Uh it’s an incredible day for Wasington football I’d like to start first by thanking uh my partners Mitch Mark uh Irvin Johnson David Blitzer and the rest of the ownership group for uh supporting me and also Rick Spielman and Bob Meyers uh they were incredible during the
Process so thanks thanks you all for the help um today when we when Adam and I were last year we told you we were going to go find the best leader for Washington football someone that we felt would lead Washington to be an El lead franchise and Dan I’m so excited that
We’re here together uh and welcome to Washington and so after a thorough process we’d love to introducing you to the city here um Stacy welcome to Washington and on behalf of the city and the DMV thank you both for choosing uh to be on this Mission with us in support of the
City so Dan you’ve gotten down to work quickly all I know is uh uh you know we we got all together Friday and then uh over the weekend uh Cliff Kingsbury incredible offensive coordinator and Joe wit incredible defense of mine uh have joined our franchise and obviously we’re
Very excited about those two individuals I’ll let Dan describe them but that’s what it takes it takes being able to attract the best people uh to create a unit to create a culture to create a system to create a team where you can then recruit uh the best players on the
Field you get when you get the best off the field when you bet get the best team off the field you get the best team on the field on behalf of commanders fans I am thrilled to welcome you Dan Stacy uh Joe and Cliff to the city of
Washington and fans with your support the future of Washington football is bright thank you for uh your support it’s because of you all that everyone is here now I’ll turn it over to Adam thanks Josh well when we sat set out to hire the next head coach of the Washington
Commanders we wanted to I said earlier we wanted to hire the best leader for our team and we went through a really thorough process as you all know we spoke with a ton of great candidates but our process led us to the decision that Dan Quinn was the perfect man for the
Job coach Quinn has all the qualities we’re looking for he’s an unquestionably one of the best leaders in the NFL you can ask anybody who’s been around him coaches players he’s a top-notch communicator an excellent teacher and developer not only of players but of coaches and he’s smart he’s driven and
He’s really more than all anything a phenomenal person and just a great great great person who’s going to lead this team the right way um he’s one of the best defensive Minds in the NFL he’s proven that time and time again he can build Elite coaching staffs which which
Josh alluded to he’s already started he he attracts talent because of the type of person and man that he is um he maximizes that talent and and that’s what we’re doing we’re building a great staff and he’s he’s really kicking it off really well he and I have a shared
Vision that we’re going to build a team that with the play style and the identity that you guys will all love to watch the fans of the commanders not only just here in the DMV but all over the world will love watching Dan’s team
Play um Dan and I are going to be in lock step and everything we do we already are and we will continue to be we will keep the team and staff connected he has a track record of tying building buildings together and he’s going to build tie this whole building
Together from the lunchroom to the meal room to the weight room to the equipment room to the locker room and that that’s how we’re going to do it and we’re going to all be moving in the same direction so I can’t wait to work with Dan
We we’re going to embark on a really really fun journey together this is going to be a great and important off offseason we’ve already started but the work is just beginning so with that I want to hand it over to our new head coach Dan Quinn all
Right man this is uh this is such a awesome moment and what an outstanding privilege an honor and absolute joy to be sitting here beside these outstanding men and and joining them in this opportunity to to have the vision of this historic franchise so thank you to to Josh and to
Adam and to everybody in the organization and the ownership group that’s uh that’s been a part of this so spoiler alert you’ll hear me say often uh be where your feet are and actually I try not to say it I do try to live it and I’m pretty good at it
Too with one exception over the past few years there’s five words that have probably tested my feet and and my head if I get another shot and as a coach you prepare for it you study for it and there’s some lessons that you can’t study for there’s
Lessons that you just have to live and sometimes through success and sometimes also through adversity but once you learn those lessons all you want to do is grab them and run and prove it and uh so let me tell you I am ready to run and prove it
Run like hell and uh I’m a little older a little more Chrome and uh hopefully a little bit wiser and uh but I’m also incredibly grateful uh for all of that that has led to my feet being here and actually back to here um although I grew
Up a jersey kid watching the NFC East um for a long time and and uh that’s what football was to me that’s where my first love of it came but I also spent a good deal of my 20s here uh I went to Salsbury University about two hours south of here
And the best part of that was was my wife Stacy and that was the best call I ever made to say hey you want to go out so she said yeah and I said all right so 29 years later here we are she is my
Ride or die and has been with me on this uh football life that is ups and downs and uh and it’s an absolute awesome life that we share together so I also uh did football on track there and uh I also started my coaching career in Virginia
So my first coaching career was at first coaching job was at William and Mary and uh two guys on the team right now you’ll know their names Mike Tomlin and Shawn mcder so Mike was a senior wide receiver so he said all right I’ll pick you up tonight we’re going to the fraternity
Part I said all right this coaching gig’s pretty good you know like I get to still do what I like to do so next thing uh Sean was a sophomore DB and relationships like those are so valuable because in this league um you know it’s hard and so having guys that you can
