's struggles in 2013. Caldwell has received rave reviews from players, and Ford was just as complimentary.
"I think so highly of him," Ford said. "I think he's absolutely the most wonderful coach. He's a great guy."
Caldwell gave Ford just as glowing an evaluation as the one she gave him.
"She comes to practice often, as you can see," Caldwell said. "We talk periodically. One of the things you'll find out very, very quickly is that she knows football. She reads it, she studies, she knows what's going on, knows the team.
"Most often it's questions about maybe a player that we've discussed, but she does a great job," Caldwell added. "She's on top of everything."
