Dan Quinn: Building Championship Culture | On the Line with Jim Pyne

In this episode of On the Line with Jim Pyne, Jim sits down with Washington Commanders Head Coach Dan Quinnfor an in-depth conversation about leadership, culture, resilience, and what it takes to build championship teams.

Drawing on decades of coaching experience—including a Super Bowl appearance as a head coach and a championship as a defensive coordinator—Dan shares the principles that have shaped his career and the lessons he's learned from some of the greatest players and coaches in the game.

Together, Jim and Dan discuss:

• Building a winning culture
• The importance of energy and daily consistency
• Leading through adversity
• Developing trust within a team
• Coaching elite athletes
• The mindset required for sustained success
• Leadership lessons that apply far beyond football

Whether you're a coach, business leader, athlete, entrepreneur, or simply looking to become a better leader, this conversation is filled with practical insights and inspiring stories.

Subscribe for more conversations with championship coaches, business leaders, and high performers.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to On the Line with Jim Pine. I'm Jim Pine. This episode is brought to you by PLS Aviation. Private Aviation perfectly executed. Now let's get on the line. Welcome to On the Line with Jim Pine. Today's guest is one of the most respected leaders in the National Football League. He's a Super Bowl champion, has coached in three Super Bowls, built one of the greatest defenses in NFL history with Seattle's Legion of Boom, and a great guy. Please welcome Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn. Dan, welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Jim, thanks for being on, man. It's uh training camp time. So I would think your body is ready to get going during this time of year.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

That's right. A little muscle memory, right?

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

That's right. No, good times. It's a great time of year. I got two sons, same thing, playing football. One's in high school, one's in eighth grade. So I kind of walk around the field, help a little bit with the linemen. One guy's a quarterback, the other guy's playing tight end. So I don't mess with my guys, but I help out where I can.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Right on, man. Well, it's uh it's cool. We're about to get started here as well in Ashburn, and uh and there's nothing like it. It's a time to connect. The team comes together uh quite a bit during this time, and so like that's maybe when some of the best leading takes place, you know, player to player.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

That's right, that's right. Fond memories of those training camps and the the times of obviously practice, but then in the in the dining hall, the whatever they were in hotels, dorms, whatever you're staying in, it's always a good time. You I feel like as a grown man going back to college sometimes or living like that, that's that's always good. It's good for the guys to get a break from their normal life, I guess, to get right back into football. So, with that, coach, yeah, sorry to interrupt, is you know, one of the things, cool things, one of the first times I I got to know you was, you know, years ago, you you had just gotten a head job in Atlanta, and uh you you were I was very impressed with you you were you bought some aviation hours and stuff, and you had told me you were looking to go around and fly and see some former great coaches and try to get some wisdom. You were investing in yourself. I would I just want to see it. Who did you go see then, Coach?

SPEAKER_00 1:58

I first saw probably the first coach that I saw um that had been retired was Joe Gibbs.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

And so went to Charlotte up to, you know, where he has the program there. And so I spent the day, and he was a guy that took different quarterbacks, uh Jim, you know, to the Super Bowl with Joe and with Doug, and you know, just in different ways of how they did it. So I thought, what a great example of like somebody to go. It's not just one way or one system to how to go about it. I went up to New York to visit uh Bill Parcells, and uh for me that was somebody that I enjoyed watching growing up in New Jersey and saw what coaching would look like and what that would seem. And so he had such a standard, and I just had admired so much about their team's identity, and lots of coaches talk about an identity and what does it look like. And so uh for guys like Parcells and Gibbs to share that back to me, um, that was a big deal. And then through the years it's kind of expanded, you know, from football into the NBA, you know, like we're all dealing with players and how to go. And so I've kind of you know transitioned some into you know, visiting with current coaches, you know, in the NBA. And that's been good too, Jim, to share ideas and insights and messaging about how to motivate players. And uh it's been really cool, man.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Yeah, that's awesome. I mean, you talk about two legends, Bill Parcells, Joe Gibbs, and I mean that's great. I'm very impressed when you did that. And I thought, wow, this guy's gonna be something special. And you've turned out to be a special coach, and I'm really happy for all the success you've had. And I, you know, every life's full of challenges and stuff. But what I guess was there any tidbit from Parcells or Gibbs that you said, hey, you left up meeting and you said, you know, I'm gonna coach something different now. Now that they just told me that, this is I'm doing this now. Is there anything you can think of?

