Reports of Dan Quinn’s hire as Washington Commanders head coach broke Wednesday, with the team officially announcing it Saturday on social media – and within 36 hours of that announcement, they also announced both of his coordinators, with USC assistant Kliff Kingsbury and Cowboys secondary coach Joe Whitt Jr. entering the fold to be OC and DC, respectively.
So how did THAT come together so quickly?
“When you go through this process, you’re not sure what job you’re going to get; the team is in the spot where they get to pick, but we sit there and wonder where there’s going to be interest,” Quinn said. “So, your staff has to be the fit right regardless of where you go. It didn’t have to do with cap space or draft picks or anything, because that all changes. I was looking long-term, and as a coach, you write down names for your future to talk to if you get that chance.”
Quinn does have his second chance, and in Kingsbury, he has a proven veteran who has been a head coach at both the NCAA and NFL level and has seen offenses succeed everywhere. Just as important, too, is that Kingsbury is a former record-setting QB at Texas Tech who spent a few years bouncing arounf the NFL, NFL Europe, and CFL before going into coaching, where he worked with no less than a half-dozen future NFL quarterbacks in college before becoming Cardinals head coach in 2019.
Kingsbury has been on Quinn’s radar for a long time, and yes, he will be the play-caller for the offense and the go-to guy for that group – with Quinn hoping he can become another version of one of his previous OCs that went on to big success.
“Kliff has always been someone I’ve kept up with – we hit it off the first time we met at an awards show, and we’ve competed against each other in the past,” Quinn said. “In the same why of why I wanted to hire Kyle (Shanahan) years ago, Kliff was hard to game plan against. You felt it was going go to be tough going against him.”
Kingsbury’s Cardinals were 2-0 against Quinn, defeating the Falcons in Week 6 of 2019 and the Cowboys (when Quinn was DC) in Week 17 of 2021, with Quinn’s only win seeing his 2012 Florida Gators (where he was also DC) beating Texas A&M (where Kingsbury was the OC) in Week 2 of that season in College Station.
Now, the two will work together…and that’s in part because, as Quinn revealed Monday, his DC choice, Whitt Jr., is going to call plays on his side of the ball, too.
“I had a chance to be shoulder to shoulder with Joe Whitt Jr. for three years, and I’ve seen the detail, connection, and play style,” Quinn said. “You better be a good tackling team and be able to take the ball away, and Joe’s team has been excellent with those. I cut my teeth on defense, so that’s important, but Joe will call the plays there.”
Being a leader of men was one of the big reasons Quinn was hired, and indeed, he’s ready to be more of the CEO-type coach the second time around, and has the staff to do that.
‘The big thing to get across is the essence of a head coach is to put it all together,” Quinn said. “It’s the chemistry, the messaging, the attitude. That’s my No. 1 job, to make sure it all comes together.”