Salisbury, MD — Salisbury University’s 100th Spring Commencement was not the first time Washington Commanders Head Coach Dan Quinn ’94 and his wife, Stacey Quinn ’91, returned to their Alma Mater.
It was, however, perhaps the most poignant.
As part of the ceremony, the Quinns accepted honorary Doctor of Public Service degrees from SU President Carolyn Ringer Lepre in recognition of their philanthropic leadership and enduring support for SU Athletics and the broader University community.
“Dan and Stacey Quinn are proud alumni of Salisbury University whose remarkable careers and enduring generosity have made a lasting impact on and off campus,” she said. “Dan Quinn is among SU’s most accomplished student-athletes, having competed in both football and track and field. His leadership journey took him from our fields here in Salisbury to the highest level of professional sports. As the head coach of the Washington Commanders, Dan has earned respect for his integrity, resilience and unwavering commitment to mentoring others.
“Stacey Quinn began her career at Salisbury University, where she served as a student athletic trainer. She went on to become the first female athletic trainer at Virginia Military Institute, who served in leadership roles at Norfolk State, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and Stanford. Her work has shaped a generation of athletes and health professionals. Her service is defined by compassion and advocacy.
“Together, Dan and Stacey have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to giving back.”
The two have remained SU supporters over the years, creating three endowments benefiting Sea Gull Athletics. They also have given back to the community beyond SU. In 2005 — the same year Dan was inducted into the SU Athletics Hall of Fame — the couple established Quinn’s Corps, a foundation supporting the military community with care packages to soldiers stationed overseas and free NFL tickets for families of service members.
Addressing SU’s undergraduate Class of 2025 as the University’s first non-student Undergraduate Commencement speaker in nearly a quarter century, Dan encouraged graduates to figure out who they want to be and what their superpower is.
“How do you talk to yourself? How do you view yourself? We want you to find your superpower. Many of you don’t even know yours yet, and that’s where the fun begins.
“My superpower: I love to develop people and help them find theirs. That’s what lights me up. I don’t think I fully knew mine when I was sitting where you are. But I do know my story began right here. My experiences at Salisbury helped shape those superpowers. You may not know what you want to do yet, but you can know who you want to be. And that is where your story begins.”
He also discussed the importance of loss and failure in becoming one’s best self:
“I want you to embrace failure. I mean it. Like, really go after it. Don’t run from it. Run right to it. Because that’s where the real lessons really live. I’d love to sit here and talk to you about winning a Super Bowl, but if I’m being honest, if I wanted to truly tell you what drives me and why I am the way that I am, I’d have to start by telling you about the pain of losing one. I wear it like a scar.
“But I also know my growth comes from that scar. Where I teach from comes from there. And I’ve got to embrace all of it. The loss of a game or the loss of an opportunity or a relationship or the loss of belief, that is where the gold is. And sometimes that lesson is even better than the opportunity would have been.”
Appropriately, he offered that advice from inside Sea Gull Stadium, on the same field where he played in the 1990s. The ceremony marked first time an SU Commencement had been held there.
Quinn ended his speech to the Class of 2025 with four words he said he wished someone had told him during his own SU Commencement more than three decades prior, which have since gone viral on social media: “Let it F-ing rip.”
Learn more about SU and opportunities to Make Tomorrow Yours at www.salisbury.edu.
