Tyler Roehl’s road to the Detroit Lions began in Fargo with a conversation with Lions head coach Dan Campbell.
“I think it was at Trey Lance’s Pro Day, if I’m quite sure.” Roehl said. “We just started talking off on the side and picking each other’s brains. That’s where it started, years ago.”
Roehl was named the new tight ends coach of the Lions Tuesday, leaving Iowa State University after one year as the assistant coach and running backs coach of the Cyclones. The former North Dakota State standout running back left Fargo after spending ten seasons on the Bison coaching staff. It was widely known that Roehl was a finalist for the open head coach job that went to Tim Polasek in December 2023.
“Sometimes you know in life, you’re not out searching for a job, but the job finds you.” said Roehl. “This has been a goal of mine and something that I was aspiring to get to this level. I was really, really happy, and my family was really, really happy in Ames, Iowa, but this is just an opportunity that we couldn’t say no to.”
The last thirteen months have been a whirlwind for the West Fargo native. It began with Polasek promoting Roehl to associate head coach in early January 2024. Two and a half weeks later Roehl was hired to be the offensive coordinator at Tennessee State, working for Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Eddie George.
Roehl was in Nashville for a month before Matt Campbell called him and offered him the job at Iowa State. He was bitterly disappointed that he didn’t get the Bison head coach job. Now he’s off to the NFL.
“Did I imagine it going this way after being in North Dakota for 37-38 years of my life to then going to Nashville to Ames to Detroit? No, I didn’t. But everything has and will happen for a reason.
The places that you are put into, the people that you’re surrounded with. There’s a plan. Don’t know what the plan is. It’s bigger than myself, and just again, taking it in stride.”
Roehl now heads to a team that is coming off an NFL-best 15 wins in 2024. Dan Campbell had to re-tool his entire coaching staff after losing both of his coordinators to head coaching jobs. Ben Johnson, his offensive coordinator, took the head coach job with the Chicago Bears, while defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn was hired as the new coach of the New York Jets.
Glenn hired the Lions tight ends coach Steve Heiden to coach the Jets offensive line, creating the opening that Roehl will fill with the Lions.
He’ll lead a group that includes one of the best in the NFL at that position in Sam LaPorta. LaPorta racked up 60 receptions for 726 yards and seven touchdowns this past season. In a unique twist, when Polasek was the offensive line coach at the University of Iowa, he was part of the staff to help recruit LaPorta to the Hawkeyes.
Now Roehl will get to coach him in the NFL.
Former #NDSU standout player and coach Tyler Roehl will coach the tight ends for the Detroit Lions. https://t.co/L0hmJCYVO7
— Dom Izzo (@DomIzzoWDAY) February 18, 2025
“I take it as a challenge, because I want to find ways to help them get better, to be the absolute best on a mission here, to do things better than they’ve ever been done before.” Roehl said.
“That’s not changing from when I was at Iowa State to North Dakota State, I want to be the best position coach in the National Football League. So how can I continue to be curious, create the right habits to have impact and influence on those guys daily, to raise their standard of play.”
Roehl’s ascension up the coaching ladder has been a steady one. It began at Concordia (MN) coaching the running backs for Terry Horan in 2010. He returned to NDSU as a graduate assistant for the Bison first Division I title team, then spent two years at Moorhead High School.
When Chris Klieman was hired at NDSU, he brought Roehl in to coach the tight ends and fullbacks in 2014, a job he had for five years. When Klieman left for Kansas State, Matt Entz hired Roehl as his offensive coordinator, a job he had until he left Fargo in 2023.
The connections between the Lions and the Bison were already established last season. Detroit’s offensive line coach is Hank Fraley, his son Trent, just completed his first season as the starting center for the Bison. Roehl says that he had his attention fixed on NDSU’s national title win over Montana State in Frisco.
Two of NDSU’s standout players; Cam Miller and Grey Zabel still hold a close connection to Roehl.
“There’s a lot of guys in that program that I still love,and guys that you know.
Cam knows I love him. Grey knows that I love him.
I’m really hopeful for the guys that are aspiring to play at this level. I know there’s one young man that got invited to the NFL Combine, and another that was in an all-star game, and they’re going to continue to work hard, because they’ve got Bison pride, and they’re going to work hard to achieve their goals.” Roehl said.
Roehl’s routine now is pretty familiar. Looking over college game tape in preparing to head to Indianapolis next week for the NFL Combine. He acknowledges that’s about him for familiar things for the next year.
“Everything’s going to be new every single day from here on out, for the next 365, days, everything’s going to be brand new. You just wake up, you’re ready to go attack whatever’s in front of you and whatever’s placed in front of you.”
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