Lean on uh for a long time that’s it so uh those guys too and I also coached at VMI so my early 20s Virginia was a big part so Stacey and I we know where we are and uh we know who who you are and we know what this franchise means to you
And uh what it will take to get it back to where it deserves to be I know you’re just starting to know me and that’s going to take some time because building trust it always does but I can’t wait to start earning it and that includes the players it includes
The staff every single man woman in this organization and each and every fan because that is who makes up the entire Washington Commander Team all of us and that’s awesome because I’m going to give myself a little Grace and allow one swear word here because I’ve done a pretty good job
So far I haven’t had any and I swear a lot but there is nothing I enjoy more than doing hard with good people and these guys here do some really good people and uh I cannot wait to get it rocking here I can’t wait and so we’ll hit the ground
Running there’s lots to do and uh but I want to let you know man I’ve been waiting on this moment and uh so to be here with you guys today I cannot wait to get this thing rocking so with all that said let’s begin questions your
Name k ESPN you said if I get another shot the lessons you learned what are some of the key lessons that you learn to apply that you can apply here yeah that’s awesome one John I think first and foremost um and leaving there I
Wanted to make sure I did a 360 to find you know what would be some potential blind spots you know that I did in in a good way of trying to take on too much at times and so that’s why for me coming into you know when I was looking if I
Got another shot there were a couple things that I wanted to find one you know was from the ownership side a team that support you know the general manager side to be in lock step and have a partner with and then the third part you know was like a fan base that was
Really wanting to go get after it the lessons for me was man be right right you know it’s the players and the team and it came from a good place of trying to help and solve problems but make sure keep the main thing the main thing John
And uh I had some time to test that in Dallas and so that was good for me to go and do that and go through that process because I’m a much stronger coach today than when I took over you know years back in Atlanta and so like I said
Earlier man you you want to run with those lessons and go prove it and the best competitive moments in my life have come when you had to go prove it and uh that’s what I want to apply other thing I would say is um just having gone
Through the process with a bunch of people uh you know Dan came in with a real vision for um how to build a cohesive staff that work together uh you know I think it is more than just one person uh it’s a front office that works together uh with everything analytics
Sports Science Player Development player selection and then it’s a coaching staff that brings a lot lot of both leadership and culture but also play calling and Innovation uh and and and Dan really had all that in his head he had a plan and uh he’s got a few more you know you saw
This weekend but he’s got a few more tricks off his sleeve uh and uh you know so it was really impressive John K ESPN at what point how are you um at what point were you you know there obviously a lot of names that are going to come out of at what point
Were you saw that Dan is the guy and you obviously probably known him for a while or knew of him so what point were you saw that he is the right guy for here every time we spoke with Dan it became more and more clear that he was the guy
And we interviewed him twice and both times it’s like we’re speaking the same language and it was really really cool had a great connection had a great shared Vision so it was almost right away that I knew Dan would be the great coach for us yeah hi Nick jafal with the Washington
Post um I guess this is for Adam and Josh first of all I know you guys have been through various coaching searches at P stops but working together on this one did anything surprise you about this process I mean look obviously uh the NFL has its own unique uh approach its own
Unique rules it’s very thorough process um certainly um there are um times where you’re allowed to talk to people and not allowed to talk to people so what that does is it creates you know a longer process uh and um it was a very so it
Was very thorough um and and so um you know and then it was great working with Adam I got to see him in action uh I got to see all the relationships that he had around the league um I got to see how prepared he was coming into the coaching
Uh search and then you know obviously uh how he uh bonded with candidates and how he bonded with coaching candidates and so all that uh really reflected well on Adam and I was very excited to be working with him through the process yeah for me Nikki it was it’s
All new to me so there’s all real surprising obviously there’s a lot of different rules you have to go through um the thing that really stood out to me is is having a thorough process leads you to the right person and that that’s really the big thing that getting D
That’s that’s what happened and for Dan um you’ve you’ve had interviews in I think each of the last two off Seasons what made this the right time for you to make this move and with this team you know Nikki I thought um coming in um you
Know as a coach who has done it before um I knew then what I was looking for you know I think when you’re first going through it is the first time you got to go get it and you got to go take it after you’ve been through the experience
You want to make sure that you can align it exactly like you want to do to go kick ass and so that’s what I was you know looking for specific markers because if I wasn’t going to find them then I wasn’t going to do it and I
Desperately wanted to but if the markers weren’t in line to say hey this alignment between ownership general manager the club um um I wouldn’t have so when this one was here um it was please call because this one um is different and this franchise has a historic mark
