Expectations for Lions' New Principal Owner Sheila Ford Hamp

The Detroit Lions announced on Tuesday that Martha Firestone Ford was stepping down as the team’s principal owner.

Sheila Ford Hamp -- Martha and the late William Clay Ford Sr.’s daughter -- will take over in place of her 94-year-old mother.

The move was not completely unexpected, as Hamp has recently been more involved in meetings and as an overall presence within the Lions organization. Sooner or later, the transition from Martha to Sheila was going to happen.

Despite the Lions technically having new ownership, Hamp is still part of the Ford family.

It’s fair to ask if there will be any real tangible results swapping out one Ford family member for another.

Unfortunately, there is no one to hold owners accountable for their own shortcomings.

It’s their team, their rules.

No matter the case, here should be the expectations for Hamp:

1.) Raise the bar

It’s no secret that the Lions are one of the worst franchises in the Super Bowl era when it comes to winning.

The Lions have one of the lowest bars for expectations in the entire league.

For most organizations, just getting to the playoffs is not considered some great accomplishment -- and definitely not deserving of a banner hung up in the rafters.

Being in the hunt for the playoffs is the bare minimum for plenty of the teams. Don’t accept a losers' mentality.

This is a franchise that has seemed content with losing at times and has allowed regimes to float around for too long without any results.

The culture and mindset of what success looks like need to be properly adjusted.

2.) Let the football minds make the football decisions

As the co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, has put it, “It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do."

It’s tough to gauge how much input the Fords have with the day-to-day decisions around the team, but it would appear that Martha took a rather hands-off approach.

Hopefully, that will remain consistent with Hamp.

Obviously, Hamp will be responsible for hiring/firing general managers and likely even have a say in the coaching staff.

Outside of that, let the people she brings in do their jobs. No need to micromanage.

There are more than a few owners out there that dabble with key personnel decisions. However, that doesn’t seem to be a strong suit of the Fords nor should it be attempted.

3.) Win

As simple as it gets, find a way to win.

A lot easier said than done, but there is a reason why certain teams always find a way to rise to the top.

They have an insatiable desire to win and find a way to make it happen.

Detroit is a town absolutely starving for postseason success.

It doesn’t always feel as if the Fords share the same sentiment.

There needs to be some sort of killer instinct to win that comes from the top-down.

That never seemed to be the case while Hamp’s parents were in charge.

As phony as it sounds to blame ownership for the Lions' decades of futility, the Ford family is, at the end of the day, the one common denominator.

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