Dan Quinn shares biggest lesson he’s carrying into Year 2 with Commanders

Now with a year under his belt as the Washington Commanders head coach, Dan Quinn has a few lessons learned as he heads into year 2. After last season, Quinn has taken time this offseason reflecting on what worked and what didn’t, and how he can help put the Commanders in a better position.

Reflection has been the biggest difference in Quinn's approach. It shaped how he’s prepared the Commanders for this season, especially when it comes to tweaking practice schedules to get the most out of players.

Quinn’s military philosophy has influenced his coaching by guiding him to adopt different principles for implementation. A core principle that he borrowed from the military that he’s taking into this season is the “after-action” process.

Jan 18, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn walks off the field after the win against Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: David Reginek-Imagn Images | David Reginek-Imagn Images

“I really lean in, and you’ll appreciate this from the military side, is the after actions,” Quinn said. “What did I like, what did we need to do differently? What needs to stay the same?”

That reflective mindset shaped how Quinn approached this year’s training camp. One adjustment he made was to extend individual sessions, allowing players to hone their skills.

“From a coaching side in these practices, we changed the length of our individual sessions to be longer. They wanted more time on more skill work,” Quinn explained. “The team’s in better shape now, so we practiced a little bit longer. We got more reps than we did last year in almost the same amount of time.”

The payoff has been noticeable, making practices more efficient and sharper, resulting in a better-conditioned team that’s showing signs of growth, especially for a team that reset its culture under a new regime. Those small, but meaningful changes stand out.

Quinn says he treats each camp like a blueprint for the next. “I just finished this year’s of things I liked, so that’ll go into the drawer and be ready for ’26,” he said.

In short, it’s the after-action process that keeps Quinn and the Commanders moving forward. “It does help to have an after-action process to say, this went well, we need to do this more,” Quinn said. “And that’s how I went about it.”

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