SPEAKER_00 3:38

It was uh it was so unique uh in both of them because they were both so open to about you know what it would look like and how they would go. And that's what's like fun about our game. Like sometimes things change a lot, and there's other times not so much. So I'd asked, you know, like for Coach Gibbs, what were you looking for in a quarterback, you know, as they were going through it? He said, Dan, I wanted to see when we're evaluating somebody, you know, what did it look like their completion percentage on deep balls? And I thought that was so specific for an explosive play when the man-to-man cover showed or one high safety showed, and this was the shot that they would go, what was their accuracy on that? And I thought, man, what great insights to say not just you know how arm strength somebody had, but like the specifics to it. And then really came, then he was talking about like toughness, you know, like that person has got to be in the huddle, they got to get back up, they got to show and demonstrate that toughness. But that really stuck with me about you know the deep ball accuracy, and it was small things like that. Or I can remember uh visiting with the Hall of Famer GM Ron Wolfe, and I'd asked him to come down to training camp one year in Atlanta, and I said, Hey, would we would you mind going through the the top two quarterbacks in this year's draft? I just wanted to see what you saw in one versus the other. And as we were watching a tape, he uh you know there was like an interception, so he said, Hey, wind that back. And I'm thinking he was thinking it was gonna be a release or what was the read. And I said, What were we looking for? He goes, I wanted to see how hard he was going to chase to make the tackle. And like, so he was speaking of like at that position, man, you better be one hell of a competitor. So that to me was something that like really stuck out to me. Um, talking to you know, up to Parcells, it was really about the identity, and that's a lot of where my questions were and what that would look like, and what would the practices be? And how would you take away something that a team, a specific team, does well? Okay, Dan, how are you gonna take that away? That is not gonna happen in this game. And then going after matchups, and he was, you know, a good bit of that lunch was talking about how's your club compared to the division? What matchups are you stronger, what matchups are you weaker? And so he really thought strategically as opposed to, hey, this is our system, this guy's got to make the play. He was very conscious of that, and I thought, man, that's some upper level thinking in a significant way. So those are just two examples, man. On that day, I I probably could have stayed with both of them for the month. They would have had to kick my ass out. But uh, there's a lot to gain from sharing that information as coaches, and now I try to you know give that information back when we're developing other coaches, whether it's here or elsewhere. And uh we get a good opportunity to go do that.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Sure, sure. No, that's great stuff. I mean that you know Bill Parcells, I had the fortune to sit with him a couple of times. This is an intense guy with an amazing presence. And you know, you just you kind of want to, we said, we're gonna do this. Yeah, okay, coach, that's what we're doing. And he's very successful guy, and hats off to you for seeking that knowledge. I think that's stuff that hey, memories you'll never forget no matter what, but that just uh that had to teach you some things.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Yeah, I think if you go back and you want to, like, hey, what's some things that you'd want to do differently or go back, those are things when you, whenever you're starting off onto something, man, ask some guys who've had some wisdom. Doesn't mean you have to do it that way, but it does give you a different point of view and another perspective on something. And so you take a nugget like that from a guy like Gibbs who, you know, hey, what's the guy doing on, you know, he has to throw a deep ball on a shot, it's only gonna happen a few times a game. What happens when that play takes place? I said, All right, that's one that stuck with me.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

