Washington (AFP) – Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who guided Atlanta to the 2017 Super Bowl, will be hired as the new head coach of the NFL’s Washington Commanders, according to multiple reports Thursday.
Quinn was head coach of the Atlanta Falcons from 2015-2020, reaching Super Bowl 51 but losing to the New England Patriots in overtime, and has spent the past three seasons directing the defensive unit for Washington’s arch rivals.
The NFL Network and ESPN, citing unnamed sources, reported that the Commanders have chosen Quinn to fill the last coaching vacancy in the NFL in the wake of several firings after the end of the regular season.
Quinn, 53, would replace Ron Rivera, who was dumped by the Commanders on January 8 after a 4-13 campaign that ended on an eight-game losing streak.
Rivera went 26-40 with one drawn in four years with Washington but never managed a winning season.
Quinn, who won the 2021 NFL Assistant Coach of the Year award, is being handed the task of trying to get the team its first playoff victory since the 2005 season.
Washington last won the Super Bowl in the 1991 campaign.
Quinn, who went 43-42 in six seasons as head coach in Atlanta, had interviewed with multiple NFL teams about head coaching jobs for a third consecutive season.
He guided the Cowboys defenders to a fifth-place finish in NFL total defense this past season after pulling out of all talks last year to stay with Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy.
Quinn was defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks when they won the 2014 Super Bowl 43-8 over Denver and his unit led the NFL in 2013 in fewest points and yards allowed and most takeaways — the first team to achieve that hat trick since the 1985 Chicago Bears.
Commanders owner Josh Harris, who just finished his first season paying the bills after buying the club in July, hired Adam Peters as general manager last month.
The Commanders have the second pick in this year’s NFL Draft and about $70 million of room under the league’s salary cap.
