Quinn Leads His Victorious Tigers Back To the Gridiron

10/23/2020 5:42:00 PM | By: By Joshua Peacock

With his back to the blazing sun on a cool mid-October morning, Savannah State Head Football Coach Shawn Quinn stood in the middle of Theodore A. Wright stadium surrounded by his coaches and his new team.

Behind a face mask, he shouted orders and demonstrated how the drills should be executed. It was a perfect morning for football; there was an electric charge in the air filled with determination and drive, and a contagious spirit.

Under normal circumstances, this would have been the Monday after their sixth football game of the season. The last year has been anything but normal.

Over a 100 Savannah State student-athletes were finally able to strap on their football helmets and practice jerseys this week.

It was the first time the second year coach had stepped on the field with his new team after they were able to squeeze in a spring game in March before quarantine sent everyone home. He walked off that field victorious in late 2019.

However, the historic 7-3 season—the first winning season since 1998—has turned from celebration to motivation. On Friday, as Quinn closed out the first week of practice, he told his players that 7-3 is nothing. It should have been 9-1. Quinn is relentless in his pursuit of victory.

He knows how championships are won at every level. He understands what it takes from every single player on his team. He learned it under Jeff Monken at Georgia Southern, under Les Miles at LSU, under Phillip Fulmer at Tennessee, and Rickey Bustle at Louisiana-Lafayette.

Quinn's humor always emerges first though. On Friday, when his defense wasn't performing to his level of acceptance, he teased and taunted them until they snagged an interception. Quinn is perpetually equal parts stern leader and comedian dad.

UNDERESTIMATED

Entering last year, their first year of competition within the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), Savannah State football was voted to finish last in the conference in a preseason poll. That did not sit well with Quinn.

He turned it into his rally cry at every practice and at every game, and after every win. Shouting motivations like "Look at those last place Tigers!" He constantly reminded the players that their talent, their skill had been vastly underestimated by outside forces. And he was right.

Savannah State pounded through their SIAC schedule, and emerged at the top of the field, undefeated. But because of the school's transition into the conference and from Division I to Division II, the team was unable to play for a conference championship.

COACHES FOR HALLOWEEN

Charged up after the winning season, Quinn and his staff went to work in the off-season recruiting top players. There was a noticeable shift. When you win, you attract solid potential student-athletes.

Early in 2020, they announced a class of over 30 incoming freshman and later added over 20 walk-ons. This fall they have 52 new players and an equal number of returners—including some of last year's key play makers, like D'Angelo Durham, D'Vonn Gibbons, Walter Yates and SIAC Freshman of the Year Einaj Carter.

During the off-season, Savannah State was welcomed into full membership within NCAA Division II and were cleared to compete for an SIAC Championship.

After achieving what so many head coaches before him had tried to do, Quinn was on schedule to repeat his debut season and do it with more at stake, but the global pandemic shuttered that plan.

Quinn has been frustrated, but driven, over the last few months as student-athletes returned to campus, but were unable to practice. He did what he could with them. Zoom has been his best friend. Then strength and conditioning opened back up in September and full practice began this week.

Quinn and his staff have adjusted to the new norm, shifting directions with an eye towards next year.

"We joked that for Halloween we're going to dress up as coaches and walk around with whistles," Quinn said.

FREE SEMESTER

There is no clear future for games, but Savannah State will return in some fashion in the spring. The Tigers will practice for the next four weeks on their home field three times a week as Quinn works to install his offensive and defensive schemes.

"We told the team, our job is to get the best version of you as people and as players," Quinn said. "That's a challenge right now, because everything is so separated. Our sport is built upon unity and doing everything together.

"I appreciate them. The student-athletes haven't blinked on anything we've asked them to do. We've had to work out extra early. Sleep deprivation has kicked in for me. I question my life at 5:05 every morning. But it's been good."

This is a free semester—a full five weeks of practice. The NCAA will allow a redshirt for everyone who doesn't play this fall. And Savannah State is taking advantage of the situation, following a rigorous return to action plan that includes regular COVID testing, the proper use of masks and social distancing.

"When we got to be able to work with the students again, that was good," Quinn said. "The coaches spirits lifted. Not being able to work with the kids was tough. That's why we're here."

NEW ERA

On Friday, Quinn gathered his players in a huddle as he does at the end of every practice. After a few announcements about grades and finding advisors, he introduced FCA Ambassador Ricky Wright who closed out the practice with a prayer.

Wright represents a sliver of the work the head coach and his staff have done over the last two years in building a new foundation, changing the culture, and investing in the students who play for him.

The future is unpredictable, but one thing is clear, Savannah State football has entered a new era built around Quinn's philosophy of unity within the team and an unyielding desire to be the best that they can be as people and student-athletes.

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