That's great. That's great. Well, one thing talking about too, I always on the show I like to talk to people about transition, right? So I think one of the things as a former player, I played a coach and it was on the business side, but I see a lot of former players who struggle with transition, right? What's next in life after a full stadium, signing autographs, the crowds cheering to nobody's cheering, you're kind of throwing out in the street. How do you how do you reinvent yourself, transition? I know for coaches, same thing, right? They have a similar thing, but for you specifically, Dan, you you were head coach, then you went coordinator, now you're back at a head coach. How do you you know what's some keys and advice you give guys that, hey, we're always reinventing ourselves and transitioning? What what are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Yeah, what I did, Jim, I've been uh head coach in Atlanta for six years and got let go during the 2020 season. And that first time, uh, your business listeners might think of it as a 360. I just thought of it as, hey, what would be a blind spot report? What were some things that I could do differently? And so I hired somebody that would, you know, talk to former players, current players, maybe ones that I had let go. And I wanted just, and I didn't want anybody's name on it, Jim. I just wanted what were some things that we thought could do better, what were some things that we could do differently, knowing that on the next lap, I'm not just gonna say, well, I would do the same exact thing. So I wanted some insight about you know leaving Atlanta, knowing that in my next chapter, I went to be a coordinator again at Dallas to say, all right, what could I do differently, and then make sure I could apply those things. And what was nice is I'm able to do it some there in Dallas, and now again here in DC. So that is a big thing because that transition, man, in any profession, everything's scheduled out, this is what you're doing, and then all of a sudden, man, you're you know, you know, throwing a sucker punch and you're like, all right, how do we react now? Knowing that that adversity is gonna come. I wanted to find out what my blind spots were, and then if there's a way to address them, then I would.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Great. No, that's very, very smart, you're very intellectual guy, and it's just it's great. I mean, it was seeking the knowledge and and this the self self-reflection, look at yourself and be critical on yourself that hey, what can I get better at? How you know, we're always getting better growing. What can you do? That's that's that's amazing. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Sometimes when you're the leader, you don't get a lot of feedback. Right. You know, and you know this, you know, in in business to say, you know, you don't get that. So you want to seek it and you want the information from the other people that you work with. Sometimes you just want a different point of view. I want the pros and the cons. So like that feedback is critical. And so as a coach or a leader, um, you want to make sure that you have people there that are giving you that feedback. And sometimes it's just to make sure, hey, this is the best way that we're doing something. So let's dig in on it and make sure of that.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Sure. And being approachable to your point. I think CEOs, executives, head coaches sometimes aren't approachable. There, there's some egos there and stuff, but yeah, you know, being a guy that my door's open and really it is open. Come on in, let's talk. Let's all get better, let's help each other. And you know, that that definitely I can see that with you. And taking a turn too here. So, enough big name guy that you worked with, I remember down in Miami, Nick Sabin, right? Head head coach. Talk to me about his time in Miami. What what did you learn from Coach Coach Saban?

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Yeah, I had uh I thought it was like going to like grad school for football, man. It was awesome. It was such a clear philosophy of how things were going to be done, the organization, this is how we would do. So, like in a four-week, excuse me, in a four-year span, I'd worked two years with Nick Saban, who had come from LSU to go to Miami, and then I went to the Seattle Seahawks with Pete, Carroll. And these two guys had been like on top of college football, like at the very highest spot. And what was so interesting, Jim, is these two guys were so clear in how they want to get down. This is how the program's gonna be run, like philosophically, everybody knew what it was, how it would go. They did it in their own authentic way. And so I thought, man, what a great learning lesson for me that as good as these guys were, they were truly authentic to the way they said their messaging, they ran their program. Nick wouldn't have done it Pete's way, and Pete wouldn't have done it Nick's way, and they wouldn't have been as successful if they had tried to copy somebody else's personality or style, but their consistency to do it again and again and again, like Pete Carroll with competition, like he wouldn't back off it. Like it was every day, could we compete and find it? And he just never backed off of that. And I really respected that, Jim. And same thing with Nick, the standards of practice and execution wasn't gonna back off it and allow you know something that was substandard to be recognized as it was okay. And I admired that in both of them. And again, the biggest takeaway I got was and also do it in your same language for yourself. So I couldn't have been Nick Sabin or Pete Carroll, I had to do it in my own way, but it was very important to be authentic to how you say it and you do it like let's face it, man, you were a pro player for a long time. Players see through the BS quickly, and if you're not being who you are, they're gonna know it. And so it better be authentic to how you coach on the best of days, the hardest of days, and making sure that like hey, when I come into work, I this is the expectations that that are gonna be there every day. And as a ball player, you didn't want you know to have to be riding the roller coaster, how's the coach gonna be today? And if you had somebody that was consistent and tough in their standards, I thought that got the best out of people.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Sure, sure. And Nick, you know, arguably the greatest college football coach of all time, or one of them, right? So how do you, you know, and I remember him, how do you what do you think? You know, in the NFL, he was there, but it didn't go as well as that. But what do you what do you think that was? A little different, he's better with the younger guys than you know the the older guys, or what are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 13:01

I think if he had it stayed, he he would have done great too, man. Uh there's some like small things, all right? Let's go like interviewing somebody for a position. He might have interviewed six people, but it was to find the best person, but it was also to gain information and knowledge. And so it was as simple as going through an interview. Could we learn something? Could we find something out here? Could we get better in an area that we didn't know as much about? And I thought, man, what a hell of a competitor's mindset in that way. But I think whether he was coaching in, you know, if he had stayed in Pro Ball, I think it would have worked out great. Obviously, like it was the right call to go to Alabama at that time, but he could have such insight on how to control a game. Um, he had great feel, Jim, offensively, defensively. You know, like he was constantly learning and pushing, and I think that's the measure of a really good coach. What was once good, hey, this has to be tweaked and adjusted, and uh it was just like relentless in like the pursuit of like getting better.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Sure. And now switching gears, Seattle, you one of the greatest defenses in NFL history, the Legion of Boom. Why was it so special? What what what happened out there? How'd you put it out? You mentioned Pete, you were there. How'd you all put it together? What what was the secret sauce?

