FLOWERY BRANCH -- Dan Quinn, who coached in Super Bowl XLIX as Seattle's defensive coordinator, was hired as the 16th head coach of the Atlanta Falcons on Monday.
“This is an exciting day for the Atlanta Falcons franchise and our fans,” said Falcons owner Arthur Blank in a statement released by the team. “Dan is a talented football coach who has a deep and diverse history in the game, which will serve us well. As we got to know Dan during the interview process, it became clear that he has a definitive plan for our football team and what it will take to win on a consistent basis. He also has a proven ability to develop players by maximizing their individual strengths. For these and many other reasons, Dan became our top pick, and I’m confident our players, staff, fans and community will be proud to have him represent the Falcons.
“I would like to personally thank Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll for his patience and support during our head coach search,” added Blank. “I’m sure the Seahawks will be sorry to see Dan leave, but no one has been more supportive of this opportunity for Dan than Pete.”
Quinn, who has mixture of college and pro coaching experience, felt the timing was right to become a head coach.
“I think fortunately for me I have had a lot of opportunities to watch guys, so you learn from the good experiences and you learn from some of the ones that you go, ‘well that didn’t go maybe as well as it could of,’ ” Quinn told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this past Tuesday on Super Bowl Media Day. “So, I don’t know if there is a moment that just comes down on you, but I know that is something that I wanted to do, lead a bigger group for a long time. That is really part of the reason I wanted to become a defensive coordinator in hopes that one day I will have the opportunity to become a head coach.”
That day has arrived. Quinn is set to be introduced to the public on Tuesday.
“I am grateful for this opportunity, and I am excited to be the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons,” Quinn said in a statement released by the team. “This felt like the right fit from the beginning, and I want to thank Mr. Blank for his resolve as this was an extended and complicated process. My goal is to build upon the foundation that has been laid here and to play a physical brand of football as we build a championship caliber team.”
Seattle coach Pete Carroll is a strong supporter of Quinn.
After Gus Bradley became the head coach in Jacksonville in 2013, Carroll felt that Quinn was the man for the vacant coordinator spot.
Quinn had been with the Seahawks under Jim L. Mora (2009) and then Carroll (2010) before becoming the defensive coordinator at Florida under Will Muschamp for two seasons (2011-12).
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
“To me he was a logical choice because he had been with us,” Carroll said. “He is special. Dan is a tremendous football coach, a great communicator and a great leader.”
Under Quinn, the Seahawks led the league for fewest points allowed per game with 14.4 in 2013 and 15.9 in 2014.
“He has done an incredible job with us,” Carroll said. “He has made an impact.”
Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner and defensive end Cliff Avril also laud Quinn.
“They are getting a great coach,” Wagner said.
What makes him a great coach?
“His leadership,” Wagner said. “I feel like he’s very open and easy to talk with. It’s not like you have to do it his way. He’s going to talk to you and say why his way is great. I think the biggest thing is that he’s a great communicator. He
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
definitely helps you understand the game.”
Avril works daily with Quinn, who’s a defensive line coach by trade.
“DQ is awesome,” Avril said. “He’s a coach you can go and talk to at any time if you have any concerns about any plays or how your position is supposed to be played or whatever.”
Quinn, 44, a native of Morristown, N.J. dazzled the franchise in his initial interview and had a second interview with the Falcons after Seattle’s appearance in the NFC championship game.
After playing on the defensive line for the Sea Gulls at Salisbury State (now Salisbury University) in Maryland from 1990 to 1993, Quinn started his coaching career at William and Mary in 1994. He coached at Virginia Military Institute (1995) and Hofstra (1996-2000) before landing a quality control position with the San Francisco 49ers on Steve Mariucci’s staff. Mora gave Quinn his big break, according to a Seattle Times story by Bob Condotta after he was named the defensive coordinator.
