Following the Detroit Lions‘ loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship, a classmate of the daughter of Detroit head coach Dan Campbell decided to reveal the coach’s address on Snapchat.
That led to Campbell and his family surprisingly listing their five-bedroom, seven-bathroom home in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills for sale for $4.5million due to security concerns.
‘There’s plenty of space, it’s on two acres, the home is beautiful. It’s just that people figured out where we lived when we lost,’ Campbell told Crain’s Detroit earlier this month.
After that loss, an angry student shared a post revealing the Campbell’s address alongside the caption, ‘Dumb f*** trying to for it,’ as reported by the Detroit News via police reports.
That’s in reference to how Campbell twice passed on kicking a fourth-down field goal – with those six points missed ultimately leading to the Lions squandering a 17-point halftime lead.
This post was particularly frightening to Campbell’s daughter, according to reports, which led the Lions and NFL security personnel to get involved.
That evening, after 11:00pm, individuals appeared at the family home which ‘scared the daughter who left for the night,’ according to Bloomfield Township Police.
Lyle Dungy, who works on the NFL’s security team, reportedly informed Bloomfield police in late January that a classmate of Campbell’s daughter had posted the family address on Snapchat.
The individual in question is a year behind Campbell’s daughter at an ‘exclusive private school,’ according to the Detroit News.
Police then touched base with a school security officer regarding the post and later spoke to the student’s mother, Leslie.
The mother apologized to Campbell’s wife, Holly, and added that her son didn’t intend to hurt the family, according to reports.
‘Leslie stated that she was aware of the situation and that Mrs. Campbell had already contacted her and left her a message about (the classmate’s) post,’ the police report stated, per the Detroit News.
‘Leslie stated (her son) ‘re-posted, the post was only up for 3 minutes, he had 30 views on the post, believed it was a fake address, and quickly removed it after he thought about it.’
The report added: ‘Leslie told me that the Campbell’s address is publicly out there online and that her son did not contribute to anyone showing up.’
Speaking to investigators, the student who posted the snap said he was watching the loss with a pair of friends when he saw a post on Snapchat calling for folks to ‘egg Dan Campbell’s house’ with the address.
‘(The classmate) found humor in the post … (and) said he copied the address and posted his own story where he took a picture of the floor and used the address he had seen earlier,’ per the police report.
After feeling ‘distraught’ from the defeat, the student and his friends say they drove to Bloomfield Hills. He also told police that ‘they may have passed’ the Campbell’s house. Investigators said there was no ‘reasonable way of passing the residence’ based on its location.
One investigator said told the Campbell’s that this situation didn’t qualify for the filing of criminal charges.
‘Holly’s only concern is that their address is out there now, and she fears next season people will know when her husband is out of town and try to take advantage of that,’ the investigator stated, per the report.
According to the private school’s security staffer (via the police report), the students drove to the Campbell’s home, parked on the street, and started yelling at the house.
‘(The classmate) stated that they were yelling not nice things toward the house before they drove off,’ the investigator stated in the report.
This one doxxing incident was one of several that the Campbell’s endured over the course of a month – with four police reports having been filed involving their house from December 31, 2023 to the days following the 49ers loss on January 28 of this year according to the Detroit News.
These other situations reportedly involved phone calls and unwanted visitors – with ‘extra patrol’ being called in for New Years Eve.
Lions security director Elton Moore reportedly called in to Bloomfield Township Police saying that Campbell’s address had been posted and telling them to go to the home. Campbell’s daughter was with her boyfriend but ended up leaving the home due to the attention.
An officer remained outside the house until 1:30am the following morning but saw ‘nothing suspicious’, per the Detroit News.
‘Vehicles and people did show up outside their residence but did not necessarily enter the property,’ an investigator stated, per the Detroit News. ‘The boyfriend went outside in his vehicle and flashed his headlights at anyone approaching causing these people to turn off and leave.
‘The Campbells were nervous for the safety of their daughter and instructed her to leave the home with her boyfriend for the evening. I assured the Campbells that we would send a patrol unit to the home and extra-patrol it for the evening.’
The Campbell’s have since moved and the new home hasn’t been referenced in any police calls.
‘No disrespect, man. I don’t even want to go there with any of it,’ Campbell said last Friday before a 20-13 road win over the Cardinals. ‘It’s all good. Man, I’ve got a job to do. My primary job here is to coach this team and have them prepared every week. I’ve got to do my job and that’s the sole focus.’
Despite these disturbing incidents, Campbell still thinks highly of Detroit’s fanbase.
‘I love our fans,’ Campbell said. ‘Fans are unbelievable. This city, there’s nowhere that I would want to be or any other team I’d want to coach for. It’s rare to have an environment like we have and be able to coach here, play here and I tell our guys all the time. This is a rare spot and you better enjoy it because not every place has it like we have it.’
