Good afternoon from W USA 9 we’re interrupting your programming to bring you breaking news from the Washington commanders right now the team is introducing Dan Quinn as the commander new head coach let’s listen in 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 here 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 we got all together Friday and then
Uh over the weekend uh Cliff Kingsbury incredible offense of 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 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 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 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 staff 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 has just beginning 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 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 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 maybe 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 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 rid 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 party I said all right this coaching gig’s pretty good you know like I got still do what I like to do so next thing 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 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 prettyy 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 they are 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 if you can St your name and affiliation and question Dan this John Kim 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 in 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 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 the thing I would say is um just having gone through the process with a bunch of people uh you know Dan came in in with the 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 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 up his sleeve uh and uh you know so it was really impressive John KH ESPN at what point how are you um at what point were you
You know there obviously a lot of names are gon to come out of this at what point were you saw that Dan is the guy and you obviously you probably known him for a while or knew of him so what point were you sold 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 japala 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 a 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 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 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 damn 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 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 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 and 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 are spouse has always provide this role but in your
Professional life who is the person that tells you that’s not a good idea yeah that you listen to yes and I think you need that right you have to have somebody that can see around the corners and knowing and protecting your blind spots and so when I referred to that
Person um what I was looking for I was really referring 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 that 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 it’s 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 and she knows football pretty good too but professionally it’s Adam hey guys JP Finley with NBC 4 and 1067 the fan um Dan this’s a question for you your your records as a defensive aters 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 isn’t 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 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 side things in your organization just more
Things to they 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 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 the
Traditional hierarchy that you talked about building or or will it remain really collaborative throughout well I think it’s sort of now I mean it’s all collabor I mean push 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 brought these these two gentlemen are sitting next to me because they know what they’re doing and they’re going to Adam’s going to run the uh front office in 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 thing’s 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 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 going to 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 UCLA word yeah teaching ter I’m out this is I’m out smarted here this is 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 a head coach is to put it all together it’s not to be an offensive coach or a defensive coach or 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 play to do at 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 started 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 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 won this or won 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 and 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 in with quarterbacks and that’s proven but he’s also an excellent coach he’s not just you know a 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 and the units that he was charged with have been excellent that and uh I think over the last three years you know with 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 he 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 for this job and then what
Was the moment like when you got the 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 St and I took a ride you know out in the car and we know we don’t ever do that she 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 Stacy’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 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 have fun doing it and so that’s what we plan on doing Sam I’ll tell you too he he
Didn’t answer when I called he’s playing hard to get so it made me wait so long I’m not answer on the first ring got to make him feel a little somewh you know I’m Barry fuga 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 what what what are some specific examples of sharing that language I think we can probably start I’ll start it and 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 the 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 play 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 Tra 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 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 talk so it’s more of a play style and an attitude and traits than it is a scheme of a 34 or 43 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 in the this we call it the silent tape when 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 34 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 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 wsa 9 UM you’re filling out your staff you’ve got Cliff Kingsbury as your OC what happens now to Eric benamy 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 pump 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 yeah you manag how different was the search for head coach here considering this is a team that you grew up watching 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 and 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 what but be El leite so I think that this is a big day for me big day personally and um you know we’re all I’m really excited about delivering for this city and for the
Area Steve W Associated Press Dan 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 cuz 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 it
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 door 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 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
We’ll 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 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 field position and those are the