On the NFL and so that was different I knew that was different and so um once I knew ownership I knew general manager organization like everything checked Nikki and so it was uh the one that like was a you know a flashing light to me
That say this is this is the moment this is the one coach David Aldridge with the athletic welcome to DC thanks David um couple of questions for you one as you looked at the Personnel on this team what kind of stood out to you as I can
Work with that I can make that work yeah I thought um first side I’ll start with the defense because that’s you know unfortunately that’s sometimes where my eyes go first but I would say uh man was I impressed you know by the inside of the defense you know with the defensive
Tackles and knowing that it starts up front on both sides man you know defensive line and offensive line so that was the spot that jumped out to me you know as the defensive tackles and then the skill you know at receiver and you have to have elite players on the
Edge for the matchup so when they come David you know that’s when you got to go attack so those would have been the two things that jumped out to me I certainly you know played against the club so I know about more of the offensive players and game planning and studying but uh
This receiving group you know really had skill and they would test you and push you find matchups and so that to me of guys uh that’s where it stood out to me first uh number two in in our personal lives our spouses always provide this role but in your professional life who
Is the person that tells you that’s not a good idea yeah that that you listen to yes and I think you need that right you have to have somebody that can see around the corners and KN and protecting your blind spots and so when I referred
To that person um what I was looking for I was really referring to to Adam to say in this relationship it’s built on trust and we go through it together but in football you know the best of the best have this connection um rock solid and
You know at the core because they deal with things that no one else really does and so uh when you win more you know agulation when you lose it’s harder so having the person who’s the partner to go through those experiences with is really important and so I don’t know if
Bob Myers is here but Bob and Steve had given us a little insight I had known Steve as a friend I hadn’t known Bob but I saw what good looked like between a head coach and a general manager not just you know and there’s other sports
I’ve seen it obviously as well but I wanted to do we could do that for him and I a goal years from now to say Dan and Adam they did it the best that anybody’s done in professional sports and that’s a super high bar but that’s the standard that we want to get
It to because at the end of it it’s not about the credit or what it is that just about us over the long term kicking ass for a long time together and we both share that Vision so um on every organization and every team you need
That and so that’s why when I said why that was so damn important to me to find the right general manager to partner up with because they’re the ones that have to be shoulder-to-shoulder with you through the good and through the adversity as well and so each person has
That and Stacey is that no matter what so she’s first she knows football pretty good too but professionally it’s out hey guys JP Finley with NBC4 and 1067 the fan um Dan this’s a question for you your your records as a defensive coordinator speak for themselves it’s all very impressive when
You were coaching in Atlanta some of those defensive numbers weren’t there how do you take on your your second chance here what you do differently as a DC versus a head coach yeah is that the best that’s uh that’s one of the lessons to take on to say man I’ve got to make
Sure like you know after doing the 360 of leaving Atlanta of spreading myself self too thin and so where I need to be is right there with the offense right there with the defense and the Special Teams and not allow outside things to not outside things in the organization
Just more things to go so uh the main thing keep the main thing the main thing and that’s the players and the team and that’s why you know like I’ll lean on Adam so hard I didn’t want anything other than that you know to be right
There doing it so good news I had some chances over the last three years to do that and to prove that and to delegate and make sure I could keep the main thing and Focus right where it needed to be and that’s when the best results come
So uh you can’t turn back the clock but you do have to learn the lesson and that’s what I wanted to make sure when I left Atlanta it was during the middle of the season and so you have time to reflect it’s lonely it’s disappointing it’s depressing but you don’t want to
Just rinse and repeat you want to make sure how do I take this change it and then make sure you get to prove it again and so that was the Silver Lining in this like I’m a better version of me today than I was you know three and four
And five years ago and so that’s why I get to prove that and then this one for Josh and Adam throughout the coaching search it seems like it’s been very collaborative at what point does the collaboration maybe cease a little bit and it becomes more of the traditional
Hierarchy that you talked about building or or will it remain really collaborative throughout well I think it’s certain now I mean it’s all collabor I mean p way you’re always going to be collaborative and that’s and the alignment amongst the three of us amongst ownership uh obviously coaching and
Front office is very important but obviously um you know I hired um or I BR these these two gentlemen are sitting next to me because they know what they’re doing and they’re gonna Adam’s going to run the uh front office and the football Ops and Dan’s going to run the
Coaching staff and the onfield uh operation and like you know I’ll be there obviously and be educated and you know make sure that things going in the right direction but you know I’m not you know these this is their job right so um you know the collaboration will be there
But obviously um their ability to operate and do what they do uh starts today yeah I agree um with J what Josh said I learned a ton from Josh during this process so love to keep leaning on him throughout everything we do and then with Dan helping him he’s building his
