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G-Men request permission to talk with Vikings OC Shurmur
Add Pat Shurmur to the list of candidates for the Giants head coaching position.
The Giants put in a request to interview Shurmur, the Vikings offensive coordinator, making him the sixth candidate as the Giants expand their list.
The interview process is expected to kick off Thursday with Eric Studesville, the Broncos fired assistant head coach and running backs coach. On Friday, the Giants will head to Foxborough, Mass., to speak with Josh McDaniels, the Patriots offensive coordinator. McDaniels will also reportedly meet with the Bears and Colts, so there will be competition for McDaniels, a renowned play-caller. The interview with Shurmur is likely to be Saturday.
The Giants are also interested in meeting with Matt Patricia, the Patriots’ defensive coordinator. Also on tap is an interview with Steve Wilks, the Panthers defensive coordinator. Steve Spagnuolo, the Giants defensive coordinator, will interview for the head-coach position on Wednesday.
Shurmur, McDaniels and Spagnuolo fit the category of a former coach with something to prove, which is not a prerequisite for the Giants but certainly is an advantage.
“If you’ve done it before, hopefully you learn from your mistakes and you’re gonna be better for it,’’ newly hired general manager Dave Gettleman said Tuesday on WFAN. “Is having previous head coaching experience helpful? Certainly. Absolutely. Because you should have a good understanding of the time commitment and all the different things that are going to come at you. We all know no matter how long you’re in it, something different is gonna happen. There’s no way you’ve prepared for everything. But is it helpful? Sure. Is it a deal-breaker? No.’’
Shurmur, 52, was the head coach of the Browns in 2011 and 2012, going 4-12 and 5-11 before he was fired. He has a long history with quarterbacks — Donovan McNabb with the Eagles, Colt McCoy with the Browns and now Case Keenum with the Vikings — and with the Giants sitting with the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft and with Davis Webb on their roster, Shurmur’s ability to work with young quarterbacks is certainly attractive.
Shurmur’s 9-23 record with the Browns looks grim, but given what has gone on before and since in Cleveland, winning nine games in two years could also be viewed as yeoman’s work.
McDaniels went 8-8 in 2009 and 3-9 in 2010 as the Broncos head coach before he was fired. The interim coach for the final four games in Denver in 2010 was Studesville, who went 1-3. Studes- ville has ties to the Giants, as he was their running backs coach from 2001-03 on Jim Fassel’s staff. Patricia has never been a head coach, nor has Wilks, but he has close ties to Gettleman, who was the Panthers’ GM for four years before he was fired in July.
Spagnuolo went 10-28 as the head coach of the Rams and 1-3 as the Giants’ interim head coach this season, filling in after Ben McAdoo was fired.
Other possibilities to be added to the candidate list are Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, previously the Lions head coach for five years (Schwartz went 29-51) and Steelers offensive line coach Mike Munchak, an NFL Hall of Famer who was 22-26 as the head coach of the Titans.
Gettleman has likened an NFL coach to a CEO of a corporation and as such, is looking for someone who has shown more than acumen on offense or defense.
“One of the first things you’re looking for is intelligence and vision,’’ Gettleman said. “You can’t have a guy who is sitting down in the weeds. He’s got to get up on top, he’s got to see the big picture and he’s got to proactively see issues coming down the road instead of being reactive and putting out fires. You’re looking for leadership. You’ve got to have someone who has that quality about him that makes people really believe in him and want to play for him. The other thing you need is toughness.”