The HC Dan Quinn Discussion Thread

[Primus Porcus]

Is it fair? He himself wasn’t happy with either of his initial coordinator hires, now he’s starting over heading into year 3.

His record in ATL without Kyle Shanahan was 24-29.

He’s well respected. I’m not sure how impressive his HC pedigree really is anytime he doesn’t have an elite offense being run by somebody else (and he doesn’t want to coach the defense so why should I consider that as a factor—especially given his DC hires over the years have never really given him an elite defense).

I think we’re potentially in no-man’s land with Quinn. 2024 was a blast but we’re just waiting for the next phase of this franchise’s future at this point imo unless Daniels can carry us again and buy time for Blough to grow into his huge brain on the job, I guess. If that doesn’t happen then we’re starting over in the 4th year of Daniels’ rookie contract. That’s insane. Even Keim says Quinn can’t afford a slow start next year, or things could change and his seat could grow warm. That’s a calamity after the taste of apparently unsustainable success we received in 2024. Nobody would be happy about that.

But benefit of the doubt? Don’t see why people would give that gift to Quinn with the way things have gone. Again, his career HC record is below .500 without someone else running an elite offense for him. Which I guess is fine as long as you keep finding those guys. But then after a disaster season, all hands on deck, he hires a completely inexperienced OC to shepherd this offense and further develop Jayden Daniels. Huge swing with huge whiff potential, we have to acknowledge that. Quinn’s career is likely relying on what Blough/Daniels cook up together over the first 12 weeks of next season. And it’s still a tough schedule imo. Godspeed to us.

Who says he wasn't happy with Kliff? Kliff may have been the perfect coordinator at the time, but its now time to go in a different direction.

 

[burgold]

Boy, are you in a negative frame of mine, Conn.

I see it simpler. Kliff and Kyle were good offensive coordinator hires who got results. Whitt sucked. The guy Quinn picked after Kyle sucked which Quinn acknowledged. 2024 was an amazing year. 2025 was a trainwreck of a year because of injuries and because Whitt was awful. Kliff actually did pretty well until the wheels totally fell off injurywise. When guys started coming back, so did the offense.

So, Quinn has hired good coordinators in the past as well as bad ones. I get why Quinn wanted to give Whitt his shot, but blame him for letting the guy flail around for so long when it was clear he couldn't get it done. When Quinn took the reins the D did improve despite the injuries.

Given all of this, I stick with the position of "I'm going to give him the benefit that 2024 was more real than 2025." I'm doing it for two reasons: First, I have no bloody say in the matter and I might as well sleep well. Two, I've seen Quinn be an effective coach in Atlanta, here, and led an insane turnaround in Dallas. Now, for this to work out, they need to get the coordinators right and improve the talent and depth which is a lot, but if I've toughed it out and stayed the course through Rivera, Zorn, Spurrier and the like... I've already proven I'm too stubborn and too much of a glutten for punishment not to believe in that last little thing hiding in Pandora's Box.

 

[Faithful Fan]

Harbaugh is one of the best coaches in football. 193-124 career including 13-11 in the postseason and a Super Bowl championship. The Ravens were stupid to fire him and the Giants were wise to bring him in. We should be very worried about having him in the division.

 

[burgold]

Harbaugh is one of the best coaches in football. 193-124 career including 13-11 in the postseason and a Super Bowl championship. The Ravens were stupid to fire him and the Giants were wise to bring him in. We should be very worried about having him in the division.

There's an old axiom in football about a coach's lifespan. They say no matter how good a coach is after a time the players stop hearing his message. Maybe Harbaugh had gotten stale in Baltimore? I actually agree with you, but I can see why they made the move. They've had so much playoff pain in recent years.

 

[Conn]

Who says he wasn't happy with Kliff? Kliff may have been the perfect coordinator at the time, but its now time to go in a different direction.

I didn’t specify when he became unhappy with the situation, but it’s clear that he eventually did. Or they both did. Or it just wasn’t a fit any longer and he wasn’t unhappy at all. Or whatever. Not really relevant to my point.

