Dan Quinn first got his coaching start at William & Mary (surprising how many coaches have started off at W&M over the years) as their defensive line coach in 1994. Like Brian Daboll, Quinn was hired by long-time coach Jimmye Laycock. From there, Quinn took the same job at Virginia Military Institute in 1995 and worked with Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin, who was VMI’s Wide Receivers coach that year.
Quinn then left to coach at Hofstra, taking their defensive line coach position in 1996 under long-time coach Joe Gardi. Gardi had spent a decade in the NFL with the Jets before leaving to coach Hofstra from 1990 till 2005.