Staff so I’m gonna help him with that he’s going to help us with finding players so that collaboration is going to continue through perpetuity it’s good you see word yeah teach I’m out this is I’m out smarted here this um hi Ben standing with the athletic uh Dan welcome to town um for
You uh in terms of this new opportunity how how do you see yourself I guess what type of Coach you ultimately going to be are you going to be calling plays do you see obviously you’re familiar with your defensive coordinator how will sort of that collaboration work as well yeah I
Think the big thing to to get across like the essence of head coaches to put it all together it’s not to be an offensive coach or a defensive coach or a special teams coach like it’s everything and that’s what the essence is of the job it’s the chemistry it’s
The messaging it’s the play style it’s the attitude it’s the swagger like that’s my number one job to make sure all of this comes together um obviously I cut my teeth on the defensive side so um that part’s important but Joe will call the plays on defense and Cliff will
Call the plays on offense and I’ll certainly be there the game management portion is so critical so I wanted to make sure the best version of me like I said is coaching the entire team and making sure our play style is so right that it’s a nightmare
For teams to play against between the Personnel you know that Adam puts together the scheme from the coaching side and then quite honestly for me the play style to say playing against us is really hard and the attitude the speed the effort the ball Hawking the tackling the finishing of blocks the explosive
Plays that’s how you know we create a nightmare to go against and we’re going to work our ass off to do that but as far as play calling um I’ll be involved with it but those guys will call the game but the essence of this job as a
Head coach isn’t just to be on one side it’s to tie everything together and that’s when I’m at my best and so that’s what I’ll do and uh for you and Adam obviously quarterback is such an important position in this sport you guys may have the opportunity to draft
One in the first round and Sam how is here as well how much of your conversations were about what happens at quarterback and how how important is Cliff to whatever it is you guys uh plan to do with that position yeah I’ll take that one if you yeah yeah really we just
Got started Ben so we haven’t even had discussions yet as the staff with that obviously it’s the most important position on the field and we’re going to put a lot of time into it but as of now we haven’t even gotten stting on that one Sam 48 with the Washington Post
Welcome to DC um why cliff and Joe well I think um I’ll take you back a bit and so when you’re getting prepared for this you don’t you’re not sure what job you’re going to get you know you’re you’re thinking okay this you know opportunity this opportunity so it’s a
Little different than being on their side where they were going to select where on the coaching side you were going to see where would be a good fit and the coaching staff would be the fit irregardless of where you went okay so for me selecting a place that I would be
Able to potentially coach didn’t have to do with did they have a quarterback or cap space or any of that it was ownership and general manager and fan base and what you could create together because cap space changes I was looking to say how could we do something long
Term to kick ass for a long time and continue to play well not just because they had one this or one that so Cliff has always been somebody um that I’ve kept up with um years ago we both coached in college and uh we first
Met each other at an award show and just kind of hit it off on that time then competed against each other I certainly followed his career you know through his time at Tech and then into Arizona competing and so in the same way of why I wanted to
Hire Kyle years ago like he was hard to go against he would stretch the field horizontally and vertically and going against Cliff those same feelings you had this is going to be tough matchups formation speed shots down the field aggressiveness boldness to go and so as
A coach you were writing down some names if this is something in your future that said if I get that shot this is somebody I would want to talk to and so that’s where the the start came from him um we’re really pumped that he’s going to
Be a part of it obviously I know people talk about you know his Acumen with quarterbacks and that’s proven but he’s also an excellent coach he’s not just you know the guy that’s going to be with the quarterbacks the whole time so I want to make sure I’m clear on that and
Then with Joe um it’s a little different because I had a chance to be shoulder-to-shoulder with him you know over the last three years in Dallas and through that time I’ve just seen the detail the connection um the play style you know and so to play good defense you better be a good
Tackling team and you better know how to take the ball away and those are two things Joe and the units that he was charged with have been excellent at and uh I think over the last three years you know with Joe there the team had been
You know at the top of the league in terms of takeaways and defensive touchdowns if you want to play good defense you better tackle because there’s so not talking about in the a gap I’m talking about there’s space plays that happen in today’s NFL and so
In that space had the technique to go and make tackles where uh guys like cliff and Kyle and everybody else want to create all this space to say you know make it hard so you better be a good tackling team and you better know how to get the ball away and show good
Disguises you know to make the quarterback have to read the coverages after he has the ball in his hand and Joe’s been exceptional at that through his career so that’s why when those moments come and you want to nail it uh you do it and you go for it and so I
Appreciate Josh and Adam when the moment came to go be uh aggressive um we were going to go do that can you take us through the timeline the emotions of interviewing this job and then what was the moment like when you got the call um yeah I’d be glad to do that it’s
