Pat Shurmur

Early life and playing career

Born in Dearborn, Michigan, Shurmur comes from a football background. His uncle Fritz Shurmur was an NFL coach for 24 years, including a stint as the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator from 1994 to 1998, which included a victory in Super Bowl XXXI.

Shurmur attended Michigan State University, where he was a four-year letterman for the Michigan State Spartans football team, after graduating from Divine Child High School. He played guard and linebacker his freshman season, and started at center the next three seasons. He earned All-Big 10 Conference honors and also earned honorable mention All-America honors in 1987, his senior year (MG). He was co-captain when the Spartans defeated the USC Trojans in the Rose Bowl in his senior year. Shurmur was the first graduate student to play on the Michigan State football team, as he began studying for his master's degree in financial administration during his senior season.

Philadelphia Eagles

Shurmur’s résumé includes 26 years of coaching experience, including 15 in the NFL. In those 15 seasons, he has been a part of eight playoff teams, winning six division crowns and appearing in the Super Bowl.

Shurmur began working for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999, serving as both the tight ends coach and the offensive line coach. Shurmur helped mold tight end Chad Lewis into a three-time Pro Bowl selection.

In 2002, Shurmur was named the team’s quarterback coach. In that role, Shumur helped shape Donovan McNabb into the most prolific passer in Eagles history. McNabb holds nearly every Eagles career passing record, and in 2008, he set Eagles single-season records with 345 completions and 3,916 yards. In 2004, Shurmur and McNabb helped guide the Eagles to their first Super Bowl appearance since the 1980 season.

St. Louis Rams

On January 21, 2009, Shurmur was hired by Steve Spagnuolo to be the offensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams.

He helped the Rams improve to a 7–9 record following a 1–15 season in 2009, the second-biggest turnaround in the league in 2010. He guided St. Louis’ offense to improvements in nearly every category including total yards, time of possession and third-down percentage, while they also scored 114 more points than the previous year. In addition, the Rams committed just 21 turnovers in 2010, tied for the ninth-lowest total in the NFL.

Shurmur also made a tangible impact on Sam Bradford’s immediate success as a rookie in 2010. The first-overall pick out of the University of Oklahoma set NFL rookie records for most consecutive passes without an interception (169) and most completions (354). Under Shurmur’s tutelage, Bradford finished the season with a 60.0 completion percentage, 3,512 yards and 18 touchdown passes, winning the AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award.

Cleveland Browns

Shurmur was interviewed by the Cleveland Browns on January 7, 2011 to be their head coach. On January 13, 2011, Shurmur was hired by Mike Holmgren, with whom he shares agent Bob LaMonte, to become the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns. He was the 13th head coach in franchise history, and the sixth since the franchise's revival in 1999.

Part of the reason Shurmur was hired was the team wanted him to call the plays on offense as Holmgren did in Green Bay and Seattle. Another reason for the hire was Shurmur's past success of developing young quarterbacks such as McNabb and Bradford. The Browns selected quarterback Colt McCoy in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft, and in McCoy’s first season with Shurmur as his coach, the former University of Texas standout posted the best season of his professional career to date in 2011, throwing for 2,733 yards and 14 touchdown passes in 13 games.

After the end of the 2012 season, Shurmur and general manager Tom Heckert, Jr. were fired.

Second stint with Eagles

On January 20, 2013, Shurmur accepted a job with the Philadelphia Eagles as their offensive coordinator. Working alongside new head coach Chip Kelly, Shurmur helped orchestrate one of the most efficient offenses in the NFL. Shurmur led an offense that set a number of team records, including points (442), total net yards (6,676), touchdowns (53), passing yards (4,406) and fewest turnovers (19) en route to an NFC East title. Additionally, the Eagles set an NFL record with 99 plays of 20+ 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’s unique ability to develop young talent at the quarterback position was once again on display in 2013. Second-year QB Nick Foles enjoyed a breakout season under the direction of Shurmur, throwing for 27 touchdowns and only two interceptions while posting the third-best QB rating (119.2) and third-lowest interception percentage (0.63%) in NFL history. Foles also became just the second player in league history to throw for seven touchdowns in a game during a match-up against the Oakland Raiders, and one of three who have done so without throwing an interception.

Head coach

Shurmur was named interim head coach of the Eagles after Chip Kelly was fired on December 29, 2015. Shurmur's one game was a 35-30 win over the Giants that was for 2nd place in the NFC East. The Eagles offense gained 435 yards of total offense and scored four touchdowns, highlighted by DeMarco Murray running for a 54-yard touchdown in his first carry under Shurmur. Shurmur interviewed for the Eagles head coaching job and was considered one of the leading candidates until the end, but he lost out to Chiefs offensive coordinator Doug Pederson.

Minnesota Vikings

On January 25, 2016, the Minnesota Vikings named Shurmur their new tight ends coach.

On November 2, 2016, the Vikings promoted Shurmur to interim Offensive Coordinator in the wake of Norv Turner's resignation. He was confirmed for the position for the 2017 season.

Personal life

Shurmur's wife, Jennifer, also attended Michigan State. They have four children: Allyson, Erica, Claire, and Kyle.

Kyle committed to play at Vanderbilt and was rated as a top QB prospect for the 2015 recruiting class. ESPN rated Kyle as the #110 overall player and #7 Pocket Passing QB. He became the starting quarterback as a sophomore in 2016 and continues that role in 2017.