Former Super Bowl-Winning Coach With Eagles Is Excited To Return With Lions

The Philadelphia Eagles will see the return of a coach who helped them win a Super Bowl in the 2017 season, and he's fired up about coming back.

LB Ben Niemann walks off the field special teams coordinator Dave Fipp during day two of the Detroit Lions training camp at the Detroit Lions Headquarters in Dearborn, Mich. on Thursday, July 25, 2024. | Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA TODAY NETWORK

PHILADELPHIA – Everybody remembers that Doug Pederson was the head coach for the Eagles when they won their very first Super Bowl in the 2017 season. There’s a statue outside the stadium, a forever reminder on the off-chance that it slips anyone’s mind.

You can probably remember who the offensive and defensive coordinators were, too – Frank Reich and Jim Schwartz. The special team coordinator, though? Kudos if you recall.

Special teams coordinators are probably only a notch above long snappers when it comes to naming at least five of them around the league. Maybe that’s wrong. Maybe more fans are aware of special team coordinators if he is the one coordinating your team's special teams.

For the Eagles in that Super Bowl season of 2017, it was Dave Fipp, who is now the special teams coordinator for the Detroit Lions. He fondly remembers his time in Philly, especially the Super Bowl title.

“It’ll be incredible,” he told reporters during his news conference in Detroit earlier this week. “I love the place. It was an incredible experience there. I was there for eight years. We have a lot of friends. My kids spent a lot of their childhood years growing up there; they love it. They have a lot of friends there.

“We had a lot of success as a team and individually as well for us on special teams, so that was good. Then obviously we won a Super Bowl. That was incredible. Gong back there will be epic. I can’t wait. I’m fired up. I look forward to being on the other side of it to see that side of it too. Those fans are incredible. They’re very fanatic and passionate about the game and they’re very knowledgeable too, so it’ll be fun.”

Avonte Maddox Also Returning to Philly

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Andrei Iosivas (80) pulls in a catch as he’s wrapped up by Detroit Lions cornerback Avonte Maddox (29) in the fourth quarter of the NFL Week 5 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Detroit Lions at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. The Bengals continued a losing streak, falling 37-24 to the Lions. | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

There are former Eagles on the Lions’ roster – defensive back Avonte Maddox and offensive lineman Kayodi Awosika – are two, but it was Fipp who won a ring in Philly. He’s been chasing another ever since he went to Detroit in 2021.

“I have one ring and I have three kids,” he said. “One of them gets it. We have to get two more, so we can give one to each one.”

The Eagles had some of the best special teams in the NFL during Fipp’s eight years on the job with Chip Kelly and then with Pederson. He was one of the coaches swept out of town after that 4-11-1 season in 2020.

“I think those people appreciate you forever, no matter what,” said Fipp about Eagles fans. “That’s what we gotta make sure we get done here. It was great. I don’t know that it changes a whole lot for me individually, other than you know, deep down at the end of the day, it’s probably a reward, maybe more than anything, for my parents, the sacrifices and commitment they made helping get me through high school and junior high school, all that stuff. Maybe they feel like, 'Hey, he actually did something,' and it was worth all the struggle they went through.”

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