New York Giants Fire Pat Shurmur After Two Horrendous Seasons
The New York Giants are 9-23 over the past two seasons. All that losing was ultimately too much for ownership and merited a change. The New York Giants fired Pat Shurmur on NFL’s “Black Monday.” The local tabloids heavily speculated about the move for several weeks.
Part of the Giants statement about the Shurmur firing read:
“Steve and I have had many extensive discussions about the state of the Giants,” Mara said. “This morning, we made the very difficult decision that it would be in the best interest of the franchise that we relieve Pat of his duties. The last three seasons have been extremely disappointing for the organization and our fans. Pat has been a successful and highly-respected NFL coach for 21 years and he is not solely responsible for our record. But we came to the conclusion it is best to have a fresh start with the coaching staff.”
New York Giants website
While the Shurmur move surprised no one, John Mara and Steve Tisch did decide to retain Dave Gettleman as General Manager. Ownership warned Gettleman that his “batting average” on personnel moves must improve next season. Gettleman will try to improve a roster bereft of talent with a projected $68 million in cap space — the ninth-most in the NFL.
Shurmur Isn’t Head Coach Material
The Giants and Gettleman hired Shurmur after his successful tenure as offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings from 2016-18. The Big Blue job was supposed to be his chance at redemption. But the hire did not work out. Shurmur had previously led the Cleveland Browns for two years and went 9-23. He has an identical record with the Giants during his two-year tenure. At the end of the day, the New York Giants didn’t win enough games. What went wrong?
Shurmur spoke to the media after his final loss as Giants’ head coach on Sunday night. He noted the lack of impact players on defense and looked forward to the amount of cap space the Giants could utilize in the off-season. But Mara and Tisch didn’t buy the argument. They ultimately decided that when the roster improves, Shurmur isn’t capable of leading the team. His lifetime record as a head coach stands at 19-46.
The former offensive lineman at Michigan State will be remembered for unimaginative play-calling, bad clock management, and an inability to get the most out of a rebuilding roster.
The Next Giants Head Coach Will Be?
Gettleman will play a key role in who will be the next Giants’ head coach. Big Blue has a daunting task ahead of itself after three straight losing seasons. Initial reports and speculation are that Big Blue is interested in former Carolina Panthers‘ head coach Ron Rivera, Baylor’s Matt Rhule, and New England Patriots‘ Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniel.
The Giants will need to move quickly on selecting their next head coach. The NFL Network is reporting the Washington Redskins will hire Rivera as early as Monday:
Josh McDaniel may want more control over personnel than Mara, Tisch, and Gettleman are willing to offer, according to early reports. The team was granted permission to interview Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. Based on a very early analysis of the coaching landscape and history, we’d expect Matt Rhule to replace Pat Shurmur as New York Giants’ head coach. Rhule was part of the Giants organization as recently as 2012.