Commanders head coach Dan Quinn said Tuesday, “There’s some really fun guys to coach on this team.”
Quinn was a guest Tuesday with the “Sports Junkies” (106.7 The Fan) and seemed to enjoy himself, though he also displayed an ability to set some boundaries in terms of what questions he would answer.
Washington fans heard a lot about culture when the preceding head coach, Ron Rivera, arrived in 2020. He preached and preached culture and no doubt he felt he needed to change a good bit of the culture in Ashburn.
Yet Quinn is a much more energetic leader. He is much more vocal—not merely vocal in the sense of yelling and screaming, but vocal in the sense of frequently talking enthusiastically, frequently urging his team to compete, and also encouraging his team.
“If you are in this locker room and meeting rooms every day, often days it’s loud and fun,” said Quinn. We have a good time. We want to make sure we work our asses off and go for it in every way, really enjoy the people we do it with too.”
Yes, it is incredibly early. Yes, they have yet even to play a game that counts. However, in contrast to the Rivera team of 2020, though that team had an energetic leader in Chase Young, many on this team are displaying energy during this preseason.
“This crew is getting tighter all of the time. I saw that on the sideline the other night (at Miami). When you see somebody make a big play, ten guys run down the sideline to meet him. That’s the type of thing you can see when a team gets connected. When that energy comes from the guys that aren’t in the game, bringing to energy the guys that are. I’d hoped that would happen, so to see that take place down in Miami made me happy. To see that happen, that’s a big deal.”
It will be an even bigger deal if the team continues to develop team unity throughout the season. As former US President Harry S Truman (1945-1952) said, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
