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The NFL's Next Head Coach

Sons Of Shula

Sons Of Shula

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Who has the potential to succeed as one of the NFL's next Head Coaches and why.

Recently there have been a lot of names thrown into the mix as individuals that may have the potential for becoming an NFL head coach. Some we know and others maybe not as much. The idea for this thread is so that we can not only become familiar with their names but also their resumes, which coaching tree they may branch from, their offensive and/or defensive philosophies, and even the qualities or characteristics in which may elevate them to qualify for one the most elite fraternities.


In many instances, teams like to pick the fruit of recent Super Bowl champions in hopes that the plucked coordinator, assistant, or coach will help ripen their own players and bring the organization mutual success. We can all attest that those results are certainly not always the proven case but one man who has recently garnered my interest is Seattle's DC, Dan Quinn. In his first season as defensive coordinator, the Seahawks led the league in points allowed (231), yards allowed (4,378) and takeaways (39) to become the first team since the 1985 Chicago Bears to accomplish the feat; the rest is history as the Seahawks went on to win Super Bowl XLVIII.

Player Background:

Dan played his high school ball at Morristown High School in Morristown, New Jersey. Quinn played at Division-III Salisbury State University (now Salisbury University) as a defensive lineman from 1990 to 1993.

Resume & Coaching Tree:

He began his collegiate coaching career at William & Mary in 1994 (DL), Virginia Military Institute in 1995 (DL) and Hofstra from 1996-1999 (DL), 2000 (DC). He began his NFL coaching career in San Francisco under Mariucci and Mora as its defensive quality control coach in 2001 before moving to coach the 49ers defensive line from 2003-04. He also coached the defensive lines for the Miami Dolphins under Nick Saban (2005-06) and the N.Y. Jets under Eric Mangini (2007-08) before Mora hired him at Seattle in 2009 and was one of three holdovers in 2010 on Carroll's staff when he coached the defensive line.

Quinn left Seattle to become the defensive coordinator at the University of Florida where his defenses ranked in the top 10 in the country in 2011 & 2012 and returned to Seattle to become defensive coordinator in 2013 after the departure of Gus Bradley.

Defensive Philosophies:

Quinn's defensive philosophies come from Pete Carroll's 4-3 Under scheme which stem from Carroll's stint as a graduate assistant at Arkansas in 1977 under defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, father of the 'Tampa 2' defense.

Kiffen's 'Tampa 2' defense is, by nature, a conservative 4-3/Cover 2 defense with a goal to keep everything in front of you, bend but don't break mentality, that values player speed over size and strength with an emphasis on creating turnovers.

Pete Carroll's modifications include the heavy use of the 4-3 formation with a "LEO" (DE/LB Hybrid), who is primarily a pass rusher but can also drop back in short pass coverage to also incorporate many looks of the 3-4, while mixing the 3 larger defensive lineman looks with one gaping and two gaping principles and playing Cover 3.

Seattle has three main defensive fronts that all of their other formations build off of:
I. Under - generally better against two-backfield sets
II. Over - generally better against one-back sets
III. Bear - covers up the three interior offensive linemen, preventing pulling/trapping/second level blocks.

Carroll's Front 7 Archetypes:
1-Technique/Nose Guard: "The nose tackle plays in the A gap to the tight end side of the field in our defense. We have done a number of things with this position based upon the opposition at times. We have put him right in the A gap, we have ****ed him on the center at times, and as needed we have even played him in a direct shade technique right over the center at times. The way we play him on base defense is as an inside-foot to outside-foot alignment or a 1 technique on the center to the strong side of the alignment. At Nose Tackle you have to find a player who likes to mix it up. We want a big guy in there who likes to get down and dirty. He is going to get doubled a lot on the run and pass and is going to get down blocked a lot. He has to be a tough player. This guy can be a short and stubby type of player."

3-Technique: "The prime spot on the defense to the weak side is the B gap player. He is an inside-foot to outside-foot alignment on the offensive guard to his side. He is a 3 technique player. He has B gap control but he can't get reached or hooked by the defense due to the way we align him. The whole scheme of this defense is predicated upon not getting hooked. The 3 technique player should be your premier interior pass rusher. He is going to get a lot of one on one blocks as it is hard to double team him because of where he lines up."

5-Technique: "The defensive end to the tight end side needs to be a defensive player that can play the run. He does not have to be a big time pass rusher, but he has to play the C gap and stop the run. He must works for leverage and force and allow the Free Safety to work off of the him and fills where he is needed on run plays."

LEO: "The best pass rusher on the team is usually the defensive end to the open side of the field. That puts him on the quarterback's blind side and makes him a C gap player in this defense. We often align him wider than this in order to give him a better angle of attack and allow him to play in space. We align him a yard outside of the offensive tackle most of the time. He has to play C gap run support but at the same time he is rushing the passer like it is third and ten. He has to be able to close down however if the tackle blocks down on him. He has to be one of your best football players. Size does not matter as much. We want an athletic player who can move around."

