Dave Fipp joined the Lions coaching staff in 2021 as the special teams coordinator after spending eight seasons (2013-20) with the Philadelphia Eagles in the same role. He has spent over 20 seasons coaching between the collegiate and NFL levels.
"I think Fipp is a superstar," Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell said. "He gets his shot in Philly, and I think he's, just from afar, he was always one of the best special teams coaches. So, to be able to get him, the timing was right, and you see what he does. I think it's probably been our most consistent unit out of the three phases. We've got a pretty good core group of guys, but he's been great. I just think he's an outstanding teacher and he's high energy and I think you have to be both to be a good special teams coach."
Entering his fourth season with the franchise in 2024, Fipp's special teams units have continued to be utilized as an integral weapon within Detroit's game plans each week. During the 2023 season, Fipp was a part of a coaching staff that helped the Lions to a 12-5 record, tying the single-season franchise record for wins in a season. The 2023 coaching staff was the club's third coaching staff in team history to win multiple playoff games, and the first coaching staff to do so since 1957. Fipp's work was also key to helping Detroit clinch their first Division Championship since 1993 and advance to their first NFC Championship since 1991. The Lions' opponents started their average drive at their 23.7-yard line, the worst starting field position in the NFL.
Fipp's unit was led by team captain, LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin, who was named to his first Pro Bowl in 2023. During the season, Reeves-Maybin earned an NFC Special Teams Player of the Week award, after he produced four special teams tackles against the New Orleans Saints in Week 13. Under Fipp's coaching, Reeves-Maybin recorded 13 total special teams tackles (nine solo) on the year, tied for the second-most across the League in 2023. Reeves-Maybin became the first Lions special teamer who was not a punter, kicker, kick returner, or long-snapper to make a Pro Bowl.
In 2022, the group played a pivotal role in turning around the team's record, winning eight of the last 10 games of the season. In Fipp's second season leading the group, the special teams unit helped the Lions' offense start their average drive at their 27.0-yard line after kickoffs, the second-best rate in the NFL in 2022. Detroit's 26.1 (yards) kickoff return average ranked third in the NFL in 2022, while leading the NFL with 85.3% of kickoff returns being 20 or more yards. Since Fipp was hired in 2021, his unit has gained a reputation for its creativity. P Jack Fox has converted three fake-punt passes for first downs. Also, since being hired in 2021, Fipp's unit is eight-of-10 (80%) on fake punt attempts. Four of those conversions have come via rushes and the other four have come via passes from Fox and Reeves-Maybin.
In Fipp's first season in Detroit, his unit was among the best in the NFL. Despite all NFL teams being a combined 9-for-56 (16.07%) on onside kick attempts, the Lions were the only team with multiple onside kick recoveries, leading the League with three in 2021. The team's three-of-nine (33.33%) conversion rate marked the most successful onside kick recoveries the Lions have had in a season since at least 1997, when the data began to be tracked.
With Fipp's oversight as special teams coordinator between 2013-19, the Eagles ranked second in the NFL in special teams touchdowns (12) and total blocks (18). During that period, the Eagles returned four kickoffs for touchdowns, four punt returns for touchdowns and four blocked punt returns for touchdowns. Additionally, they registered 11 blocked punts and seven blocked kicks.
The Eagles had many standouts on special teams during the 2019 season. LS Rick Lovato earned his first Pro Bowl selection in 2019 after helping K Jake Elliott reach a career-high 84.6% FG percentage and P Cameron Johnston produce top 10 finishes in gross (46.4, 9th) and net (42.3, 8th) punting averages.
Before his exceptional contributions in 2019, Fipp helped Johnston have a strong 2018 campaign, in which he set single-season team records in both gross (48.2) and net (42.7) punting averages while ranking third and fourth in the NFL respectively. Fipp had a helping hand in guiding Elliott to a memorable rookie season in 2017 when Elliott converted the longest regular-season (61 yards) and postseason (53 yards) field goals in franchise history. Elliott also kicked the longest field goals (42, 46 yards) by a rookie in Super Bowl history that season in Philadelphia's Super Bowl LII victory.
Fipp played an integral role in helping return specialist Darren Sproles, earn two consecutive Pro Bowl berths for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. In 2014, Sproles earned All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors for the first time in his career after leading the NFL in punt return average (13.0), punt return yards (506) and punt returns for touchdowns (two). In addition to helping Sproles' breakout campaign in 2014, rookie K Cody Parkey recorded a historical kicking season amongst all-time Eagles rookies en route to Pro Bowl honors. Parkey (150 points) broke Kevin Butler's NFL rookie record and the Eagles' record for points scored in a single season while finishing second in the League in scoring. LS Jon Dorenbos completed the trifecta for Eagles specialists who earned Pro Bowl honors in 2014, earning himself a bid as well under Fipp's coaching.
Sproles followed up the 2014 season by again earning the crown as the League's leader in punt return yards and touchdowns in 2015. The Eagles special teams unit posted the second-highest punt return average (11.4) in the League and added three touchdowns in 2015.
In Fipp's second season with the Eagles, Fipp's unit ranked first in Rick Gosselin's Dallas Morning News special teams ranking. The Eagles special teams group finished first in the NFL with seven special teams touchdowns during the 2014 season.
Fipp's first NFL experience came with the San Francisco 49ers from 2008-10, where he helped P Andy Lee rank third in the League in gross punting yards (12,069), gross punting average (47.1), and net punting yards (10,147) in that span. Lee earned Pro Bowl honors in 2009 after leading the NFC in gross punting yards (4,711), gross punting average (47.6) and net punting yards (4,056). Fipp went on to work with the Miami Dolphins in a similar position coaching special teams from 2011-12.
Fipp began his coaching career in 1998 as the special teams coordinator at Holy Cross. After two seasons at Holy Cross, he was a graduate assistant at Arizona (2000) before stints at Cal Poly (2001-03), Nevada (2004) and San Jose State (2005-07) working in defensive coordinator roles. Prior to coaching, Fipp began his collegiate playing career at Arizona. A four-year letterman and former walk-on, Fipp played for the Wildcats from 1994-97. He was a leading tackler on special teams as a sophomore in 1995 and started at safety during his final two years with the Wildcats. The Wildcats' defense finished as one of the top defensive units in the Pac-10 Conference and ranked 12th nationally in rushing defense.
Raised in San Diego, Calif., Fipp and his wife, Jenny, have two daughters, Ashlee and Lilly, and a son, Tyler.
