“It was like going to get your PhD in football,” Quinn recalled. “The details he went through. Knowing every part of the program he touched.”
Quinn’s first job in professional football — defensive quality control coach — came in 2001 with the San Francisco 49ers in the final years of Bill Walsh’s prolific tenure. Promotions to assistant head coach and defensive coordinator occurred over two stints with the Seattle Seahawks, under Jim Mora Jr. and football impresario Pete Carroll. In between, Quinn joined the Miami Dolphins for Saban’s lone attempt at tackling an NFL head-coaching job.