The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Source: Commanders to hire Quinn as their head coach
The Washington Commanders have an agreement with Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to hire him as coach, according to two people with knowledge of the decision.
The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because the team had not yet announced the move. Washington was the final NFL team to fill its head-coaching vacancy.
Quinn, 53, spent the past three seasons running the defense for the NFC Eastrival Cowboys after fiveplus seasons coaching the Atlanta Falcons. Quinn coached the Falcons to a Super Bowl appearance in 2016 before being fired after an 0-5 start in 2020.
He became Washington’s choice after Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, considered a top candidate, told teams Tuesday he was staying with Detroit and the Seahawks hired Baltimore defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald on Wednesday.
Controlling owner Josh Harris, new general manager and head of football operations Adam Peters and Quinn give the organization a much-desired new approach after four years of Ron Rivera in charge of everything turned out to be a disappointment.
• The Rams are staying in-house to replace Raheem Morris, promoting linebackers coach and pass rush coordinator Chris Shula to defensive coordinator, a source confirmed Thursday.
Shula, 37, grandson of Hall of Fame coach Don Shula, was a member of head coach Sean Mcvay’s original coaching staff and spent the past eight seasons with the Rams. He has worked with inside and outside linebackers during his time with the Rams and spent the 2022 season as defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator before moving back to linebackers and pass rush for the 2023 season.
He replaces Morris, who left to become head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.
-- Adam Grosbard
• Former USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch has resurfaced at Wisconsin as the Badgers’ new safeties coach. Grinch replaces Colin Hitschler, who left to join new Alabama coach Kalen Deboer’s staff.
• The Baltimore Ravens hired Zach Orr as their defensive
coordinator after Mike Macdonald left to become the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks earlier this week. The Ravens announced the 31-year-old Orr’s promotion Thursday. He was Baltimore’s inside linebackers coach the past two seasons and also played linebacker for the Ravens from 2014-16.
• Fired Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt has been hired for the same job with the New England Patriots, giving first-time head coach Jerod Mayo an experienced voice on offense. The team also confirmed the widely reported promotion of defensive line coach Demarcus Covington to defensive coordinator.
GOLF Detry has one-shot lead at Pebble Beach
Thomas Detry shot 9-under par to take the firstround lead of the PGA Tour Pebble Beach Pro-am on Thursday, one shot up on Patrick Catlay.
Matthieu Pavon is two off the lead, Emiliano Grillo and Si Woo Kim are three shots back. Murrieta’s Rickie Fowler is tied with Collin Morikawa at 5-under.
It was a tough professional debut for Nick Dunlap, who won as an amateur at La Quinta two weeks ago. He is tied with three others for last at 4-over.
• Tom Vaillant birdied eight of his final 13 holes to shoot a bogey-free 8-under 64 and take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Bahrain Championship.
HOCKEY Kings, Ducks win heading into break
Alex Turcotte had his first NHL goal and assist and the Kings beat the
Nashville Predators 4-2 late on Wednesday night to snap a four-game skid in the final game before the NHL All-star break.
Playing his second NHL game of the season and 14th overall, Turcotte — the fifth overall pick in 2019 — made it 2-0 in the second period and had an assist on Trevor Lewis’ goal with 6:39 left that helped L.A. win for just the third time in 17 games.
Dave Rittich, who played for Nashville in 2021-22, made 38 saves to improve to 5-1-3 this season.
• Troy Terry tied it with 1:01 remaining in regulation and assisted on Frank Vatrano’s goal with 52 seconds left in overtime as the Ducks beat San Jose, 3-2.
Vatrano, the Ducks’ representative in the NHL All-star Game this weekend, put a wrist shot past Kaapo Kahkonen for his 22nd goal of the season and Anaheim’s third win in four games. Terry beat Kahkonen with a wrist shot with plenty of traffic around the net.
BASKETBALL Sparks get Mcdonald in trade with Dream
The Atlanta Dream acquired two-time WNBA steals leader Jordin Canada in a trade that sent guard Aari Mcdonald to the Sparks. The Dream also acquired the No. 12 pick in the 2004 WNBA draft while sending the No. 8 pick to L.A.
Mcdonald was the No. 3 overall pick from Arizona in the 2021 draft. She averaged 7.9 points and 3.0 assists in 24 games in 2023 after averaging a careerhigh 11.1 points in 2022.
• The New York Liberty are bringing their core group back and trying to add another piece with prized free agent Nneka Ogwumike while
Seattle signed Skylar Diggins-smith as WNBA free agency tipped off Thursday.
• The Minnesota Lynx signed guard Courtney Williams and forward Alanna Smith, adding two former Chicago Sky players in free agency. They also re-signed forward Bridget Carlson, a day after trading forward Tiffany Mitchell and the 19th pick in the draft to the Connecticut Sun for guard Natisha Hiedeman.
U.S. leads in early Davis Cup qualifying
Chris Eubanks stepped in as a late replacement for an injured Taylor Fritz and joined Sebastian Korda in earning singles victories on Thursday to give the United States a 2-0 lead against Ukraine in Davis Cup qualifying.
The best-of-five-match series is being held on indoor hard courts at SEB Arena in Lithuania because of the ongoing war in Ukraine, which began when Russia invaded in February 2022.
• Seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton will leave Mercedes at the end of this year to join Ferrari on a multi-year deal, the Italian team confirmed on Thursday.
• Reigning Olympic marathon bronze medalist Molly Seidel won’t run this weekend at the U.S. Olympic marathon trials because of a knee injury.
Seidel revealed Thursday that she hurt her knee about a month ago and an MRI showed she had a fractured patella and partially torn patellar tendon. She tried to cross-train to get ready for Saturday’s race in Orlando, but made the decision to drop out to avoid risking further injury. The top three finishers in the men’s and women’s races earn spots at this year’s Paris Games if they’ve met time qualification criteria.
• Mike Martin, a member of the College Baseball Hall of Fame who won an NCAA Division I record 2,029 games in 40 seasons as Florida State’s baseball coach, died Thursday after a three-year battle with dementia. He was 79.
• Churchill Downs will move the post draws for the 150th Kentucky Derby and Oaks to one full week before horse racing’s marquee event on May 4, a switch intended to provide better handicapping information for bettors and have entries on site earlier.