 

[Conn]

Boy, are you in a negative frame of mine, Conn.

I see it simpler. Kliff and Kyle were good offensive coordinator hires who got results. Whitt sucked. The guy Quinn picked after Kyle sucked which Quinn acknowledged. 2024 was an amazing year. 2025 was a trainwreck of a year because of injuries and because Whitt was awful. Kliff actually did pretty well until the wheels totally fell off injurywise. When guys started coming back, so did the offense.

So, Quinn has hired good coordinators in the past as well as bad ones. I get why Quinn wanted to give Whitt his shot, but blame him for letting the guy flail around for so long when it was clear he couldn't get it done. When Quinn took the reins the D did improve despite the injuries.

Given all of this, I stick with the position of "I'm going to give him the benefit that 2024 was more real than 2025." I'm doing it for two reasons: First, I have no bloody say in the matter and I might as well sleep well. Two, I've seen Quinn be an effective coach in Atlanta, here, and led an insane turnaround in Dallas. Now, for this to work out, they need to get the coordinators right and improve the talent and depth which is a lot, but if I've toughed it out and stayed the course through Rivera, Zorn, Spurrier and the like... I've already proven I'm too stubborn and too much of a glutten for punishment not to believe in that last little thing hiding in Pandora's Box.

I don’t really think it’s negative to point out that as a HC, his teams have only won games (in a macro sense, referencing his coaching record) when he’s had an elite offense (which he isn’t involved with). His record without an elite offense is below .500 (and I’m not even counting this year against him, didn’t include it, because he still had the same OC who called the plays in 2024 when it was elite, and tons of injuries, etc. I’m giving him a pass for that).

So…is it unfair to suggest that if Blough and Daniels don’t produce an elite offense, Quinn is screwed? And that it’s a huge risk for that reason, and even Keim said a slow start next year could change things for him? I don’t think so.

I’m not trying to be negative, but laying out the case for not giving Quinn the benefit of the doubt unearths some rather ugly patterns. I fully support your right to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I hope you’re right and that things go swimmingly. I just don’t feel that’s the most likely outcome.

 

[clskinsfan]

Harbaugh is one of the best coaches in football. 193-124 career including 13-11 in the postseason and a Super Bowl championship. The Ravens were stupid to fire him and the Giants were wise to bring him in. We should be very worried about having him in the division.

I disagree. He is a great coach when supported by an EXCELLENT front office. We are about to find out how he is as a talent evaluator. He had nothing to do with that for 19 seasons.

 

[Faithful Fan]

The Steelers are a cautionary tale about the worst thing you can ever be in football - never good enough to win anything, and never bad enough to get a top draft pick and great QB.

They never properly tanked, and in the process, shot themselves in the foot.

I disagree. Tomlin actually won two Super Bowls, one as an assistant and one as a head coach.

And not having a losing season in 19 years is an incredible accomplishment. We should be so lucky. We have had 12 losing seasons in that time. Also Tomlin had 8 playoff wins since 2007, we have only had two in that same span.

And it’s not like we haven’t hit rock bottom and drafted in the top five either, but let’s not talk about how much good tanking to draft guys like RG3 and Chase Young actually did us. Admittedly, the jury is still out on Jayden, but there is even some cause for skepticism on that pick after this past season.

 

[burgold]

I don’t really think it’s negative to point out that as a HC, his teams have only won games (in a macro sense, referencing his coaching record) when he’s had an elite offense (which he isn’t involved with). His record without an elite offense is below .500 (and I’m not even counting this year against him, didn’t include it, because he still had the same OC who called the plays in 2024 when it was elite, and tons of injuries, etc. I’m giving him a pass for that).

So…is it unfair to suggest that if Blough and Daniels don’t produce an elite offense, Quinn is screwed? And that it’s a huge risk for that reason, and even Keim said a slow start next year could change things for him? I don’t think so.

