Dan Quinn filled another position on his defensive staff Wednesday, naming Tom Donatell as Washington’s new defensive backs coach.
Donatell, 34, played defensive back at Iowa and began his coaching career at the college level as a graduate assistant at the University of South Florida in 2013. After two seasons there, he took the position at UCLA for the next two seasons.
He came to the NFL in 2017, joining Pete Carroll’s staff with the Seattle Seahawks. Donatell was a quality control/defensive assistant in Seattle. It was there that Donatell worked with new Commanders linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. Norton was Seattle’s defensive coordinator for three of Donatell’s four seasons with the Seahawks.
He joined Brandon Staley’s staff with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2021 as the assistant defensive backs coach. He was promoted to defensive passing game coordinator/secondary coach in 2023, but Staley and his staff were fired at the conclusion of the season.
Donatell is the son of longtime NFL assistant Ed Donatell. The elder Donatell has coached the secondary for numerous NFL teams and has been the defensive coordinator for the Packers, Falcons and Vikings.
Donatell joins Jason Simmons, who was named Washington’s defensive pass game coordinator last week.