[UPDATE: The Rangers announced the hiring of David Quinn on Wednesday afternoon.]

Six weeks after firing Alain Vigneault, the Rangers have settled on a new head coach: Boston University’s David Quinn.

Quinn, 51, and the Rangers came to an agreement in principle in the last several days after weeks of back-and-forth talks in which the coach had turned down at least one offer from the team, according to three people associated with the university who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the hiring.

Jumping directly from an N.C.A.A. job to an N.H.L. head coaching position has been a rarity, happening only five times in the last five decades. But Quinn will be the second coach to make the move this year and the third currently in the league over all. Last month, the Dallas Stars hired Jim Montgomery, who had been the head coach at the University of Denver. In 2015, the Flyers hired Dave Hakstol from the University of North Dakota.

Quinn will join two other B.U. graduates currently coaching in the N.H.L., the Devils’ John Hynes and the Penguins’ Mike Sullivan. The Rangers’ assistant general manager, Chris Drury, is also a B.U. grad.