{"id":761482,"date":"2026-02-19T02:17:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T02:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/761482\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T02:17:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T02:17:21","slug":"lions-president-rod-wood-to-retire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/761482\/","title":{"rendered":"Lions President Rod Wood To Retire"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 10 years of service with the Lions, team president\/CEO Rod Wood will be retiring<\/a> from his position in Detroit. He will remain with the team until a \u201cglobal search\u201d led by Russell Reynolds Associates finds his replacement. The search for Wood\u2019s successor is set to begin immediately.<\/p>\n

Wood was hired by the Lions<\/a> in 2015 following the dismissal of his predecessor, Tom Lewand. Then-team owner Martha Ford reportedly promised to conduct<\/a> \u201ca national search for the best leadership to manage (the) team going forward\u201d after firing Lewand. Two weeks later, the position was given to Wood, who was already extremely familiar with Ford from his prior occupation as president and CEO of Ford Estates. Despite the team\u2019s claim that Wood had been working closely with the team throughout Lewand\u2019s tenure, which began after the Lions became the first NFL franchise to record a winless season, Wood acknowledged his lack of football experience, telling reporters<\/a> that he \u201cwould probably say that (he\u2019s) not qualified to run any other NFL team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Detroit intended for Wood to focus solely on the business side of the front office, while the team\u2019s general manager would handle all things personnel. Wood still held some personnel-related duties tied to financials including management of the Lions\u2019 salary cap and the signing of any high-value players. During his tenure, Wood oversaw the first planned major renovations to Ford Field since it had opened in 2002, completely overhauling the stadium\u2019s videoboards and sound system and upgrading club seating areas. The team also installed new turf in 2023, replacing the previous 10-year-old turf with one meant to provide a more grass-like feel and improve player safety, though the results have since been questioned by the NFLPA.<\/p>\n

During Wood\u2019s tenure the Lions were 85-85-2, but seeing winning records in each of the past four seasons shows a positive trajectory for the franchise that had only seen two winning seasons in the 15 years before Wood was hired. The statement released by the team relayed that \u201cWood and his wife, Susan, are proud parents and grandparents who are excited to spend more time together and with their family,\u201d so it appears that the executive in his mid-60s will be retiring from the workforce instead of returning to other business ventures. He gave the following quote in the Lions\u2019 release:<\/p>\n

I want to thank the Ford Family and, ultimately, Lions fans everywhere for trusting me to lead the Detroit Lions for the last 11 seasons. It has been an absolute thrill for me to lead this organization, and I am proud of what we have accomplished over that decade-plus. I am most proud of where I am leaving this organization, in the capable hands of (team owner) Sheila Hamp, (general manager) Brad Holmes, and (head coach) Dan Campbell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After 10 years of service with the Lions, team president\/CEO Rod Wood will be retiring from his position…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,2506,7,147,6,79748],"class_list":{"0":"post-761482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-detroitlions","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-lions","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-rod-wood"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116094897049894368","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}