INDIANAPOLIS -– Dan Quinn, whose first NFL coaching job came in 2001 on Steve Mariucci’s staff, interviewed for the 49ers' head-coaching job shortly after the club and Jim Harbaugh parted ways.
Quinn was the Seattle Seahawks’ defensive coordinator the past two seasons and faced the 49ers five times since the beginning of the 2013 season. The Seahawks were 4-1 against the 49ers and never allowed 20 points or more.
During the interview, which took place in Seattle with the 49ers general manager Trent Baalke, CEO Jed York and president Paraag Marathe, Quinn said he was not put in a position to divulge any Seahawks secrets about how he approaches facing the 49ers' offense.
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“It (the interview) was more about the attitude of the scheme, as opposed to the players,” Quinn said Thursday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “The style, the attitude, the energy we’d bring.”
Quinn said he felt like he had a “great meeting” with the 49ers’ brass. Two weeks after Quinn interviewed, the 49ers hired Jim Tomsula as head coach among a group of 10 candidates.
The Atlanta Falcons waited for Quinn, and hired him after Seattle’s loss to the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Quinn will face the 49ers again this season, as the 49ers and Falcons have a regular-season game scheduled for Levi's Stadium.
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Despite not landing the job to return to the 49ers, Quinn said it was a great experience to interview for the head-coaching position with his first NFL team.
“It was awesome. It was really cool,” Quinn said. “That part, 14 years later after they brought me in, for them to have enough respect from them to interview me, I was totally thrilled.”
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