New sheriff in town: Giants hire Pat Shurmur
Former Browns head coach and Vikings offensive coordinator, press conference Friday
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. » The Giants today announced that Pat Shurmur will become the 18th head coach in franchise history.
Shurmur, 52, completed his second season as the Minnesota Vikings’ offensive coordinator when they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday in the NFC Championship Game. Last week, he was named the NFL Assistant Coach of the Year by the Pro Football Writers Association.
This is the second head coaching assignment for Shurmur, who led the Cleveland Browns from 2011-12.
Shurmur succeeds Ben McAdoo, who was dismissed on Dec. 4. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo was named interim head coach and led the Giants to a 1-3 record in the season’s final four games.
Shurmur was one of six candidates to interview for the Giants’ coaching job. On Jan. 6, he met with team president John Mara, general manager Dave Gettleman and assistant general manager Kevin Abrams in Bloomington, Minn. Following that meeting, Shurmur had an hour-long phone conversation with Giants chairman Steve Tisch.
“We are pleased to welcome Pat to our organization and look forward to the leadership he will provide for our team,” said Mara and Tisch. “He has an outstanding track record in developing young players, and it is clear his players respond to his guidance and direction. We interviewed six talented and qualified candidates, and we feel like Pat, with his vision and experience, is the right person to lead our team.”
A 19-year NFL coaching veteran, Shurmur has been a part of teams that have qualified for the playoffs nine times, won seven division titles, and advanced to one Super Bowl (he was on the Eagles’ staff when they played in Super Bowl XXXIX vs. New England to cap the 2004 season).
“I want to thank John Mara and Steve Tisch for giving me the opportunity to be the head coach of the New York Giants,” said Shurmur. “I am looking forward to getting to work with Dave Gettleman and Kevin Abrams
starting the process to once again build a championship team. I have been fortunate to work with many great coaches and players, and I am thankful for those relationships. I would like to thank my family and friends for their tremendous support.”
“I can’t wait to start working with Pat,” said Gettleman. “I know he will provide the type of leadership we need to take our team back to where it belongs. I have followed Pat’s career for many years, and he has had great success wherever he has been. What struck me during our conversation is that being the head coach of the New York Giants is not too big for him. He is made for this moment and this opportunity.”
In 2017, the Vikings were one of four teams with an NFL-best 13-3 record. Minnesota finished 10th in the NFL in scoring (23.9 points a game), 11th in total yardage (356.9 a game) and seventh in rushing yardage (122.3-yard average). The Vikings were also third in the league in third-down conversion percentage (43.5, with 94 successes in 216 attempts).
Shurmur was in the spotlight last week, when he called “Buffalo Right Seven Heaven”, which became a shocking final-play, 61-yard touchdown pass from Case Keenum to Stefon Diggs that gave the Vikings a 2924 victory over the New Orleans Saints in an NFC Divisional Playoff Game. The play was quickly dubbed, “The Minneapolis Miracle”.
Shurmur has long been renowned for his work with quarterbacks, including Nick Foles, Sam Bradford and, this season, Keenum, who was one of the NFL’s pleasant surprises. In his first four years, Keenum played for three teams and had a career passer rating of 78.4 and a touchdown pass/interception ratio of 24/20. In his first season with Shurmur, Keenum’s rating was 98.3 – placing him seventh in the NFL – and he threw for 22 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. His record as a starter entering the season was 9-5; this year, it was 113, plus 1-1 in the postseason.
In 2016, Shurmur joined the Vikings as their tight ends coach. For the final nine games of the season, he was also the team’s offensive coordinator, a title he retained this year.
Prior to his arrival in Minnesota, Shurmur spent three seasons as the offensive coordinator of the Eagles, his second stint with the club. In 2013, he was hired by Chip Kelly, then a first-year NFL head coach. In their first season together, they orchestrated one of the most efficient offenses in the NFL, setting team records in points (442), total net yards (6,676), touchdowns (53), passing yards (4,406) and fewest turnovers (19) en route to an NFC East title.
The Eagles also set an NFL record with 99 plays of 20-plus yards and became the first team since the 1991 Buffalo Bills to lead the league in rushing while ranking last in time of possession.
Shurmur guided Foles – who led the Eagles past Minnesota in Sunday’s conference title game - to a breakout season in 2013, when the then second-year quarterback threw 27 touchdown passes and only two interceptions while posting the third-best rating (119.2) and third-lowest interception percentage (0.63) in NFL history.
In 2014, Shurmur oversaw an offense that broke an Eagles record by scoring 474 points and 54 touchdowns and set franchise marks with 390 completions, 4,581 gross passing yards, eight 300-yard passing games and 356 first downs. Shurmur served as the interim head coach for the 2015 regular season finale after Kelly was dismissed and guided the Eagles to a 35-30 victory over the Giants.
Before joining the Eagles, Shurmur served as the 13th head coach in Browns history, and the sixth since the franchise’s revival in 1999. In his first year, he helped develop a draft class in which all eight members saw action in the regular season, including three who started all 16 games.