Report: Lions hire firm to assist with GM search

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press

The Detroit Lions have hired a search firm to help find their next general manager, NFL.com reported today.

The Lions declined comment on the report, but owner Martha Ford said Thursday that the franchise planned to conduct a "national search" for replacements for team president Tom Lewand and general manager Martin Mayhew.

Both Lewand and Mayhew were fired last week with the Lions an NFL-worst 1-7.

"I want to assure our fans that we intend to identify and hire the very best leadership in order to produce a consistently winning football team," Ford said in a prepared statement last week. "Our fans deserve a winning football team, and we will do everything possible to make it a reality."

The expectation had been that the Lions would use a consultant or search firm, plus seek help from the NFL's career development advisory panel, to identify candidates.

Two members of that panel, Hall-of-Fame general manager Ron Wolf and Ernie Accorsi, told The Free Press last week that the Lions had not yet contacted them about assisting in the search.

Wolf, who consulted along with Charlie Casserly on the New York Jets' GM search last winter, said consultants and search firms -- Korn Ferry, led by former Michigan assistant coach Jed Hughes, is the most prominent -- identify candidates according to the criteria set forth by ownership and help run interviews.

"It's their call," Wolf said. "They're going to do it. and it's how they feel about the individual. I mean, one thing you cannot do as a consultant is ram somebody down their throat. You can't do that, because that's not what you're there for. You're there to make sure that, essentially, basically, all the Is are dotted and the Ts are crossed. Not everybody's perfect. Everybody's going to have shortcomings, but it's how you wade through that."

The Lions return to practice Monday for the first time since Lewand and Mayhew were fired.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our free Lions Xtra app on your Apple and Android devices.