How Commanders coach Dan Quinn reinvented himself - ESPN

ASHBURN, Va. — Dan Quinn knew what would happen.

It was Oct. 11, 2020, and Quinn, then the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, was driving to the home of team owner Arthur Blank.

He had never been summoned to Blank's house after a game. But hours earlier, Quinn's Falcons, in a make-or-break season for the sixth-year coach, had lost their fifth straight game to open the season, falling 23-16 at home to the Carolina Panthers.

As he drove to meet with his boss, Quinn called his wife, Stacey, to let her know what was probably coming. Once he arrived, Blank made it official and fired Quinn, who had amassed a 43-42 record in Atlanta.

Blank's words stung. In the immediate moment, Quinn said he was angry — not at Blank, but at himself. Once he got back to his car, he called Stacey; they talked, they cried and talked some more.

«It sucked so bad,» said Quinn, now in his first season as head coach of the Washington Commanders. «I definitely was mad and depressed and upset. I affected all of those players, their families, the coaches, their families, the fan base when I didn't get the job done.»

Days later, Quinn and his wife traveled to their seaside house in Oahu, Hawaii. The state's strict COVID-19 guidelines mandated them to quarantine for 14 days.

While locked inside, Quinn began a transformation that has, four years later, helped Washington (7-3) get off to its best start in more than two decades ahead of Thursday's game against the Philadelphia Eagles (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video). Motivated by his Falcons firing, Quinn embarked on a journey of self-examination and growth in hopes of ensuring that if he got a second chance to coach an NFL team, it would go better than the first.

To pursue that end, Quinn underwent an extensive