SPEAKER_00 14:15

You know, at the very and and we did it way differently than uh in Atlanta. So the scheme was less complex, but these guys knew it inside out. If you had asked almost any one of them to go diagram it, draw it, they knew it inside and out. And that type of knowledge allowed them to play really fast. Decision making was critical that they could, you know, think quickly on their feet. And so and then you combine that with a group that was kind of coming on their way up together, Jim, and they were competitive to push one another. The practices there were really competitive and strong. And so we worked right on that edge of being like almost out of control. But it was at that edge that we got really good because we pushed ourselves into that space, and they had a good connection as a defensive crew, but it was really um, you know, like some leaders like a Cam Chancellor, Richard Sherman, a Bobby Wagner that had such high standards about how they wanted to like battle for one another. It was really rare and a really fun group to coach.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Yeah, you know, you mentioned I had him on my list here, Cam Chancellor. I went to Virginia Tech to go hokey. He's a hokey. I remember watching him in college, and uh, you get a lot of hokey fans that are commander fans, I'm sure, northern Virginia up there. So yeah, 100%. That's a big, big, big part of the country. But he was a great player at Virginia Tech, big physical guy. I think he was drafted late, though. He he fell in the draft a little bit, and you guys got him out there and obviously developed him and and he did what he did and he had a great run, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Like so many good players that you played with who are teammates, like he was an exceptional teammate, but he had found that one thing that he had that like, man, could he like absolutely demonstrate this physicality? And so, like, coming across the middle, we played so much zone that he was able to have vision to the quarterback and absolutely break on the ball to go. So we played him a lot near the line of scrimmage. That was he was about you know 235 pounds and 6'3, so he was like a big linebacker, and man, could he hit? And so the physicality, the disruption that he caused, but also like high standards for one another to his teammates. He was like an incredible leader. So he was the entire package toughness, physicality, the knowledge, dependability, all those things. But that physicality, that's the spot that like you wanted to think twice, you know, on that over route as a tight end, knowing that like old 31 might have been right there on that hash waiting.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Yeah, yeah, hokies, man. He had a great job. You did a great job with him, and uh unbelievable. And one thing you mentioned too, coach, your coaching tree, very, very impressive, stands out to me. I I had spoken to Andy Reid uh yesterday, actually, doing doing a similar thing. You know, he's he's had a great coaching tree, too. 27 years the head coach. Now, I coached for three years in the NFL with some different guys, different staffs, but I remember going to stuff and meetings, and there were meetings they said you can come to the meeting. Like they didn't want me to learn, wouldn't let me grow. Like it was like the oddest thing. But so I, you know, hats off to you. Want to hear and get your take on it. But you know, that for to help a man to help another man, especially in a big, big business like that, no ego, you're very humble, good guy. That's to be commended because that's that's rare too. It's a it shows you have eight guys that were on your staff. A, you're hiring great guys, B, you're developing them, and then you're letting them flourish and you're giving them power to do that, you're teaching them, and then they go on, and I'm sure you're supporting them and you're happy for that. They've they've gone and got head jobs. But what do you do there, coach? And congratulations on all that.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Yeah, I think that's our responsibility to develop the coaches, just like the players. If we're developed of the players, we have to be that for the staff as well. And so we take a lot of pride in how to develop one another as coaches. There's not like a, you know, in college, I go to a convention and talk to other coaches. So you really have to dig in to learn and grow, and you have to push people, you got to give them feedback, you have to have high standards for that. But I do see myself as a developmental coach. What would we all give, you know, for somebody to look after us and say, especially on your way up, like those first three years after you're done playing to start coaching, to say, here, come on, Jim, let me show you how to do this. Like we would give anything to do that. And so if you really want to build, you know, a crew that's strong and wants to dig in together, um, it's moments like that that you allow people to grow. And I think sometimes the best ideas, you know, go horizontally, not vertically. I can imagine you were sitting in some meetings thinking, I know a better way we could do this, but no one was willing to listen into that space. And it doesn't mean you have to do it, but having another point of view helps. And so I just think that's important for us to take the time, go through it together. And uh so we do some coaching summits together. Sometimes I'll bring some retired coaches in, uh, might be some coaches from another sport just to give new insights about how we could look at something different, most of it around development of players and around as coaches too. Could be technology. I want to present better, I want to teach better so the players have better understanding. And so what does a meeting look like without all lecturing, but having the players interact as well? And so that's what we try to develop as the coaches, like how elite can they become as teachers, both on the field and you know, in the classroom. I imagine you as a player, like when you're in the game or at practice, you don't need a lot of feedback, it has to be direct, and here's what it is, and here's what I saw, as opposed to taking too long and too wordy. So I think the the words that we use as coaches at Man Ed is critical.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Yeah, absolutely. Uh you know, John Harbaugh and the Harbor family there, they said a great idea, it has no rank, right? So it to your point, right? That's that's that's for sure. And then you know, the mother of all learning is repetition. I remember Bill Muir, I coach with Bill, he that's what he said. So to your point, like I'm out I coach some of the youth stuff, and we're out there. Some guys are just talking too much. I'm like, get them reps, reps, reps. Like that's how you learn reps, either good or bad. We'll we'll coach them up later, we'll we'll film it and look at it later.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

