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Following successful runs in high school and college football that set him up to play in the NFL and now have a career as a sports broadcaster and analyst on TV and radio, Brady Quinn understands how much of a positive effect athletics have had on his life. 

 

That influence has extended, however, well beyond just the action on the field that he’s participated in directly or talked about.  

 

“The biggest way it’s impacted my life is as a father and as a husband,” Quinn said. “Sports teaches you so many things. You don’t understand how it’s going to impact you later on in life. Once you have children and you see the adversity they go through, the different lessons you can share from the time playing sports—to me, that’s the biggest thing. I love being a dad, and we’re fortunate enough to have five kids, including four who are in sports now.”  

 

Quinn, a 2003 Dublin Coffman High School graduate who went on to star at quarterback for Notre Dame from 2003-06, is among the OHSAA’s Circle of Champions class for 2026. 

 

“It’s an incredible honor,” Quinn said. “There are so many great athletes involved.” 

 

Coffman has made the playoffs 24 times, but Quinn led the program to its first Division I state semifinal as a junior in 2001 when he threw for 2,220 yards and 21 touchdowns as the team went 9-4. Then as a senior in 2002, Quinn completed 143 of 258 passes for 2,146 yards and 25 touchdowns despite playing the final two games on an injured left foot and earned all-state honors.  

 

Quinn, who also was an all-conference player in baseball as a junior when he was a part of the Shamrocks state championship team in 2001, played his last prep game in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio in January 2003. 

 

“What’s crazy is what we were able to accomplish my (junior year on the Coffman football team),” Quinn said. “We went to state semifinals for the first time Coffman had ever been that far. Looking back on it, I wish I could have done more. Coffman’s always had a great tradition. Back then you would wear No. 10 because you were the guy, the starting quarterback at Coffman. A lot of quarterbacks came through there.” 

 

Quinn’s impact was seen almost immediately when he got to Notre Dame. 

 

After starting five games as a true freshman in 2003, Quinn started 12 games in each of the next two seasons and 13 as a senior in 2006. He set 36 single-season and career records for the Fighting Irish, finishing No. 1 all-time in school history for career passing attempts (1,602), completions (929), yards (11,762), and touchdown passes (95). His 29 career wins as a starter were also tied for the most ever by a Notre Dame quarterback.  

 

Quinn led the Irish to back-to-back BCS bowl berths and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2005 and third in the voting in 2006. 

 

In addition, he received the Sammy Baugh Trophy and the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and became the first Notre Dame player in 29 years to win the Maxwell Award given to the nation's top player in 2006.

 

In April 2007, Quinn was selected by the Cleveland Browns with the No. 22 overall selection in the NFL Draft. 

 

He would go on to start 12 games for the Browns and eight games for the Kansas City Chiefs. 

 

Quinn’s life began to shift in a new direction in 2013 when he got engaged to Alicia Sacramone, who won the silver medal with the U.S. women’s gymnastics team at the 2008 Summer Olympics and was the World Champion on floor exercise in 2005 and on vault in 2010. She earned a total of 11 World Championship and Olympic medals, making her the fourth-most decorated U.S. female gymnast of all time, and has been retired as a competitor since 2012. 

 

Quinn did not get on the field during the 2013 season while splitting time between the New York Jets and the St. Louis Rams but received career advice from Rams coach Jeff Fisher that fall which proved beneficial. 

 

“I was with the Rams in 2013 and had hurt a disc in my back, and (Fisher) said while I was recovering, ‘You should try TV because I think you’d be pretty good at it,’” Quinn said. “That’s how I started, and the rest is history. It was unexpected for me. I was a finance and (political science) major, and my plan was to be either a Hall of Famer and the greatest ever, or go into the business world and maybe get my MBA.  

 

“I kind of fell into (broadcasting). I’ve been with FOX Sports since I stopped playing football. I was in training camp with the Miami Dolphins in 2014 and had signed a contract before camp. I thought I was going to have an opportunity to compete for a backup job, and the first two days I was there, I didn’t get any reps, so I called an executive at Fox and said, ‘Keep that spot for me because I think they’re going to release me.’ I got released, and that very next weekend, I was calling the TCU-Minnesota game for FOX.” 

 

Quinn met Sacramone in 2008 at a charity event in Denver, and the couple have been married since 2014. 

 

They have five children. 

 

“We’re back living in Columbus after I’d lived in Fort Lauderdale (Florida) for 15 years,” Quinn said. “As we were transitioning from having (our fourth child), we just wanted to get back closer to our family and closer to Ohio and wanted to be around great coaches, community, and culture. It’s been awesome being back here and just giving back to the community.” 

 

Quinn attended the NFL’s annual Broadcast Bootcamp in June 2014 and co-hosted a sports talk show in Columbus with brother-in-law and former Green Bay Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk in the spring of 2015.  

 

He began serving as a college football analyst for Big Noon Kickoff on Fox in August 2019 and serves as a color analyst for NFL and College Football telecasts.  

 

He also has co-hosted shows on Fox Sports Radio and Sirius XM NFL Radio. 

 

While Quinn’s sister, Laura Quinn, is married to Hawk and is an interior designer, another sister, Kelly Quinn, was a former standout high school soccer player for Coffman who went on to play women’s college soccer for Virginia. Kelly is now married to former NHL hockey player Jack Johnson. 

 

Their father, Tyrone Quinn, was a Vietnam War veteran, and in 2011, Brady Quinn founded the 3rd and Goal Foundation to provide financial support to returning soldiers and aiding in construction efforts to make their homes handicap-accessible when necessary. 

 

“If I didn’t have the avenue in sports, I would have served (in the military),” Quinn said. “It’s one of the reasons I started a foundation 16 years ago, to give back to veterans. We help out a couple thousand veterans a year.”