Pat Shurmur as Giants head coach to become official Tuesday, source says
Pat Shurmur has been the Giants’ coach-in-waiting for about a week. On Tuesday, the waiting ends.
Shurmur is expected to become the 18th head coach in franchise history after meeting with team leadership for one final pre-hiring conversation in New Jersey on Tuesday, a source told Newsday.
Shurmur first interviewed for the position on Jan. 6 but was unable to officially communicate with the Giants until the Vikings – for whom he served as offensive coordinator – were eliminated from the postseason. That happened Sunday when the Eagles won the NFC Championship.
Shurmur was guarded when he spoke in the losing locker room at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday night. He never mentioned the Giants directly despite several questions about his immediate future. Nor would he say whether he will join Giants general manager Dave Gettleman in Mobile, Alabama, for the Senior Bowl this week.
A number of immediate issues face Shurmur with the Giants. The first will be building a staff, and a league source told Newsday that former Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio is a strong candidate to be named defensive coordinator. Former Panthers special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey is expected to be named to that position with the Giants. Other coaching vacancies will be filled in the coming days and weeks.
Shurmur also will have to weigh in on the future of Eli Manning, although he is expected to support the quarterback’s return to the team for the 2018 season. Manning met with Gettleman on Jan. 12 to discuss his future with the team and ESPN reported on Sunday that Gettleman’s preference is to keep Manning on the team with two years remaining on his contract. That does not, of course, guarantee Manning the starting job, only a chance to compete for it. With the second overall pick in the upcoming draft and Shurmur’s reputation for guiding young quarterbacks, the Giants may decide to invest in their quarterback of the future in April. When that future begins could be September 2018 or anytime after.
Shurmur was one of six candidates to interview for the job with the Giants, which became open when they fired Ben McAdoo on Dec. 4. Steve Spagnuolo, the Giants’ defensive coordinator last season, served the final four games as interim head coach and was one of the candidates who interviewed for the full-time position. Other candidates to interview with the Giants were Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, Panthers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks and former Broncos associate head coach Eric Studesville (who has since been hired by the Dolphins as their running backs coach). McDaniels and Patricia are expected to be named head coaches of the Colts and Lions, respectively, and Wilks is a candidate for the Cardinals’ opening.
Shurmur, 52, has 19 years of NFL coaching experience and served two years as head coach of the Browns in 2011 and 2012 with a 9-23 record.
Shurmur’s tenure with the Vikings did not end well with the Vikings being shutout by the Eagles over the final 55:14 of the NFC title game, nor did it endear him much to the Giants’ fanbase by allowing an NFC East rival to advance to Super Bowl LII. But this season he helped a team that lost both its starting quarterback and starting running back finish 10th in the NFL in scoring (23.9 points), 11th in total yardage (356.9), and seventh in rushing yardage (122.3). Minnesota also was third in the league in third-down conversion percentage (43.5, with 94 successes on 216 attempts).
“He’s one of the best coaches I ever played for,” Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph said on Sunday after the team lost. “They’re getting a really good coach, and as good of a coach as he is he’s an even better human being. If he is going there we’ll miss him.”
With Calvin Watkins
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
