Dan Quinn knows the importance of teamwork.
Quinn, as a guest on the “Chris Russell Show” (The Team 980) Thursday afternoon, conveyed to Russell he has been on 70 teams in his lifetime. “That feeling of accomplishing things together, that is what I love the most,” said Quinn.
“Who do I keep up with, my old teammates. Those are the guys you fought with, bled with, went through struggles with, and success with. Those are the people I connected with most early. It is still the case today, whether I was coaching college ball or pro ball hearing from people maybe you’ve not spoken with in a long time. You can step into those conversations so quickly, so easily that, to me, is why I love coaching (most), the people you get to do it with. It lights me up.”
Much has been said this week about Quinn being a good leader of men, of teams. So Russell asked directly, “Where does that leadership come from?” Quinn responded, “I’ll set the course, trust me I will. But we will be really, really good when we are excellent in the locker room first…The way we push one another and lead one another that’s when you can become excellent.”
Quinn told Russell there are always times on a team when no one is leading an area and that you need guys who will thus say it is their time to take on some leadership because it is needed. “You do have to be ready when your number is called to say ‘This is my time, I will take it. I will lead the way here.'”
“When you have a number of people that push really high standards, then you can do some special stuff.”
Quinn is fully aware that everything hinges on leadership. He will set the bar high and seek out others to join him and lead others in the organization.
*Tomorrow, how Quinn will address this 2024 Commanders team in particular.