Dan Quinn knows the importance of teamwork.

Quinn, as a guest on the “Chris Russell Show” (The Team 980) Thursday afternoon, conveyed to Russell he has been on 70 teams in his lifetime. “That feeling of accomplishing things together, that is what I love the most,” said Quinn.

“Who do I keep up with, my old teammates. Those are the guys you fought with, bled with, went through struggles with, and success with. Those are the people I connected with most early. It is still the case today, whether I was coaching college ball or pro ball hearing from people maybe you’ve not spoken with in a long time. You can step into those conversations so quickly, so easily that, to me, is why I love coaching (most), the people you get to do it with. It lights me up.”

Much has been said this week about Quinn being a good leader of men, of teams. So Russell asked directly, “Where does that leadership come from?” Quinn responded, “I’ll set the course, trust me I will. But we will be really, really good when we are excellent in the locker room first…The way we push one another and lead one another that’s when you can become excellent.”

Quinn told Russell there are always times on a team when no one is leading an area and that you need guys who will thus say it is their time to take on some leadership because it is needed. “You do have to be ready when your number is called to say ‘This is my time, I will take it. I will lead the way here.’”

“When you have a number of people that push really high standards, then you can do some special stuff.”

Quinn is fully aware that everything hinges on leadership. He will set the bar high and seek out others to join him and lead others in the organization.

*Tomorrow, how Quinn will address this 2024 Commanders team in particular.

Story originally appeared on Commanders Wire

Cowboys Lose Ex First-Round DB to Coach Quinn’s Commanders In Free Agency

Noah Igbinoghene is the latest Dallas Cowboy to turn to the dark (red) side.

Per John Keim of ESPN, the Washington Commanders are set to sign the cornerback Igbinoghene, who becomes the fourth former Poke to defect to the nation’s capital this offseason (joining Dorance Armstrong, Tyler Biadasz, and Dante Fowler).

Washington is set to be led by new head coach Dan Quinn, who oversaw the Dallas defense in each of the last three seasons.

Is this a substantial loss, even though “Iggy” was once a first-round pick in Miami? No. Is it a disturbing trend? Kinda.

Igbinoghene will be a summer project in Washington as he looks to reclaim the narrative of his NFL career. The Auburn alum and multi-sport athlete entered the league as a 20-year-old in 2020 and has struggled to live up to his first-round billing since the Miami Dolphins made him the 30th pick in the draft.

Igbinoghene came to Dallas in a late summer trade that sent Kelvin Joseph east last season and primarily partook in special teams affairs.

In Dallas lore, Igbinoghene will go down as the firestarter of one of the most memorable blowouts in recent North Texas memory: in the most recent opener against the New York Giants (his Dallas debut), Igbinoghene took back a Graham Gano field goal blocked by Juanyeh Thomas 58 yards for the opening score in what became a 40-0 shellacking.

Upon his arrival to Dallas, Igbinoghene expressed interest in working with Quinn, referring to the then-defensive boss as someone who could “up his game.”

“Whatever they want me to do, I’m going to do it. Whether that’s special teams, whether that’s defense, it doesn’t matter whatever they want me to do,” Igbinoghene said, per Jess Nevarez of Pro Football Network. “I’m excited to be here. I just want to help this team and serve this team the best way I can.”