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Meet the Detroit Lions Coaching Staff; Tipping the Scales in 2015

By Nate Williams

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Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

2015 Detroit Lions Coaching Staff – Defense (cont), Special Teams

Linebackers Coach, Bill Sheridan – Bill Sheridan is a Michigan man and former high school football coach to Lions executive, Tom Lewand. Sheridan coached Lewand and Shrine High School in the early 1980’s.

After moving on from his high school roots, Sheridan became the linebacker coach at Maine. He followed with stops at Cincinnati, Army, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Michigan, before making the jump to the NFL in 2005 to coach linebackers for the New York Giants.

Sheridan was also the defensive coordinator briefly for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the Greg Schiano regime.

He joined the Lions last offseason.

Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Defensive Backs/Cornerbacks Coach, Tony Oden – A 12-year coaching veteran when it comes to tutoring NFL defensive backs, Tony Oden joined the Lions coaching staff in 2014 as the team’s defensive backs/cornerbacks coach.

Prior to coming to Detroit, Oden was the secondary coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he specialized in the development of the team’s cornerbacks.

Special Teams Coach, Joe Marciano – Joe Marciano is the newest member of the Lions coaching family. He takes over the job from John Bonamego, who left the Lions to become the new head coach at his alma mater, Central Michigan University.

Marciano and Caldwell have worked together before. Marciano was the special teams coordinator with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2001 when Caldwell was the team’s quarterback coach.

"“Joe obviously has had a remarkable career,” Caldwell said in a statement. “First of all, we were trying to find a guy that had a significant amount of experience. We have a fairly veteran team and we wanted to make certain that we had a guy in there who has been through it before and understands how to implement a new system. Not only that, he had results in the past.”"

He was the special teams coordinator in Houston from 2002-13 and held the same position in Tampa Bay six seasons prior to that. He began coaching in the NFL in 1986.

He inherits a Lions special teams unit that ranked 15th in the NFL last season.

For the best of the rest of the Detroit Lions coaching staff that did not make our meet and greet, you can view the remaining staff at DetroitLions.com.

“You don’t always have to have the biggest names and the guys with the longest resumes. You have to have good people who can teach and communicate and they believe in what they’re doing and they can communicate that to the players with passion.”

“I think that’s what the Lions have. It’s a good diverse mix. Guys from different backgrounds and different experience, but I think Jim (Caldwell) has come across them all at some point and he knows that the way he’s trying to do it, and what’s going to become the Lions’ way of doing things. That’s what these guys believe in.” – Super Bowl winning head coach, Tony Dungy

Next: Detroit Lions: Training Camp Start Dates, Early Concerns

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