SAM: "The Sam linebacker controls the D gap to his side of the field. He is in an inside-foot to outside-foot alignment on the tight end or what most coaches call a 9 technique spot. He can never get reach blocked by the tight end in this position. He is the force player for everything run to his side of the field and turns everything back inside to the pursuit. Often he has the tight end in man to man in coverage. He has him anywhere he goes for this defensive call. He never switches if we are in this coverage and will go with him if the tight end does go in motion. He also has to be a good containment player. He has to be big and strong enough to play on the edge of the tight end. He has to be able to run in pass coverage also."

MIKE: "The Mike linebacker is in an inside-foot to out-side foot alignment on the offensive guard on his side of the field. He's a traditional middle linebacker. He is instinctive and makes a lot of calls for the defense. He may be the guy with the most experience or the best feel for the game."

WILL: "The Will linebacker is aligned against the offensive guard to his side of the field. He is basically a protected player in this alignment and should make a lot of tackles. He has to control his weak-side A gap and play relative to the Mike linebacker and the Free Safety. In coverage, he often plays the short middle. The Will linebacker can be a smaller player. He is generally protected in the defensive schemes and will not see as many blocks. All you want him to do most plays is flow and chase the football. We want our fastest linebacker at this position."



Dan Quinn has adopted Carroll's defensive philosophies while adding his more aggressive approach of blitzing to create blocking confusions. He employs a Cover 3 backfield but will also play man-to-man coverages at times to open up more players to rush the passer.
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Quinn on his secondary philosophies w/ Seattle:

Quinn said keeping players primarily in one spot allows them to play better.

“The style that we play I don’t think warrants us just constantly matching up against a player,’’ he said. “Now, in certain packages we might. But I really like our system.’’

Quinn: “Our strong safety is one who, more often than not, when we play our three deep, he is the one that’s down (near the line). So we blitz him some ... he takes the flat, he plays the tight end man-to-man a lot.

“Our free safety is more often back, and so for us it’s middle-field player and (Thomas) has the rare ability to play that way.

“Our three-deep is important for us because our corners, they stay on top (of the receivers) so if a receiver is going that way ... we have to have underneath players who (can cover), as well as a middle-field safety who can haul ass either way.’’
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Qualities & Characteristics:

His first Seattle tenure (2009) was highlighted by the move of Red Bryant from tackle to end, helping remake the Seahawks defense into one of the best in the NFL.
"He’s not married to a scheme; he wants you to grow,” DL Michael Bennett says of Quinn. “He changes with the players.” “He’s a master in the film room.”

For Dan Quinn to become the 'Next Big Thing' in coaching, his defense had to leave no doubt in Super Bowl XLVIII against Peyton Manning. In Quinn’s mind, that meant watching two years’ worth of Manning snaps in the week after the NFC Championship Game. That’s every snap Manning had yet taken for the Denver Broncos, watched, re-watched and mentally catalogued; 1,479 throws, 967 handoffs, 131 touchdowns, 24 interceptions and more audibles than there are minutes in a day.

“One of things I’ve learned from Coach [Pete] Carroll is how to use our featured players,” Quinn says. “There’s a tendency to say, oh, he doesn’t fit the system. Coach Carroll is more like, what does he have that’s special?” “It’s about being developmental,” Quinn says. “How much can you find out about this player? And what can you draw out of him? It takes a lot of time and effort. Those relationships are really important.”

http://mmqb.si.com/2014/08/06/dan-qu...ttle-seahawks/
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Looking forward to hearing about other NFL Head Coach prospects. Thanks for your time and I hope you find this thread interesting and useful.
 
Good write up. I can't disagree as there are not many great candidates out there. However, I am still hanging on by a thread that Tannehill finds his game and saves his career in Miami, gets us in the playoffs which then means Philbin stays on. So there, I'm not ready to look for another coach, yet.
 
claytonduper said:
Good write up. I can't disagree as there are not many great candidates out there. However, I am still hanging on by a thread that Tannehill finds his game and saves his career in Miami, gets us in the playoffs which then means Philbin stays on. So there, I'm not ready to look for another coach, yet.
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Completely agree. I should have posted this in the General NFL forum as it's just a thread to recognize possible up and coming NFL coaches, not necessarily the Dolphins next head coach.

People like Auburn's Malzahn, Texas A&M's Sumlin, Indy's OC Pep Hamilton, etc.
 
Staff I respect that this was moved, however this might of been a good thread to keep in the main forum. I know it's not exactly Dolphins related in a direct way, it may be more relevant here soon as Philbin continues to show he is not a head coach in the NFL.
 
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Fin Fan in Cali said:
Staff I respect that this was moved, however this might of been a good thread to keep in the main forum. I know it's not exactly Dolphins related in a direct way, it may be more relevant here soon as Philbin continues to show he is not a head coach in the NFL.
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Two things. One, the season is still salvageable. Two, he said himself it should have been posted in the General NFL forum.
 
Pete Carroll is the brains behind that defense. Each stop along the way he has put together a solid system with quality guys. Dan Quinn just doesn't excite me.
 
MadDog 88 said:
Definitely worth keepin an eye on but until I see that team implode I am skeptical. I think the 49ers biggest issue is the QB not the coaching.
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Absolutely, but it looks to me like evidence that he is indeed on the way out of San Francisco.

I don't think it matters whether or not a coach is liked by his team, as long as he is actually good at coaching, and his players RESPECT him. Don Shula wasn't liked by his players in the '70s -- by their own admission -- but he was respected.
 
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