The recent love surrounding the New Orleans Saints and their new head coach has been refreshing, to say the least. Darren Rizzi, who previously served as the team's special teams coordinator and assistant head coach under Dennis Allen, was appointed the Saints' interim head coach on November 4th, following the firing of Dennis Allen.
Rizzi immediately made changes for the better, including the implementation of an activation period to keep players in good shape and healthy, the rearrangement of the locker room to get guys to come together as one, and the daily approach of being a player-friendly coach who is authentically himself.
In his opening press conference, Rizzi seemed eerily similar to the press conference that current Detroit Lions' head coach Dan Campbell gave when he took over that position in 2021. That doesn't come as too much of a surprise as they coached together for eight years and Rizzi reached out to Dan Campbell for advice after he accepted the interim role.
Am I the only one getting Dan Campbell vibes from Darren Rizzi?
— Michael Balko (@MichaelBalkoJr) November 4, 2024
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Darren Rizzi reached out to Dan Campbell after being named Saints interim head coach
Rizzi and Campbell coached together with the Miami Dolphins from 2010-2015 and in New Orleans together from 2019-2020. Campbell and Rizzi both became in-season interim head coaches (Campbell in Miami in 2015) and both won their first game as interim head coaches. Campbell wound up going 5-7 as Miami's interim head coach in 2015 before he was replaced by Adam Gase prior to the 2016 season.
Another similarity to Dan Campbell and Darren Rizzi is how well the players respond to their coaching style. They share the same player-first qualities while also having a genuine and emotional approach to the sport itself. Players love playing for guys like that, and it showed when the Saints spoiled the Atlanta Falcons' win streak in Week 10.
"Kind of like Dan Campbell in a way, do you know when your team is ready to play for somebody? You could tell the team was ready to play for (Darren Rizzi)."
— St. Brown Podcast (@StBrownPodcast) November 13, 2024
Equanimeous talks about the Saints playing under interim head coach Darren Rizzi and beating the Falcons 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/ToMtfFLhWD
Saints' receiver Equanimeous St. Brown compared Darren Rizzi to Dan Campbell, while other players Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Lucas Patrick compared him to Andy Reid and mentioned how he's the same guy every day regardless of where the team is at. That's very high praise for Rizzi, who you'd have to assume is in the mix to take the full-time reigns of the New Orleans Saints in 2025.
He’ll look to go 2-0 as an NFL head coach on Sunday when the Saints host the Cleveland Browns. The Saints currently sit three games behind the Falcons for the top spot in the NFC South with matchups against the Browns (2-7), Los Angeles Rams (4-5), and New York Giants (2-8) coming up.