Caldwell: 'The Struggle Is Often What Makes A Man, What Makes A Team'
By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby
Lions head coach Jim Caldwell has never been one for excuses, and he's sticking to that mantra, even in the middle of a 1-7 season.
"The struggle is often what makes a man, what makes a team," Caldwell said to Karsch and Anderson Thursday morning. "I think the hard road oftentimes brings back the most rewards. I don't think you hide from that. I don't think you wave a magic wand and say, 'Hey, I wish.' I never look at things that way because I think it makes you soft. I think it makes you soft mentally. I think it makes you soft in terms of your approach to the game. … I want to be a part of none of those things."
Caldwell's name has been floated as the "next man up," of sorts, after the firings of general manager Martin Mayhew, president Tom Lewand, offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and offensive line coaches Jeremiah Washburn and Terry Heffernan.
Depending on who is hired as GM, and whether that person wants to inflict a full-throttle rebuild on the Lions, Caldwell may or may not be coaching his last season in Detroit.
But he's used to that. For someone who's been in the coaching business for decades, these things can happen often.
"My family understands it. It's been 39 years for me. We've been fired three times," Caldwell said. "The tough part of it is that most people don't realize and understand is that – I've had to fire people, but also I've been fired – but it's the families, particularly the young kids that are in school still. … Ours is a pretty transient business. We understand that."
One thing Caldwell does know is that team owner Martha Firestone Ford has what it takes to make those kinds of hiring and firing decisions.
"She's in charge," he said. "She has compassion; she has toughness. She is on top of everything and does a tremendous job getting her point across. You can see that obviously she's not timid about making changes when she feels changes are necessary."