But you know, the old line coaches, Jib, are so detailed that I found through the years some are the very best at developing players over and over the footwork, the technique, the leverage, and uh that's what makes kind of coaching so much fun. If you were on a staff, you'd want to learn from Bill Muir at whatever position you were coaching. You might have been a linebacker coach, and I want to hear how Bill Muir is teaching. I had been at Seattle, we had a line coach by the name of Alex Gibbs, and then it was Tom Cable. These guys taught zone blocking like an absolute G. I remember just wanting to sit in their meetings and learn and like grow from them, knowing this is some of the best teaching that's going on in our game at offensive line. And so, like, why wouldn't we dig in for one another?

SPEAKER_01 21:00

Sure, sure. Bring up some names. Kyle Shanahan. So Kyle and I uh we we worked together. I was a he he was a new coach on John Gruden's in Tampa. We were there, and he was a young guy coming in, quality control. I was a quality control with him, so we we spent a lot of nights together hanging out. Great guy, but he's known as one of the best offensive minds in football. What what makes him that way or different, and what what does he do that that makes him so well one I think uh his knowledge of the entire system is so rare.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

There's plenty of coaches, Jim, and they might have had a quarterback background, have good understanding of the passing game. You could put Kyle, he could coach the offensive line, the quarterbacks, the tight ends, the receivers, running backs, any of that position. He would coach it like an expert. And that's not normal in an offensive coordinator or a defensive coordinator. There's a specialty that they had. It might have been he was a secondary coach in my background defensive line or you know, a quarterback coach that did that, but his ability to talk. The run game, the formations, the whole system. That was something when I first got with him in 2015 that I was just so impressed by, like hearing him talk to the line coach the same way he was talking to the receiver coach, to the quarterback coach. And then I thought he really does a good job game planning, Jim. That's you know, like during the week, this is what we're seeing, this is how we're gonna get, what would be the look, what's the indicator, how would we teach off of that? So I think those two things uh make him such an elite coach, the guys that can find the matchup, and the guys that like can really know how to work somebody over in the system.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Sure, sure. No, and to to your point, too. He grew up around it, right? His dad is a legendary coach, and his dad, I used to hear about he had a photographic memory. He like he the dad could see things and call plays and do stuff. So he he's Kyle's from that same claw, so I'm sure he's he's done well. Yeah, I'm happy for him. Recall, it's crazy. I didn't get that, but I wish I had a head a few times.

