I'm with the bland
Shurmur’s not fiery, but he’s effective: ex-player
Determining the success or failure of an NFL head coach is mostly, but not entirely, based on wins and losses. There are other components at work, notably how he does behind closed doors and how he operates in front of a camera.
Like it or not, how a coach motivates his players when no one on the outside can see or hear and how he deals with the media, and thus how he comes across to the fan base, are aspects of the job that can carry or cripple a coach.
Pat Shurmur will become the 18th head coach in Giants history soon after the Vikings are finished playing. They face the Eagles on Sunday night in the NFC Championship game in Philadelphia, where Shurmur will call the plays as Minnesota’s offensive coordinator. If the Vikings advance, the Giants will have to wait another two weeks, until after Super Bowl LII, to make it official with Shurmur.
The first time around for Shurmur as a head coach was a two-year stay in Cleveland, and his record of 9-23 was not the reason he was shown the door after the 2012 season. The Browns were for sale, and the ownership change from Randy Lerner to Jimmy Haslam all but predetermined Shurmur would be swept out of the building.
While he was there, Shurmur showed what those who know him best are wont to say about him: He is not flashy, but he gets the job done.
Take, for example, the Saturday meeting the night before a game. These are opportunities for a head coach to take the stage and offer up his most inspiring message.
“He’s pretty good,” Browns left tackle Joe Thomas told The Post recently. “He’s got a good sense of humor. He can relate to the players, he’s able to tap into the players with that humor and little bit of quirkiness that he has, and I think he makes it fun for the guys, makes them want to play for him.
“In those meetings, occasionally he would drop these little jokes that were subtle. You knew he was waiting to see if anybody laughed because he kinda had a little smirk on his face. Sometimes they would laugh, sometimes they wouldn’t laugh because sometimes I don’t think people would always pick up on it.”
Loosening up with his players did not come naturally to Shurmur.
“He was a first-time head coach, and he’s a grinder, he’s serious about his work — that’s a good thing,” Mike Holmgren, the Browns’ team president at the time, said this week on WFAN. “With the players, every once in a while, they got to see you’re human, laugh and joke with ’ em and take a joke. Pat would be wise to do that. He’s pushing and he’s good at it, but it’s OK to smile, it’s OK to laugh, those things are OK.”
Of the three top Giants candidates, Josh McDaniels was thought to be the fieriest, Matt Patricia the most mysterious and Shurmur the safest choice. This leads to the concern: Is Pat Shurmur bland?
“That’s one of his strengths, really,” Thomas said. “Sometimes the coach that wins the press conference is really not the best coach to lead the team. The guy that’s the most entertaining in the media is not necessarily the best coach. Truthfully, if you look at those coaches over time that have been successful year in and year out, it’s that steady coach and not that guy that rides the roller coaster because then usually your team takes on the personality of your coach.”