ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- In his first day as the director of athletic equipment at UConn in 1998, Larry Hare inherited a graduate assistant.

The GA would be his main conduit for Connecticut's football team, then Division I-AA in the sport. The GA? Bob Quinn. Two people running equipment for a football team sometimes left Quinn with more to do than a typical GA.

If Hare advanced a trip, Quinn had to have everything ready on his own.

It was Quinn's real introduction to football, the day-to-day machinations of how a college program would run. It started his path to the past week, when the 39-year-old Quinn was named general manager of the Detroit Lions -- entrusted to run the franchise by team owner Martha Ford and team president Rod Wood.

"That's the thing with Bob, when I look at the position he's in now, where an owner and a president has to trust him," Hare said. "I did that unequivocally and it didn't take me long to establish that Bob can be trusted.

"You can put him in charge and hand him the reins of an operation and know that he cares enough that it's going to get done right. He's going to do his homework. He's going to make the right decisions. That's something I saw very early on."

Hare made sure everything ran smoothly in Storrs, Connecticut, as he advanced the team's NCAA quarterfinals trip to Georgia Southern, a game Connecticut lost 52-30. Their rapport was seamless and it gave Quinn on-field access to learn about players, coaches and observe relationships -- something key to his myriad professional roles.

It also introduced him to then-Connecticut coach Randy Edsall, who took over for Skip Holtz in 1999, and would result in his biggest business break.

Edsall, like Hare, trusted Quinn. When Edsall arrived, he asked Quinn for player character and interaction evaluations since he was around them daily. He provided them and was typically spot-on.

Quinn needed an internship for UConn's sports management program and wanted to work for the Patriots. Quinn asked Edsall for advice. Edsall knew then-Patriots assistant director of player personnel Scott Pioli from their time together at Syracuse. He made a call.

Quinn landed the internship. Hare told him don't worry about equipment. He'd take care of it. Go learn from the Patriots.

"They gave him a chance," Edsall said. "And then Quinny, basically, once he got the opportunity, he went and made the most of it. That's the kind of guy that I knew that he was and that he'd do a great job.

"Once he did, I saw the quality work, the work ethic, the intelligence, the passion, those sort of things. When you've got that, you're going to go and you're going to impress people."

Working in the NFL was a long way from growing up in Norwood, Massachusetts, as a baseball and basketball player voted as having the "nicest smile" in Norwood High School's senior class in 1994.

A lot of hard work, along with that smile, kept Quinn with the Patriots following his internship in the spring of 2000. Quinn's father, also named Robert, said Pioli told his son "we're keeping you on."

"That was the beginning," Robert Quinn said.

Over 16 seasons, Quinn did a bit of everything. He started as a player personnel assistant in 2000, a pro scout in 2002 and 2003, a regional college scout from 2004 to 2007, a national college scout in 2008, the assistant director of pro personnel from 2009 to 2011 and then the director of pro scouting from 2012 until Friday.

"He was involved in all the processes there that we went through with team-building," said Jon Robinson, Tampa Bay's director of player personnel, who worked with Quinn for 12 years in New England. "He's a strong evaluator. He is decisive with his opinion and got along well with all the staff."

In New England, it was more a collaborative effort when it came to scouting. Everyone's opinion was offered before Bill Belichick made the final decision. That Quinn experienced things from every side -- college and pro, scout and executive -- should assist him now.

Robinson compared it to working your way up a depth chart like a player does. It is the culture fostered in New England -- not surprising since one of Belichick's mantras is "Do your job."

Being a general manager one day wasn't a goal verbalized, but understood. It was part of the culture and the winning: Thomas Dimitroff, Scott Pioli, Jason Licht, Robinson and now Quinn all eventually left for bigger jobs.

"You're hoping to work to improve and be a significant contributor," Robinson said. "That comes as the same approach to our careers, just try to work hard, learn as much as we could about the process, be as accurate as possible with our evaluations.

"Be definitive when we talk about players and just grow in the profession and do what the team asks us to do. That's the approach that's instilled. It's the culture there in New England and it grooms you well in your personnel department."

Quinn said it in his first Lions news conference Monday. He talked about the importance of cohesion between the front office and the coaching staff. The front office can't force players on coaches. Coaches have to be vocal with what they need.

Then Quinn needs to listen and evaluate. Those who worked with him say that shouldn't be an issue. He had to do it on a smaller basis in New England dealing with coaches.

"He has a nice way in terms of how he'd broach things in the role he was in and I would expect it to increase and improve in the general manager's role with whomever he has in [the head coaching position]," said Joel Collier, who coached defensive backs in New England from 2005 to 2007. "He has a nice touch, which is a way to put it. He's strong in terms of his opinion and in terms of the way he's going to approach the job.

"He's going to do the one important aspect which I think some people forget, and that's listen. He's going to do a great job of listening to opinions and ideas and take his philosophy and go from there."

Quinn has always listened to others, observed and then offered his opinion. It was encouraged in New England. It made him a good scout and personnel man. It also fits his nature and his goal in Detroit.

"There's one goal here, and one promise I made to Mrs. [Martha] Ford is winning," Quinn said. "For that to happen, everyone needs to be on the same page to be in the best position with the right plan.

"Every person in this building has a job to do, and each job is important."

Considering where Quinn came from to where he is now, he might understand that better than most.