SPEAKER_00 23:01

So yeah, I was uh didn't have that. I uh definitely of uh envious when I see it.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Yeah, no, and the next guy, Raheem Morris, right? Raheem on that same staff was Raheem. He was a defensive quality control, so we all ran together. Raheem, smooth guy, you know, sharp guy, can talk, guys relate well to him. You know, I think he uh you know he's had a couple opportunities and and done well, and then he's he's everything he's out there with Kyle now, too. So as a DC, right? So what do you what are your thoughts on Raheem? And here's a question. Well, answer that question first, I guess I got another one to follow up.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Okay. Well, he is uh like we're talking about Kyle elite in terms of teaching the knowledge. Raheem's superpower, man, was his ability to connect. And uh he could be a receiver coach, DB coach, head coach, D coordinator, any of it. His ability to to push, to get in, to get you at your best is so rare. And uh that's something that I remembered from him way back when I was first starting coaching, he was playing. And so I coached him at Hofstra, and then we coached together there, and then we you know both went to the NFL and came back to coach together. But his ability to connect and bring people together, Jim, it is truly rare. And uh he's quick on his feet, he can think you know offensively, defensively, but that ability to bring people together that is his superpower. Man, does he have it?

SPEAKER_01 24:22

Yeah, he was great. That staff I was on to, Mike Tomlin was the DB coach, Raheem was his assistant, so we had all kinds of good stuff going on. But Raheem, what what type of player was Raheem? Because I know you guys were at Hofston, Joe Gardy was the coach, right? Or one of the coaches that I know his son Dave. Good good people.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

Yeah, and so Rob was an excellent free safety. We had another safety that he played with by that guy who played in the NFL for 10 or 11 years, Lance Shulters. And the two of those together, um, man, they were a handful. And we'd put you know, Lance down near the line of scrimmage, more like in a Cam Chancellor role. Uh Raheem would be in the middle of the field. He could have called the defense then, Jim. Honestly, he had that type of insights and awareness and could give recall quickly about what would happen. But that's the type of player he was. So you knew that when the playing career would one day be done, this guy would be a natural as a coach. He could teach it, he could talk it. Um, and not all great players can do that. And so he had that ability to say, okay, this is what we need to do, take away the fluff, this is what we got to get done. And uh he's just been remarkable at that. So he's one of my uh favorite people uh in the whole world. I've known him for you know, I guess close to 30 years, and uh I love him.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Yeah, great guy, great guy. He's a fun energy to him, always upbeat. I've never seen him down, which is great.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Yeah, there are very few bad days, and he is uh, but he's got just this rare ability to bring people together, and he'll do a fantastic job with Kyle.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

Sure, sure. Now switching gears to Super Bowls, coach. Now, listen, you play three Super Bowls, unbelievable. I mean, the highest of high, right? I mean, to get there, I was around the NFL for 14 years, never got to a Super Bowl. You know, obviously that was what everyone's trying to do. Highly competitive thing. You won one Seattle. I was at that game, by the way, out in New York, right? It was a Super Bowl in New York City. Yeah. Yeah, it was snowing. I remember snowed after I got snowed in the next day. I was I was on the business side of the Buccaneers then, but great game. You guys demolished the the Broncos. It was awesome, right?

SPEAKER_00 26:19

Worried because it was uh they said it was gonna snow, and then the day of the game, it was super nice. And here we are playing Pate Banning, and it's like, shit, man, I thought it was gonna snow. And uh these guys had this prolific offense, but uh yeah, it was a fantastic game all the way around.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Yeah, I remember when I think one of the snaps went over his head or you followed him. Yeah, right. As a former center, I was like, oh man, the Super Bowl right over the head, man. That's that's gotta hurt. But so then here's the other thing. I know the other two games, literally, one play in either of those games, you'd be a three-time Super Bowl winner, right? I mean, you probably go back and look that so close, it's such a such a fine line. And you know, so some adversity, right? So they you win one, which is great. You you don't win two others that could have easily went the other way. How how do you how do you again uh I'm very envious of that that you made it there? It's it's a huge accomplishment. A lot of people walking this planet will never get to the Super Bowl, let it as a fan or as a player, as a coach. You were there three times. And how do you what did you learn from that? How did you become a better coach that helps you today going through all that?

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Yeah, for sure. And uh you don't really get to demonstrate that uh that you are better until you're in that exact scenario. So, you know, we twice in Seattle and once in Atlanta. And so the the lessons that you want to take, man, you want to pull those forward with you. You don't want to live in the past and like mope about it, but you do want to, you know, bring those lessons forward. And so whether that's a lesson regarding a game management, a play selection, a use of a player, those come, you know, with battling and in great competition in in both instances against New England and uh their system, like this is as you know, high coaching as you can get, man. So to go against them, to understand what it's like, you know, be in that moment, it's competing at the very highest level. And that is what you always want to be a part of, right, Jim? To say, hey, this is where you go at the highest level, go battle for it. And it's a competitor's life, man. Sometimes you know you get knocked on your ass and you get back up off the mat, but you do need to pull the lessons forward. You know, when that time comes, what will you do differently? And uh it's all like most great things, like leading up to the game, the journey, the people that you're going with. But uh yeah, it definitely has a scar uh that you want to take the lessons from for damn sure.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

