Washington Commanders hiring Dallas Cowboys DC Dan Quinn as head coach

The Washington Commanders are hiring Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn as their new head coach.

Quinn, 53, has served as Cowboys defensive coordinator for the past three seasons. Dallas’ defense took a big jump in 2023, finishing as the No. 5 ranked unit in the league. Prior to joining the Cowboys, Quinn spent five plus seasons as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Quinn went 43-42, leading Atlanta to a Super Bowl defeat in 2016. The Falcons relieved him of his duties after an 0-5 start to the 2020 season. Quinn famously coached the “Legion of Boom” defense in Seattle, helping lead the Seahawks to a Super Bowl victory in 2013.

Quinn turned down head coaching opportunities last offseason in favor of returning to the Cowboys this past season. He now becomes the 31st head coach in Commanders/Redskins history, succeeding Ron Rivera, whom the organization fired after the season ended. With Quinn hired, all eight head coaching vacancies have now been filled.

Washington appeared to be zeroed in on Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Ben Johnson, scheduled to interview him this week following Detroit’s 34-31 NFC Championship Game loss to the San Francisco 49ers this past Sunday. Johnson informed Washington he was staying with the Lions as they were in the air en route to Detroit.

Commanders moving forward with Dan Quinn as HC

They now pivot to Quinn, who will look to rebuild the Commanders alongside newly hired general manager Adam Peters. The Commanders are coming off a season in which they finished 4-13 and therefore hold the No. 2 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Washington is expected to pick its quarterback of the future, whether that’s USC’s Caleb Williams, LSU’s Jayden Daniels or North Carolina’s Drake Maye.

The Cowboys will now have to find a replacement for Quinn, who was highly regarded within the locker room.

“That’s like my OG, for real,” Cowboys outside linebacker Micah Parsons said last month. “He means a lot to me, not only because it’s just about football. I think Q — we were talking today, because he did the college thing like [Nick] Saban — he said ‘yeah’ and I said, ‘You’re just such a great mentor.’ I think he does a great job of finding ways for you to love the game and finding ways to go around the game.

“It doesn’t always have to be hard-nosed, ‘I’m the coach.’ It’s more of a friendship. We go through what I don’t like, what I do like. He doesn’t just treat me like a player, he treats me like a friend. He’s always there when I need him and we’re not afraid to have those hard conversations whether it’s father to son or player to coach. We have them no matter what.”