Pat Shurmur

Pat Shurmur (born April 14, 1965) is currently the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

Playing career
Shurmur was a four-year letterman in football at Michigan State University. He played guard and linebacker his freshman season, and started at center the next three seasons. He earned All-Big 10 Conference honors in 1987, his junior year. He was co-captain when the Spartans defeated the USC Trojans in the Rose Bowl in his senior year.

Coaching career
Shurmur’s résumé includes 23 years of coaching experience, including 12 in the NFL. In those 12 seasons, he has been a part of seven playoff teams, winning five division crowns and appearing in the Super Bowl.

Shurmur began working for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999. 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.

Cleveland Browns
He 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 is the 13th head coach in franchise history, and the sixth since the franchise's revival in 1999.

Part of the reason Pat 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 development of Sam Bradford, 2010's No. 1 overall draft pick. The Browns are hoping he can have similar success with Colt McCoy.

Under Shurmur, Bradford lived up to his hype and set rookie league records for completions and attempts. He also led St. Louis to a 7-9 record—the Rams were 1-15 a year earlier—while throwing for 3,512 yards, second-most ever for a rookie behind Peyton Manning's 3,739 in 1998.

While potentially hamstrung in attempts to install a new offensive system by the NFL lockout, the Browns played through the first half of the 2011 season at or near the bottom of the league in almost every offensive category. Starting several rookies, Shurmur's team was frequently beset by confusion in personnel and play-calling at critical junctures. Early in the year the defense surrendered a touchdown on a failure to break the defensive huddle, and the team's chances in several games were compromised by a host of special teams mistakes and meltdowns. At the midpoint of the season, in a telling series in which Shurmur called for a conservative ball-protection strategy, the Browns recovered their own fumble resulting from a mistakenly-called hand off to a 3rd sting tight-end lined up at fullback, only to botch a short go-ahead field goal attempt with a failed snap and uncoordinated line movement.

Personal life
His uncle, the late Fritz Shurmur, served as the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator from 1994–98 and helped that club win two NFC Championships and one Super Bowl title. His wife Jennifer Shurmur also attended Michigan State. Pat has four children, Allyson, Erica, Claire and Kyle.