No, hey, congratulations and all. But I had a old line coach, Steve Marshall, used to say to me, Ain't a shame to get knocked down, it's a shame to stay down. So you got that right. Keep getting up and fighting, but uh good stuff. You know, switching gears, track and field. I looked looked it up. So you you were you threw the discus, the hammer, the shot put, right? And you set records with the hammer. Tell me about that. And how did that help you with football play as a player, I guess, in high school?

SPEAKER_00 28:56

Yep. And so in high school, you know, like in New Jersey, we had indoor track, outdoor track, and so I did those, and then going to college, I enjoyed track and field. It was like the exact opposite of where I loved so much about football of the team. And you've had these games where you might have played well and the team lost, or you played poorly and the team won. And track and field was just the opposite, man. And it was like, how are you gonna go? You know, and there was easy, let's go right down the road a half hour, go against somebody else and see where you stand. And so I I think came to find, man, I love competing. And that's like kind of the I say, like what I know most about myself. And so that's probably what I loved most about track and field, it's like, man, big meets to go, and whether it was pen relays or big meets to say, man, like go test yourself, see where you're at. So I liked pushing to see where that would go. Ultimately, I knew I wanted to teach and coach. So going to college, I was gonna get into education and you know, probably teach, you know, elementary school and coach high school football and high school track. But getting into you know, college coaching and football earlier, um, I didn't do that, but man, I had a blast doing it. And so even now today I still enjoy following it. So when it's the U.S. track and field championships, usually in June, or you know, when the Olympics come around, man, do I enjoy watching these guys battle.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

It's funny. I have the same thing. I I love it too. I played football, basketball, and track in high school. All the football coaches coach track, but I I got really got into it. And I my my we didn't have the hammer, but we had a javelin, so I threw the javelin. Yep, I really I threw the shot in the disc too. But uh to your point, Team Sport, Team Sport. Now, this one was it was all on me at this point, right? I enjoyed that part. I was competing with myself and the other competitors, but I want to see if I could get better, throw it further, throw it further, and then watching that thing sail sometimes. It was great. And the meets were great. Physical people, guys, girls walking around, and you could go watch the other events and see everybody doing it. It's a great sport that you know, I obviously it's an Olympic sport, but it it, you know, I think it's a great sport.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

And you probably were like me, you connected with other people that you wouldn't have normally, you know, like through college of you know, the track and field teams, I might have not met some of the same people had I not done that. And so like some of those relationships that you build were different and fun. And so it was just like honestly, like a great balance for a competitor. And I would just recommend it to anybody that's um whether they're high school to play another sport, just for that sake of competing, man. There's there's training and there's competing. And uh like the competing part where it counts and you're keeping the score, like, man, that that's where it's at.

SPEAKER_01 31:26

Yeah, no, it's a historical sport, right? Obviously, one of the first Olympic sports and all that stuff going all the way back. But switching to leadership, Dan, what separates a good leader from a great leader?

SPEAKER_00 31:36

Well, I would say authentic is the first thing that came to mind when you asked that, Jim, just to make sure that that leader is gonna uh have no gap in what he says and what he does. If you're gonna stand out there and say this is what we need to do, you also need to be somebody that's out front doing those things. If you're not, it kind of can go on hollow ears, and we've all been around enough teammates that might say something and say, man, you don't you didn't do that yesterday. And uh so those are the things I would say, man, like make sure that there's no gap in what you say and what you actually do. And I think any good leader, man, they have good standards. They don't give out you know false praise if it's not there and making sure that like if this is what we say we want to do, like I'm going to be the one to set the standard about what that looks like, and then give feedback to people to make sure, hey, this was excellent. If we could add this to it, I think you'd really be on to something special. Or, hey, Jim, I think you missed a mark on this sale. Let's go back and find out why. And so just you don't have to be an asshole to give somebody feedback. But if you want to lead, you better be able to give insights to get people better. I think that's what I learned early on in coaching in the NFL. It didn't matter where you came from, if it was like from my instance, you know, coming from a small school to first start at the the 49ers. Um, all right, if Dan knew what he was doing and could get me better, they were they were gonna follow and and do that. And so that helped. That was a good lesson to say, man, it doesn't matter where you come from. If this person can help get them better, you'd be surprised how many people want to get back in line, spend some extra time with you to do that.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Sure, sure. And I got a little lightning round here, just some quick wrapping up last questions. Pete Carroll, what made him so great?