Uh you know nobody’s ringing all right you put your phone back is anybody calling no they’re not calling so you know like is my phone working yes it’s still working so I so uh wanted uh this moment and so like you know you’re just
That and so Stace and I took a ride you know out in the car and we don’t we don’t ever do that like come on let’s get out of the house and so we just you know went around and and then uh Thursday night I think or whatever it
Was a couple nights ago um Adam had called and extended it out and so then you have to kind of wait overnight to um to get there and so you don’t sleep much that night and then it probably doesn’t fully hit you until you get your feet on
The ground here and so that was what was really cool about last night um we were not expecting to see Adam and his wife Jen there on the tarmac and so like that’s Brotherhood that’s showing like I’m in with you and that was awesome so you want the call you’re ready for
The call but it becomes more real when you get there because you know you want it you’re there but when you get it you’re pumped to say let’s let’s go do this and so Stacey’s uh been with me the whole time through it and so it’s all
The Good the Bad and everything in between and so this football life we live together is fun but um it’s moments like that that uh it’s it’s hard to stay present and be where your feet are you know in those moments but it’s also one
Of the really cool times to say man you get to go prove it and and kick ass and have fun doing it and so that’s what we plan on doing Sam I’ll tell you too he didn’t answer when I called he’s playing hard to get so it maybe wasel L on the first
Ring got to make him feel little some way you know Barry for luga from The Washington Post uh for Dan and Adam you’ve spoken about uh a shared Vision speaking the same language I wonder what that means is that in a football way like I like the
Hybrid 43 or what what what are some specific examples of sharing that language I think we can probably start I’ll start it then yeah kick it over to you I think it’s probably deeper than scheme you know because uh if you went around to the other 31
Teams there’d be a lot of same scheme there’s going to be wide Zone this passing concept it might be a version of cover three or manto man so all 32 places some of that it’s more about the play style and the vision of how to feature players into that play style and
So that’s one of the things that I love about coaching is finding unique traits that a player has and then how could we fit them into a system into a structure to make it happen and so I was fortunate in Dallas it pushed me further um into
New places into new things to find you know like a guy like Micah Parson who was wasn’t just a linebacker and he could do other things and so Adam and I have been at it together for a long time to know that there’s a play style and traits that players have
Of length and speed and ball Hawking ability and guys who can finish on offense whether the explosive play is a screen that can go or a line of scrimmage play like we both recognize that it does start up front and we know what that looks like and how it you know
Fits in together so we together wanted to make sure that like every time people see us play they said man these guys are fast they are physical they absolutely you know finish at a rate that’s not normal and so he’s seen what that’s looked like he’s lived it you know on
You know the three clubs you know on his way up to see all that and so having the ability to go to other teams there is advantage to that because for everybody else and I’ve said this to owners before I remember saying to the Jonesville we’ve never been anywhere
Else this is like this is the only way when you get to other places you find things that you would take along the way that you get to share about it and so just this morning he and I are going through the roster again and and talking
So it’s more of a play style and an attitude and traits than it is a scheme of a 34 or 4-3 football scheme evolves and but the player side of things and Adam and his staff and their crew of making sure we’re always finding ways to feature the unique things that players
Have and we’ll work really hard to do that here yeah I think you covered it all but I’ll I’ll probably be repeating you here a little bit but yeah it’s it’s that identity that play style that we’re looking for that when you’re watching the this we call it the silent tape when
Where you watch it on TV and you turn the volume down you just see how fast and physical and aggressive you are on both sides of the ball finishers that type of style is what you’re looking for and whether it’s 43 3 four however you want to talk wide Zone any type of
Offense it’s finding those types of guys that and it’s really the type of people that we want to bring bring in the building and people that love football who are going to you know give it all for for us on on the field so really throughout the whole process
Where it’s like we’re speaking the same language it’s like I’m interviewing almost a person just like me who thinks the same way about football so I think that would answer your question hopefully that’s cool yeah Dan chick Hernandez W USA 9 UM you’re filling out your staff you’ve got Cliff kingsberry
As your OC what happens now to Eric benemy you know I had a good visit uh chick I’m glad that you brought up EB because um I think he’s an excellent coach and so I had a chance to visit with him uh today and so we’ll continue
That dialogue to go you know no longer we’re not going to work together here but in this coaching Brotherhood I wanted him to know uh man I really respect the work that he’s done and uh as coaches you know we all stay connected even though we’re on different
Teams so I wish EB nothing but the best and uh he’ll do a great job I was really uh pumped that he took his shot this year and went for it and so I’ve got a lot of respect for him and Josh you’ve got two other squads that you you you
Manage how different was the search for head coach here considering this is a team that you grew up watching and and what it means to you personally look obviously growing up in Washington and Chevy Chase uh you know all the history that I experienced uh
With uh the Joe Gibbs era uh and all the Championships like made this uh super meaningful for me personally in terms of being at this moment being able to I think Propel um this uh Team forward towards our goal which is to being Elite like none of us
