Getty Former head coach Dan Quinn of the Atlanta Falcons.
Five weeks into the season and a 0-5 start, Falcons owner Arthur Blank fired head coach Dan Quinn and general manager, Thomas Dimitroff.
But, Quinn isn’t wasting any time looking for his next coaching position and seems to not have a preference as to whether or not his next job is in the NFL or college football.
In fact, he reportedly reached out to the Arizona Wildcats, who fired their head coach Kevin Sumlin over the weekend.
“When we hired Kevin three years ago, we had very high hopes for our football program,” Arizona AD Dave Heeke said in his statement. Unfortunately, we simply have not seen the results and upward trajectory in our program that we needed to, and I believe now is the time for a change in leadership,” said Heeke. “I thank Kevin for his service to the University of Arizona and wish him the very best in the future.
“Our attention now turns to finding the next head coach at the University of Arizona, while we continue to support our student-athletes, who have sacrificed so much since returning to campus this summer. We will cast a wide net to identify and recruit a coach who shares our vision, our values and our passion for winning.”
Coach Quinn Also Showed Interest in Auburn
In his last three seasons as the Falcons head coach, Quinn wasn’t as successful as he should have been with all of the talented weapons he had on his team. The Falcons failed to make the playoffs and the last time they did, they blew their effort to New England.
Because of these past few seasons, Quinn getting a shot at a head coaching job anywhere could be a long shot. But that won’t stop him from trying. h
Aside from reaching out to Arizona, Quinn also reached out to Auburn over the weekend.
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Maybe A Potential Reunion With Pete Carroll?
It’s hard to rule out Quinn leaving the NFL as he would make a great assistant coach somewhere.
There have been some rumors bouncing around about a potential reunion with Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks. Quinn was the defensive coordinator for Seattle in 2013 and 2014 when the Seahawks made back-to-back Super Bowl appearances.
Carroll was asked about the rumors during a weekly press conference and he didn’t dismiss the idea, but he didn’t back it either.
“I haven’t even talked to Danny yet, we heard the news kind of leaking out, so I haven’t talked to him yet,” Carroll explained. “I don’t know what he is thinking. My first thought is what’s good for Dan to help him get through this. If there is something we can do to help him, we’ll talk about whatever. That’s a tough deal. He’d be the first to tell you they went 0-7 last year and then went 6-2 in the second half of the season and turned their season around. But they went 0-5 [this season]. That’s hard to live with. Unfortunately, that’s what it comes down to. He’s a great football coach. He’s a terrific person and we love him and all that. So, we wish him the best. It’s a hard time for him.”
Seattle has struggled on defense this season, but not as bad as Atlanta. Still, there have been talks that Carroll will move on from his DC Ken Norton Jr., and reuniting with Quinn could be a good option for both of them.
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