SPEAKER_00 33:20

I'd say relentless competitor. He just didn't back off, Jim. And it the messaging was so consistent about that.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

Awesome. Toughest quarterback to prepare for. There's a million of them.

SPEAKER_00 33:33

I would say, I'll how about I give a few? Can I do that? Sure, sure. I would say some combination of like Rogers and Brady and Breeze. Breeze, I played a lot just from New Orleans to uh, you know, Atlanta. Obviously, you know, Green Bay and the NFC. I was in, you know, from Atlanta to you know, others to that would have been one. And then Brady certainly been the biggest games. Um, but those have been the three that that that absolutely in the in a group of a lot you know as a defensive coach, those those three definitely kept me up the most.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

Yeah, a lot of talent there. So favorite stadium to play on the road when you're playing on the road.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

That's a great one, man. Um I think Seattle's cool. I think it's loud. Um, they're juiced up. I love Green Bay, same thing, especially if it's in the you know in the fall or the winter and game there. But those would be uh two that come you know as a road team. I always like going back to Met Life or Giants Stadium, as you and I would know it. I grew up in New Jersey, so that would be uh those would be my three.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Sure, sure. Favor favorite teammate or teammates that you had through your when you were playing or yeah, man.

SPEAKER_00 34:35

Again, one I we brought we talked about him earlier, but Cam Chancellor was certainly one. Um Bobby Wagner as a coach, man, did I have as much gratitude for him about standards and commitment and sacrifice. So those would be two. Bobby here, the last few years at Washington Cam prior to that. From an absolute like savage of a competitor, Julio Jones in Atlanta. And then from like a toughness standpoint, Matt Ryan, man. Like this is like we talked about like with Joe Gibbs and quarterback for six years, getting to coach Matt and seeing how tough he was. Like, man, I I respected the hell out of him.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

Sure, sure. Best advice you ever received.

SPEAKER_00 35:17

I'd say, hey Dan, do it your way. You know, like don't try to do it in a in a different fashion or a different way. It'll come off, you know, not being you. You've got good principles, you know what to do. So I'd say, like, make it authentic to who you are.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

That's great advice. I remember it was coming out as a senior in college. You made me think of it. There was a scout on who it was for the Giants. He said, he grabbed me, he said, Hey, listen, he goes, Jim, don't try to be anyone else. Be the best you can be, be the best Jim Pine can be. It worked out for you, but yeah, it worked out.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

I guess in closing not comparing, not comparing as much, you know? Yeah, right. I've missed some jobs, I've missed some. I wish I could do this. How come I'm not a coordinator? Man, if you like really enjoy and get after it of doing what you're doing, I found so many things came after that. You know, like I was 10 years a defensive line coach in the NFL. I want to be a coordinator, coordinator. Well, I went to the University of Florida for two years. I was a coordinator, then okay, is this all there was? You know, is that what I was all stressed out about to do that job? But then got to Seattle, got to be a head coach in Atlanta, Dallas, back to here. So I would just encourage people, man. Like, I know there can be some what can I do this in two years or three years, man? Like kicking ass at what you're doing. There's a lot of fun in that too.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

That's right. Yeah, go all in and throw yourself in and just do the best you can. If you're a youth coach, do be the best youth coach and and do the best. And some someone will notice and your time will come, right? So that's it will.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

And I I spent too much time worrying about what I need to be doing or what's ahead, and man, just enjoy it and like absolutely go after it, and then you'd be surprised, like so many good things will come your way.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

So last question if someone asks one of your players 20 years from now, tell me about Dan Quinn, what would you want them to say?

SPEAKER_00 36:59

I would say, man, the best time I ever had playing football was the years I spent with D C. We got better, like he demanded that, you know, our improvement, and uh, we were really connected as a team. So that that's what I would hope they'd say.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Great stuff, great stuff. Hey, coach, really thanks a lot. Really appreciate it. And heavy on down the road or something, but best of luck to training camp this season. Go get them. You're a winner, and I know you great things are ahead. So all the best. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

Likewise, Jim. Good afternoon.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

Thank you. Take care.