Up here want to do anything but be elite so I think that this is a big day for me big day personally and um you know we’re all um really excited about delivering for the city and for the area Steve W Associated Press stand I know
Obviously you’ve got a lot of work to do but like how excited are you about being able to pick your own quarterback and kind of mold this roster and and all the options you have in front of you well I think number one I’m pumped because um
You get to do it with people that you want to share this Vision with and going into it you know like the team has excellent players and that’s job number one to find those unique guys on our team and feature them into the right spot so before you even get to the draft
There’s the own club you know here in our own house you know to evaluate and handle and then into free agency you add some more and then into the draft so we’re just getting rolling and this wave is going to keep riding for a long time
But uh we’re just catching it right now so as we’re hitting it it’s first about our club and in-house then you expand some more into free agency because that ties into the draft so conversations with Adam you know like okay you can spend on free agency here but there’s
Good depth at the position in the draft there and that’s the strategy and the Acumen that he has of knowing which levers to pull based on free agency in the draft but we want really tough competitive ass guys that are going to absolutely go for for that’s the trait
That’s the secret sauce and the more people we have on that you’re going to hear us see competition talk competition at every corner and that’s what these Elite NFL players are they grew up their whole life competing so like why would we not put them into anything other than
This like competitive cauldron to roll and so that’s what we plan on doing uh over and over and over again but as far as the draft um that’s a little too far down the line for me right now and Adam you guys have talked a lot about collaboration what do you expect Dan’s
Role to be in terms of you guys when you’re figuring out those kind of decisions moving forward and and kind of what kind of input you seek from him yeah we that that’s the exact environment that I want to be in is being collabor collaborative with the head coach through every decision that
We make and that’s whether that’s the draft free agency we’re going to be talking all the time we may have a door connecting our offices if that that’s collaboration right so but yeah so every every decision we make we’re going to talk we’re not going to make a decision
Without talking to each other we’re going to come out of that room which whichever we come out of with with the same uh same answer in mind Scott Abraham ABC7 Dan welcome to Washington thanks Scott the word rebuild came up a couple of times during Adam’s press
Conference do you view this as a rebuild and if so what’s the process of of going through a rebuild and time frame wise how do you want your team to kind of take shape during this rebuild your words not mine all right so I’m I’m really honestly glad that that you
Brought it up and I know it’s a big topic and I would say this is a recalibrate you know finding our North again and that starts you know with our identity of our club so no I you will not hear me say the word rebuild at all
Um this is about assessing what we have how do we add to that and then how quickly we can accelerate this process together now how do you do that Connection staff offseason into training camp and then ultimately putting all these guys to find the best best group
To help us go play as well as we can as fast as we can so uh there is no timeline on that um but we will push it hard uh to see how good we can get and how fast we can get but I see it much
More as a recalibration to say let’s find our North own our identity of how we’re going to get it on and then push hard to reach that and uh like all things it takes some trust you know between teammates staff Personnel ownership but the more connection we
Have the faster will will get there and uh there’s a lot to get done but I honestly do not see um that word as part of my thinking at all said the word identity what does a Dan Quinn le football team look like adjectives tell
Us what it’ll look like I would say if I had to say two right now it would be uh explosive and physical and the explosive comes offensively uh and on the return game from big plays uh through the Run game through play action through the passing game ones that can change fields
Position and those are the explosive plays that you have to keep going and being an aggressive to go uh on defense that’s the energy generating football that takes place on an interception on a score for you know returning on defense a force fumble the sacks the ones that
Create negative plays for an offense to put them in some disadvantaged situations like we like playing from second and 12 and 13 and third and longer so how do you do that you’ve got to be bold you’ve got to be aggressive having the players to do that that’s
Part of what we do and then train them to do it over and over and over again it’s so important for us to find guys of things they can do versus things they can’t do and uh I can remember early on as a coach here in a scout say well like
He’s a little slow he’s you know not very long but man I can’t wait to watch him you know I want to find the unique stuff that a guy does have and then how do we put him into this and so if we bring a guy here I want to make sure I’m
Very clear to Adam to say this is how we’ feature this player he’s the you know the F tight endend he’s the second halfback he’s the starting you know defensive end whatever that looks like and then we can push that player into that Vision quite honestly when players
Leave College they don’t know what their vision is and that’s our job to help them get there and why do guys develop faster than others sometimes the vision of what they can become is so different than what they did in college they were chose a college the system changed the
Coaching staff changed whatever it might have been and now you put him into a space that you know a feature him so why do late round draft picks and free agents take off there was a specific plan for how that guy could be used and that’s the connection I have to be able
