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“Not to get into all the specifics, but I really didn’t like it when there were people who left here with a bad taste in their mouth — the list was getting a little long,” Campbell told The Ottawa Citizen on his way out. “You have to treat people well, you have to treat them right, empower them, value them. If you do that, people will go through the wall for you. If you don’t, it can make it tougher.

“I just want to make sure all the people who have left this place feel appreciated and feel valued. It wasn’t a power play or anything like that. It was about everybody pulling in the same direction and making it a fun place to work — for me, that was slipping, but that’s on me.”

His new boss, Lions GM Ed Hervey, says Campbell checks every box that he was looking for in a new coach.

“His extensive coaching experience and past success combined with the universal respect he has earned from players and coaches across our league make him the best candidate for this position by quite a wide margin,” Hervey said.

A graduate of Washington State University, Campbell began his coaching career in 1996 at the University of Oregon, where he served as a graduate assistant with the Ducks’ coaching staff, helping with the defensive secondary and special teams.

He then jumped to the CFL in 1999 and spent the next six years as defensive secondary and special-teams coordinator before being promoted to defensive coordinator from 2005-2008.

Campbell also had coaching-staff appointments in Winnipeg and Calgary before landing the head job with the expansion Redblacks in 2014.