Pat Shurmur was introduced Friday as the Browns’ head coach. While Shurmur’s name isn’t that well known to average NFL fans, the men around him aren’t surprised he’s now leading an NFL team.
“Fortunately I’ve been around some pretty good football coaches,” Browns G.M. Tom Heckert said. “I did think a lot about that. It’s obviously a feeling because you never know the final answer. I think you have to just rely on what you’ve seen in the past and who you’ve worked with. After saying that, I think Pat has ‘it.’”
After watching Shurmur speak, we think Heckert as a point. Shurmur carries himself like a head coach. (Then again, if press conference ability was an indication of coaching ability then Mike Singletary could out-coach Bill Belichick.)
Shurmur’s presser included a few nuggets about the direction of the team.
1. Shurmur will call the offensive plays. President Mike Holmgren was asked what his involvement would be: “As we speak our IT guys are creating a phone system where I’m actually going to call the plays,” Holmgren joked via Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. “It’s his football team. I can’t make that any more clear.”
2. Shurmur said he thought Colt McCoy could be a great player in the league for a long time. “I think he’s on the right track. he had some good games for us. His poise. He’s proved he belongs here.”
3. Holmgren confirmed he talked to Jon Gruden, Bill Cowher, and “a number of people that didn’t appear in stories anywhere.” Holmgren had an initial list of ten candidates, but only wanted to interview three finalists.
4. Holmgren on his confidence in Shurmur: “This is the first head coach I’ve ever hired. I trust it will be my last.”