To give to Adam as often as I can so um explosive and physical and I’d hope uh you know teams that have to play against us are like damn this this is gonna be hard today and uh having that physical nature of the way that we finish plays
That jumps out off tape inspires others that we’re with and keeps pushing this St standard that you’re going to hear me say a lot uh finding these standards together so I would say explosive and physical uh would be two things that I hope every time uh we play and get it on
That you guys feel that good afternoon gentleman David Harrison Sports Illustrated coach welcome to DC thanks David um I notice over your your track record stylistically scheme wise however you want to call it you you kind of shifted from a little bit more even front to odd front defenses can you just
Kind of talk about from a football theology standpoint that evolution of your defenses sure and I think it’s a it’s good to know that like I’ll tell you a quick story of why like you have to evolve and it does have to change and during that time of reflection I said in
Between uh leaving Atlanta and going to Dallas I think I referred to Josh and Adam and like you know did a 360 on myself with the other thing I did during that time defensively was we put the tape together from 2013 to 2020 so that included Seattle and it included Atlanta
Because it was really the same system in those eight years of defense and what had once been good was no longer good enough and so playing three deep the way that we did in Seattle and early on in Atlanta there were some good things that went along with that as it went further
More completions when you played this kind of vision Zone more troubled routes and they’re some excellent offensive coaches so they knew this and this causes them problems and this and this so coming back for that second lap I knew I wasn’t going to rinse and repeat what were some things around the lead
And and through college ball that could be different and so coming back into Dallas the system that we put together will be similar to the one here to say let’s collectively put together the Commander’s offense and defense so that’s why it evolved where some things were good early on and they changed some
Things can stand the test of it this front this thing but it did have to evolve especially on the coverage side the uh the offens and the quarterbacks were moving ahead faster than that scheme would allow and so that is why having that space for me although it
Sucked and it was depressing and pissed you off there was this silver lining in that that made me become a better Coach because I had to look at myself not just from the the lens of the head coach but I also had to look at it from a lens on
Defense I had to look at it why weren’t we good enough in four-minute offense I wanted to go back and find it through those years and so that’s why I was so adamant about when you get those lessons like you want to go and run with them to prove it and
So they’ve been in my pocket on some things and others I got to the show through you know my time in Dallas and that was a fun process to go through so that’s where it was where things evolv and change and you know in five or six
Years from now it won’t be the same exact things anymore either so you have to constantly keep pushing you’ve got to be Innovative you got to be on the edge of things not all the things that you try work you know like it goes like this so
Sometimes in OTAs in training camp let’s look at a coverage or look at a blitz and then take it out it’s too busy takes too much time if if a player has to overthink it it’s not the right call you know I want them you know from the lens
Of their Vision in the helmet that they can go and really attack and if I have to make them overthink it whether it be at the quarterback position this check to this check to this check or as a defensive play caller uh to this to this
To this and they have to slow down where they can’t play fast and aggressive and hitting then it’s not the right fit so there’s some trial and error but um it is part of coaching that makes this profession so much fun because it’s always evolving it’s never you don’t get
Bored doing this so it feeds into my good okay what’s next personality but I do like that there’s something next and it’s next and it’s next and you better keep up and or you get left behind on some things and I learned that lesson and so that’s why evolving and having a
Plan of how to do that each offseason that’s a really big deal and then uh coach Whit once said that his dream one of his two dream jobs was uh being the defense coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys but obviously that dream has shifted he came with you what does that
Mean to you as as a leader for him yeah and I’m really fortunate that uh Joe’s had a big impact on me um so um leaving Atlanta and coming to Dallas um I knew Joe had special traits about him and uh not just in the coverage side although
That’s you know I would say his superpower of the detail the coverage the play style uh but what also is there is the ball Hawking and the tackling and the fundamental so he grew up a coach’s kid so Joe’s father was an exceptional coach at Auburn for a really long time
You know you’re a good coach when you don’t coach anymore and you still have a locker in the Coach’s Locker Room like that’s Joe Whit senior okay so coming up as a coach’s kid Joe’s he been on practice field since he was just tall and so he knew what good looked like
Along the way and he’s been more than ready for this opportunity to do it and uh I’m thrilled to to add him into it because it also allows some of the language for me to you know stay connected to in a good way because you know for me learning the language
Offensively if I had to do that again defensively it would have been longer now I can accelerate that process so we’re really pumped these here he’s got a fantastic football background hey Dan George Wallace WTOP welcome to DC thanks uh kind of a unique situation obviously new ownership group first time general
Manager how important was that for you going into this kind of everybody’s starting fresh this year yeah I thought um I didn’t think of it in that way of starting fresh but I did think of it as what I was looking for you know to be a
