What made Commanders coach Dan Quinn so successful so quickly?

The Washington Commanders had one of the most amazing turn arounds the NFL has seen, and head coach Dan Quinn is at the center of it all.

Nov 10, 2024; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn looks on from the sidelines against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the second half at Northwest Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images / Amber Searls-Imagn Images

Someday, Washington Commanders fans are going to be a little bit older and look back on 2024 when they're telling stories about their favorite times rooting for their favorite team.

Whether it is the 'Hail Mary', the Monday night in Cincinnati when the Commanders' rookie quarterback let the world know he was for real, the playoff run that extended all the way to the NFC Championship Game, or any number of moments in and around those; it was a season to remember.

The question now is, how does Washington head coach Dan Quinn help his team recapture that momentum and produce an equally memorable year in 2025? The coach says, by being who he's always been: Himself.

Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn. / David Reginek-Imagn Images

"If you're going to walk into a locker room, man, you better be authentic to you and how you talk and how you express yourself," Quinn recently said in an interview on the Glue Guys Podcast.

Quinn says that's something he remembers drawing from previous stops in his coaching career, working under legends like Pete Carroll and Nick Saban.

"Their personalities were different, but if you walked into their program, it was a lot more similar than you'd think," Quinn said. "Everybody in the organization knew this is how we do business here. Nick couldn't do it the way that Pete did and do it with joy, and Pete certainly couldn't do it in the way Nick did, but they were so authentic to themselves."

Those experiences with Saban and Carroll, Quinn says, cemented in him the importance of not just having the right process, but doing it right. And doing it right means, being authentic, because if there is any breed of person who can smell bull----, Quinn says often, it's an athlete.

"If you're trying to be somebody different, that shows up really cleanly," Quinn concludes. "I've definitely been on staffs before, I was like, "Man, I wish the team could see you in this setting, because they would like this person,' as opposed to being somebody else in front of a group."

Quinn says it is also important to continue learning, and being honest about who he is as a coach. In that vein, he also valued bringing in coaches under him who aren't necessarily cut from the same cloth, and bring something to the table that he can learn from and continue his own evolution.

"(I) wanted to hire a staff of people that weren't exactly just like me when I came here to D.C., it wasn't all people that I knew. There were plenty of people that I wanted new lenses and new insights onto things."

Quinn added another one of those types of junior coaches to his staff this offseason, though not officially in a coaching capacity, in Wes Welker.

While Quinn and Welker do know each other from their time with the Miami Dolphins under Saban, the head coach doesn't know this version of the former player. Yet, there is hope that he will bring yet another new and valuable dynamic to a coaching staff that is already incredibly dynamic and varied despite their lockstepped approach to building a winning team.

It is a model, that if it continues to be successful, will be copied down the line. Like most other systems that others try to immitate, however, it isn't the frame that makes the machine works, but the heart that is driving it. And that is something that we've seen time and time again, can't just simply be replicated.

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READ MORE: Jayden Daniels picks 4 Commanders teammates for his dream soccer squad

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