"It was the one totally random chance that they brought me out to interview me for an assistant D-line job,'' Quinn said. "Just a one-in-a-million chance. I wore Jim Mora out enough that he said, 'Let's bring this guy in.' ''
Quinn was given a quality-control job, and two years later was coaching the defensive line. Soon after came stops at the Dolphins, under Nick Saban, and the Jets, under Eric Mangini, before Mora hired him at Seattle in 2009.
When Dennis Erickson took over in San Francisco, Quinn was promoted to defensive line coach.
In 2005, he joined Nick Saban’s staff with the Miami Dolphins. After Saban bolted from the NFL for the Alabama job, Quinn went on to coach with Eric Mangini and the New York Jets (2007-08) and with Mora and Carroll with Seattle (2009-10).
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
After the 2010 season, he returned to the college ranks to be Muschamp’s defensive coordinator at Florida.
He returned to Seattle for the 2013 season and inherited the defense from Bradley which featured the "Legion of Boom" secondary.
After the Seahawks clobbered the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII with a devastating defensive performance, Quinn started to attract league-wide attention despite being just a one-year coordinator.
He interviewed with Cleveland and Minnesota, but lost out to more seasoned coordinators in Mike Pettine and Mike Zimmer, respectively.
In Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Ariz., Quinn's unit couldn't hold a 10-point fourth-quarter lead against the New England Patriots and the great Tom Brady. While Quinn had to juggle his secondary because of injuries, Brady completed 13 of 15 passes for 116 yards and two touchdown passes to wrestle back the lead in the fourth quarter.
Seattle's bid for back-to-back Super Bowl titles died on a wayward pass from Russell Wilson that was intercepted in the end zone by New England's Malcolm Butler.
Seattle was able to brace for the lost of Quinn. That he was coming to the Falcons has been widely known for weeks, but couldn't be announced because of the league's tampering rules.
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
Quinn is coming to a situation with some degree of front-office upheaval.
In the last three-plus weeks, the Falcons have been unavailable to clarify who will make final personnel decisions in the draft and free agency, or who will have final say over the 53-man roster, following a franchise restructuring that was announced Jan. 7.
Owner Arthur Blank, when given several chances to clarify the restructuring on Friday, elected to remain vague. Blank said he would clarify the structure once the new coach was named.
Blank would say only that “the process” will lead to player selection in the draft and free agency. He would not say who ultimately will have final say. He denied that general manager Thomas Dimitroff has lost any autonomy. Dimitroff remains over assistant general manager Scott Pioli, but Pioli has been put in charge of the draft and free agency.
Quinn is expected to have the final say over the 53-man roster, but Blank was reluctant to say that and risk a tampering charge from the league.
The new franchise structure also suggests Quinn will have that autonomy because, unlike former Falcons coach Mike Smith, Quinn will report directly to Blank, not to Dimitroff.
In addition to front-office upheaval, the Falcons are being investigated by the league for piping fake noise into the Georgia Dome over the past two seasons.
It is possible that the franchise, if found guilty, could be fined or possibly lose a draft pick.
The last time a team waited for a Super Bowl coordinator was back in 2009 when the Chiefs hired Todd Haley. He was fired in the middle of his third season.
A team waited for a Super Bowl coordinator in 2005. Cleveland waited for Romeo Crennel. He went on to go 6-10 in his first season and 24-40 before being fired after four seasons.
The Falcons used Jed Hughes, of the corporate search firm Korn Ferry, to assist in the process.
Mike Smith, the winningest coach in franchise history, was fired on Dec. 29. The team is known to have interviewed eight candidates.
Detroit defensive coordinator Teryl Austin was the only other candidate to have a second interview with the Falcons.
In addition to Quinn, Austin, the Falcons also interviewed Todd Bowles, Rex Ryan, Keith Armstrong, New England offensive coordinatorJosh McDaniels, Denver offensive coordinator Andrew Gase and former Buffalo coach Doug Marrone.
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