Shurmur high on his new coaches

Pat Shurmur’s first coaching staff with the Giants includes three new coordinators but also enough familiar faces to conclude the new head coach was openminded about those who remained in the building.

Of the 16-man staff, 10 are newcomers and six are holdovers from Ben McAdoo’s staff — and in some cases, Tom Coughlin’s staff.

“Some of the coaches, I have a history with, some were on previous staffs here, and other coaches are guys I’ve known through the profession,” Shurmur said. “I took a good look at some of the coaches that were here, and we certainly wanted to make sure that some of the really fine coaches that were in the building a year ago had an opportunity to stay.”

The returnees are Craig Johnson (running backs), Lunda Wells (moves from offensive line to tight ends), Ryan Roeder (offensive assistant), Bill McGovern (linebackers), Rob Leonard (assistant linebackers) and Bobby Blick (defensive assistant).

It took Shurmur a while to hire Mike Shula as the offensive coordinator, as he was not the first choice. Shurmur wanted Kevin Stefanski, the Vikings’ quarterbacks coach, but was denied permission by the Vikings. Shula, 52, has 30 years of coaching experience — four as the head coach at Alabama and 26 in the NFL. He spent the past seven years with the Panthers, the last five as offensive coordinator.

“I’ve known Mike a very long time,” Shurmur said. “He’s done an outstanding job developing and working with quarterbacks.”

The key hire is James Bettcher as defensive coordinator, considering Shurmur’s background is exclusively on offense.

“James coaches a defense that’s hard to score against,” Shurmur said. “He had great success in Arizona, and we’re certainly glad to have him here.”