There was a stretch of time when E. Robert Quinn was the only coach at Eastern Oregon University. It started in 1929 and the school that was known as Eastern Oregon Normal had just opened.
Quinn coached all of the schools’ athletic teams as well as teaching physical education, health and geography. Eastern’s young teaching graduates were in high demand around the state. During WWII, Quinn also led military cadets from the Army Air Corps who were training on campus in daily exercise.
For much of the early years, he would have no assistant coaches available for any of his programs.
Coach Quinn’s solo act went on for twenty years before he handed over the football position after 1949. His baseball and baseball tenure would last 37 years, ending with his retirement in 1967. Quinn’s basketball teams had a combined record of 442-422, won three consecutive Oregon Collegiate Conference titles and advanced to the NAIA national tournament in 1943.
Bob Quinn is also a member of the NAIA District Two Coaches Hall of Fame and Eastern Oregon Hall of Fame. The Mountaineers’ Quinn Coliseum is named in his honor.