The Media Proves It Can Humbly, Credibly Apologize

Detroit Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell

Apologies when they are humble, honest, sensitive and thorough are good looks. When a media member or outlet does it, it is rare and stands out.

Mike Freeman, a sports columnist at USA Today has done just that by presenting his clear admittance of error and apology for readers to see and digest. He went all the way in falling on the sword.

When the Detroit Lions hired Dan Campbell in January, 2021, it was not widely respected and trumpeted as the best decision making. Then, in the press conference, Campbell spoke in a manner that would likely have been much better in a locker room or on the practice field than to the press and public. It opened him up to mockery as criticism from some in the media.

“After seeing that press conference,” Freeman confesses now, “I thought for certain Campbell was a goofball meathead. I basically wrote exactly that. But in retrospect, I am the goofball meathead. Put me in the goofball meathead Hall of Fame.

“You are not the dork, Dan Campbell, as I essentially wrote. I am. You are not the blockhead, sir. I am. I am the king of blockheads,” Freeman says.

What was in that press conference that created mockery? Primarily the following: “We’re gonna kick you in the teeth, and when you punch us back, we’re going to smile at you. And when you knock us down, we’re gonna get up. And on the way up, we’re going to bite a kneecap off,” Campbell said

Why the change of opinion and public admittance for the criticism from Freeman? Campbell has taken what has usually been a disappointing, losing franchise and turned it into a competitive, winning team and done so relatively quickly.

The Lions finished strong in 2022, are off to a hot start in 2023 and had won 16 of their last 20 games until — days after Freeman’s mea culpa — they were outplayed and in their traditional home game on Thanksgiving Day, this year to the Green Bay Packers.

In other words, Campbell, to this point has far exceeded lowly expectations. That gets people’s attention and miraculously in such situations, critics will correct their previous overconfident, ignorant viewpoints and rough communication, as Freeman has now done.

“You have developed into a remarkable coach and I was a remarkable doofus. Not you. Me. I was the doofus. King of doofuses,” Freeman writes.

“Good people say when they’re wr...wr...wr...(clears throat)...wrong. Wrong is the word that I'm trying to say,” Freeman continues. “Like a number of people, I judged Campbell off that presser, and it turns out that was only part of who Campbell was.

“This was a classic example of judging a book by its cover. This book should be called: ‘Shut Up, Mike.’ The sequel should be called ‘Shut Up, Mike (Again),’” Freeman says in his embarrassment and full confession.

He now sees what he couldn’t have known before about Campbell’s leadership ability and skills. Freeman however didn’t initially give the new boss a chance to prove himself. This is common when hires are not exciting or yes, at times, poor, and even if the doubt and frustration proves true, as it often does, some new panned hires do end up succeeding.

“Part of the reason is he’s an excellent reader of human beings. He’s also much more tactically sound than it seemed he would be from that press conference,” Freeman now communicates.

“That press conference will be a part of Campbell’s legacy but there’s a good chance that one day it will be viewed as the start of something special. The time when some people saw it, and made a judgment, a wrong one. And by people, I mean me. The goofy meathead.”

Freeman, like other critics, has come to realize he was wrong and too harsh on another human being and the people who chose to hire him yet he decided to impressively express that fact, publicly and fully. ‘

He even goes so far as to forecast that the hire could prove to be one lauded for a lengthy period of time and in a big way.

Freeman didn’t have to communicate a public about face, expressing the remorse and ownership of a rush to judgment that has proven a poor conclusion, but he did and in doing so models for others in media what can be done more regularly.

Doing it will bring added or new credibility and trust to the industry.

Column by Communication Intelligence magazine