Dan Quinn has started the 2024 NFL season attempting to win over a long-suffering fan base in the Washington Commanders.
Quinn will aim to garner support in the D.C. community as he looks to end years of mediocrity — with Washington enduring seven straight sub-.500 seasons. One thing is certain involving Quinn’s home life, though. He has his biggest supporter there.
Details on Stacey Quinn, Wife of the Commanders’ Head Coach
The 54-year-old Quinn is happily married to his wife, Stacey, when he’s not drawing up schemes or motivating the Commanders inside the locker room.
So how long have they been together?
Dan and his soulmate started out as college sweethearts. Both met during a time when the future NFL head coach attended Salisbury University, which competes at the NCAA Division III level.
When Stacey met Dan, he was a dual-sport athlete on campus. Dan starred on the defensive line from 1990-93 but also threw the hammer in track and field during the spring. Dan once held the school record in the hammer throw at 51.4 meters (168’8″) until 2012. He also snatched 145 total tackles in his Sea Gulls career, according to the school.
Stacey may not have been a collegiate athlete herself, but she was around athletics while on campus. She served as an athletic trainer during Dan’s student-athlete years and is a 1991 graduate of the university.
Both remain supportive of their college alma mater. Dan got inducted into the Sea Gulls’ Hall of Fame in 2005, and the couple have created three endowments that benefit the football, track and field, and athletic training programs.
Dan Quinn Describes Support From Wife
When Dan accepted the head coaching offer from the Commanders in Feb. 2024, it presented a homecoming for him and his wife.
Both husband and wife spent their college years in the DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) region — with Salisbury located less than two hours and 25 minutes southeast of the nation’s capital. The university even welcomed back Dan and his wife once the Commanders’ hire became official.
Welcome home, Dan & Stacey Quinn!@Commanders | @SalisburyU#GoGulls | #HTTC pic.twitter.com/R5LyB6Xp2B
— Salisbury Athletics (@SUSeaGulls) February 5, 2024
Dan revealed the “best part” about retuning to his college home region during his first press conference with the Commanders.
“I spent a good deal of my 20s here,” Dan said. “I went to Salisbury, about two hours south of here. The best part of that was I met my wife Stacey.”
He even jokingly shared how he had to “muster up” and give Stacey a call when they first met — ultimately leading to their long-lasting relationship. Dan has even called her his “ride or die.”
“She has been with me on this football life and its ups and downs and this absolute awesome life that we share,” Dan said.
What Coaching Stops Have the Quinns Had?
With Stacey by his side, the defensive mind Dan has been coaching since 1994.
He cut his teeth in the profession by first accepting the defensive line coach position at William & Mary. He later accepted the same position at Virginia Military Institute in 1995, then for Hofstra from 1996-99.
The latter university handed Dan his first-ever defensive coordinator opportunity. He led the Hofstra defense for the 2000 season while also remaining as DL coach.
Dan eventually took the leap from college football to the NFL in 2001, taking over as the defensive quality control coach of the San Francisco 49ers. He spent 2001 to 2004 in the Bay Area before heading to the AFC East between 2005 to 2008 — working with the Miami Dolphins (’05 to ’06 seasons), then the New York Jets (’07 and ’08 campaigns).
He later returned to the NFC West with the Seattle Seahawks as assistant head coach between 2009 to 2010. After briefly returning to the college game through Florida from 2011 to 2012 as the defensive coordinator for the Gators, Dan came back to the Pacific Northwest in 2013 — which eventually culminated in the Super Bowl 48 victory over the Denver Broncos.
Stacey eventually became a head coach’s wife when the Atlanta Falcons hired her husband in Feb. 2015. She’s witnessed her soulmate coach in three different Super Bowls including the 2016 Falcons campaign. Now, she’s supporting her husband in their return to the DMV.