Part of you know a team like this and so that was probably more important than the the newness of it but to get to start kind of all together um I think that’s a really cool thing and I hope you know many years from now we look
Back on this day and say that was really cool that’s when this thing started that’s when we got it all together back on you know whatever the date was on 2024 in February we look back you know 20 years from now and say that’s how you
Do it and uh that’s huge standards huge expectations of what we have for all of us but that’s how we want to set them and so I think it is kind of cool I didn’t think about it but uh you’re right to start something fresh together
It’s pretty rare I don’t know how many times that’s happened in the history of sport but uh I think that’s a pretty good precedent to to go for it hey guys tishler my Al Sports um for Adam now that I guess you have the small task of hiring a head coach uh
Behind you how do you foresee filling out the rest of the front office and is that something that um you’re ready to attack the draft with with the guys you have in house or you think that’s something that you’ll address before or as you as you lead up to the draft Yeah
We have I’ve gotten to meet all of our Scouts finally now went down to Mobile and got a chance to meet all of our College Scouts really like all of them uh I knew the Scouts in in house from my time here the last couple of weeks so
It’s a really good group uh if we have a chance to add some talented people we will um but I I don’t foresee making any changes throughout this whole draft process I’m really really happy with who we have right now and for for Dan um being that you were in the NF East
Obviously for the past couple years how much do you think that allows you to kind of be a little bit ahead of the curve as you as you at the ground running here being that you know a little bit of the Personnel both here and obviously around the rest of the
Division yeah and like I said growing up this is uh the NFC what I watched you know just like Josh did and uh not exactly this guy to my left but it was such a cool time to see that to see you know that was my vision of what football
Would be as part of being in the NFC so over the last three years to see you know the teams and like most things some staffs have changed already us being one and you know everything’s a little bit different but what I do know is um this
Is a really cool Division and uh I wouldn’t say there’s a you know an advantage here there but knowing some of the Personnel I meant from a scheme standpoint but knowing some of the Personnel of how to match up and how to defend that is important because schemes
Will change coaches will change U you know Philadelphia has some obviously we had some um Giants have some so knowing the scheme will change but a lot of who the players are that’s a good thing and uh I would say yeah there there’s definitely some Advantage with
That hi Liam Griff from Washington Times uh Dan I want to know what does a successful first season look like for you guys do you have a record in mind do you have a what what is what do you want to see from that team by the end of the
First season I would say uh one it’s a cool question I’d say uh I want to make sure Above All Things um that our identity takes place about how we play football and that um when people watch us play they know what Commander football looks like you know we’re GNA
Find our true north to say we are going to be explosive we are going to be physical if we do those things right and if we can get to that space quickly um the success will follow from that but you can’t put a prediction on that without having those things in place so
Uh I’m somebody that wants to hit every rung of the ladder and not jump across steps to get to somewhere where you you left some things off so we’re going to hit all those markers on the way how quickly our team connects uh how quickly the staff and the team connects that’s
Where it’s at and so the success will be derived from that and uh we’re going to try to accelerate as fast f as we can um but there’s a lot of work to do and so once we get to that you know final roster that we put in place to to start
The season in September um we got a lot of work to do between now and then hello all Brandy Flores DC news now Dan welcome to Washington thank you since it was announced that you were taking the head coaching job with the commanders it has been nothing but
Praises from your former players to former assistants how important is it to you that throughout your career that you’ve established to be not just just a good leader but a good person that these people will seem like they’ll follow you to the end of time well I want I
Appreciate you saying that um that was not that was not a plan all those guys thank you um the reason I got into coaching was the players like I’ve Loved football my whole life coming up like I knew that’s what I wanted to do I went to college I
Wanted to teach and coach and so when I was in college I found out that I didn’t have to teach I could just coach I said that’s a pretty good game I’ll go that way so but teaching has been part of what I’ve done for my whole life and
That connection with people um and players specifically is what I’ve done I love the fact that you get to help develop somebody and them to achieve things that maybe they didn’t even think were possible so to see a player develop and get into that you know second contract or third contract
And you helped change their life like that’s really big and early on I didn’t know could you have an impact as a coach in pro ball you know you say it’s a business and that and and from the outside it’s a really fair question but from the inside it’s completely false
Because of that connection and knowing that lives get changed because of the impact we can make for one another and so I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for some of those players that are saying those things they were the ones in Seattle that helped create a moment for me in Atlanta
Same thing in Dallas and so that’s why for me I’ve learned a lot from players seeing some from the vision of their helmet of what it could look like I
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