I’m not trying to be negative, but laying out the case for not giving Quinn the benefit of the doubt unearths some rather ugly patterns. I fully support your right to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I hope you’re right and that things go swimmingly. I just don’t feel that’s the most likely outcome.

Maybe it's just the way I'm reading it. Tone doesn't always translate.

 

[Conn]

This is a stupid take. Tomlinson actually won two Super Bowls, one as an assistant and one as a head coach.

And not having a losing season in 19 years is an incredible accomplishment. We should be so lucky. We have had 12 losing seasons in that time. Also Tomlin had 8 playoff wins since 2007, we have only had two in that same span.

And it’s not like we haven’t hit rock bottom and drafted in the top five either, but let’s not talk about how much good tanking to draft guys like RG3 and Chase Young actually did us. Admittedly, the jury is still out on Jayden, but 2025 has given some cause for skepticism.

The difference is probably that if the Steelers had ever bottomed out at the right time and drafted a franchise QB to replace Ben, they likely would’ve been competing for SB’s again due to the absolute solidity of everything else, rather than fighting to never have losing seasons. So there’s an argument for being too effective at winning 9 games for their own good the last 5-6 years when things started getting stale with Tomlin, as is natural.

 

[Faithful Fan]

I disagree. He is a great coach when supported by an EXCELLENT front office. We are about to find out how he is as a talent evaluator. He had nothing to do with that for 19 seasons.

Mark my words, Harbaugh to the Giants is bad news for the rest of the NFC East.

 

[Riggo44]

The Ravens were stupid...and the Giants were wise

How many times over the last decade and a half has this been true?

Once again we see people having no question about giving Harbaugh the keys to the kingdom, practically guaranteed to be successful.

One question: based on what? Yes he has a great coaching record. But he also had a world class organization and front office supporting him. Now, he's the one in charge of it all. He's going to coach, oversee the roster, AND revolutionize the organization? For the same reason I'm worried about Blough, I'm skeptical of this set up: that's a lot of additional responsibility to give to someone who has never done it.

It's entirely possible he manages all of this. But more times than not, we've seen this fail.

 

[Boone]

This is a stupid take.

This kind of post is not consistent with our site and member expectations. You can think it, but lobbing insults doesn’t belong here.

 

[Conn]

It’s the same setup Harbaugh had in BAL (GM + HC separately answer to owner and work together).

Harbaugh’s error was in not leveraging his situation to bring in his own GM better than Schoen. But either way he wasn’t ever going to answer to the GM, that’s not how he’s operated.

 

[Bulldog]

The Giants have good scouts and their draft picks have been pretty good, at least at the top of the draft order.

I think where they have obviously failed is in knowing who to give a second contract to and how to handle free agency.

 

[Faithful Fan]

This kind of post is not consistent with our site and member expectations. You can think it, but lobbing insults doesn’t belong here.

Understood, I revised it accordingly.

 

[clskinsfan]

It’s the same setup Harbaugh had in BAL (GM + HC separately answer to owner and work together).

Harbaugh’s error was in not leveraging his situation to bring in his own GM better than Schoen. But either way he wasn’t ever going to answer to the GM, that’s not how he’s operated.

He never operated with final call on personnel either. We are going to find out soon how that works out for the Giants. Harbaugh was and IS a specials teams coach. Always has been.

 

[Conn]

He never operated with final call on personnel either. We are going to find out soon how that works out for the Giants. Harbaugh was and IS a specials teams coach. Always has been.

Has it been reported he has finally say on personnel? He didn’t in BAL and had the same setup. I don’t think he wants to draft the talent, he just doesn’t answer to the GM. In BAL, the owner broke ties. I’d think Mara would find that appealing since he’s being forced to spend so much money changing everything else

 

[Chris]

It was reported that Harbaugh is reporting directly to Mara but those reports didn’t stipulate that he has final say over personnel. But, I bet he does.

 

[Chris]

Did we tank for RG3? Or did we trade with St. Louis for the #2 overall pick. 😉