Explosive plays that you have to keep going and being 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 end he’s the second halfback he’s the starting you know defensive end whatever that looks like and then we can push that play 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 them into a space that you know how to feature them 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 going to 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 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 odf 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 uh 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 um during that time of ction I said in between 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 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 league and in 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 offense 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 a 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 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 evolve 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 and 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 cuz 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 off season 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 that 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 fundamentals 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 this 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 star and 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 the 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 M 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 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 for see 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 East 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 or 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 Griffin 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 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 would 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 going to 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 some 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 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 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 plant 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 gig I 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 can’t tell you how much I learned from Bryant Young you know when I first became a you know a coach in San Francisco his standard of performance
Was Second To None he set the bar so high it was hard to go like he doesn’t do it like by and Jason Taylor and others that I’ve coached along the way um through Seattle and guys you know household names you’d know but you may not know who Michael Bennett was as an
Undrafted free agent at A&M to see his life get changed or um the connection with Matt Ryan and uh seeing what that meant you know to see those experiences happening and same thing um in Dallas you know with the number of the players there so I absolutely love it I think
It’s leadership and early on I think I felt like leadership was just about how do I lead and then as I got maybe a little more Chrome and a little older I recognized leadership wasn’t just about me it’s helping others see the leadership in themselves and what they
Could become and giving them a vision of what their career and path could look like and there would be good days and hard days always in between but if we stayed consistent with these guys like let’s face it NFL players have been bullshitted a lot in their lives they
Were great high school players to get recruited a lot of BS going on there getting into the NFL they need to be told the truth about things and uh they appreciated that the honesty when it’s going good and I can see Jason nod his head because they need that and to just to
Dance around out was a numbers game or it wasn’t your fault or like that’s not accurate like tell these guys the truth they want to be great and we have to sometimes as coaches and leaders tell them the things they don’t want to hear and I’m comfortable doing that because
They know I come from a place that I care about them I love them and I want the best for them so um it’s why I coach um to have those connections with everybody involved with it I’ve loved being on a team um it’s my favorite
Thing I’ve been over on uh like over 78 teams in my life you know from being a seven-year-old to sports through you know high school and college and pro ball and so being on a team is what I know and it’s what I love so that’s why
That connection is so damn important to me players coaches the whole thing and when you get it really good um and really tight that’s when the the magic stuff happens and uh it’s hard to do that uh we got different than you know I know you know Josh from his background
In hoops and in hockey like it’s a big team you know we got to run a 100 deep here you know between players coaches staff to get connected and if you can get that many people together on a vision of how to do things knowing that like every role matters you know for
Game day to just support those guys that’s when you hit it and knowing every person in this building has a role in winning and that’s what we got to get to and the players feel that and uh that’s why I love it so much you Dan C Candace Buckner Washington Post um so
I preface this by saying 53 is not old at all thank you uh but as you were watching the NFL cycle hiring Cycles the last two years and the trend of hiring younger coaches uh while you were waiting and being optimistic about your next shot did you have to fight
Discouragement that maybe the league was passing your group your age group over young and shiny right yeah yeah okay well I would say I was once young and shiny so I um wanted to make sure I don’t see myself as that so I get it was honestly more like offensive versus
Defensive so it was nice to see people recognizing you got to coach the whole team that’s a head coach that’s the essence of it it’s not just this one group and hope it goes good on the other side that’s what an offensive coordinator does a special teams coordinator and a defense coordinator so
It was never one to me about old or young like we’ve seen some really good coaches um two who I regard very highly who just you know finished their careers this year in their 70s and like that’s the that’s that’s the mark for me you know let’s talk about that in those
Terms but it wasn’t necessarily age as much as it was offense versus defense um so I can’t believe you out of me I am 53 but um I was absolutely going to go for 45 but this probably gave it away so contact with any of the players
Either through phone call or just text not yet and uh now that I’m here I I uh you know I look forward to getting to do that there’s so many guidelines that you can and can’t follow but um more than anything I just want them to know like
How pumped I am to get rocking with them and uh we are going to compete our asses off together and so knowing that I hope they feel the energy that’s uh and momentum that’s going to come um from this day forward and knowing that um years ago I can remember Matt Ryan after
My first year together he said I felt like I got traded but I went back to the same building and I thought to myself good job because that’s what I was wanting them to feel they needed a a recalibration and uh our club does too and so that’s what I anticipate doing
Great thank you photos job Thanks all right there you have it it is a new era for Washington football the commander officially introducing Dan Quinn as the head coach we heard owner Josh Harris and GM Adam Peters you know welcoming him to the team it was good to see and Quinn says he’s ready to run
He’s ready to get to work he says he can’t wait to start earning trust uh and he says that he has been waiting for this moment we did want to mention too we do know that he used some colorful language throughout that press conference and we do apologize for that
Now wusa9 was the first to confirm with the commanders the news of Dan Quinn’s hiring last Thursday Quinn most recently served as the defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys and before that he led the Atlanta Falcons to a Super Bowl as their head coach but Quinn has plenty
Of ties to the DMV now he actually played college football at Salsbury University from 1989 to 1993 from there he’d go on to William and Mary where at the age of 24 Quinn got his coaching start as an assistant defensive line coach now his next stop would be in the
DM in the DMV would be the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington Virginia where Quinn served as defensive line coach well as you heard during the news conference the commanders have also hired Quinn’s offensive and defensive coordinators a Quinn has selected Joe wit Jr to be his defensive coordinator
And Cliff Kingsbury as his offensive coordinator Kingsbury is the former head coach of the Arizona Cardinals and Wht and Quinn actually work together in Dallas for the past three years each time providing a top five defense in points allowed at WUSA 9’s chick Hernandez and Eric Flack are at Commander Park as we
Speak they’ll have more from this afternoon’s press conference news conference including a one-on-one with new Commander head coach Dan Quinn coming up on the news at 4 5 and 6 and remember you can trust W usa9 to be the first to bring you confirmed accurate information directly from the team
You’ll find our commander coverage on our website wusa9.com plus all of our streaming platforms I’m Simone di Alba we now return to your regular programming this has been a special report from wusa9 for continuing coverage go to wusa9.com or download
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