Who Is Pat Shurmur?

With the sudden and shocking resignation of offensive coordinator Norv Turner, the Minnesota Vikings have announced that tight ends coach Pat Shurmur would be taking over as the interim offensive coordinator. Shurmur was added to the Vikings’ staff this past offseason.

So, what has Shurmur done over the course of his career?

Shurmur is the nephew of former NFL coach Fritz Shurmur, who was an NFL coach for nearly a quarter of a century. Fritz Shurmur made his money on the defensive side of the ball, as he was an NFL defensive coordinator from 1982 to 1998. His last five NFL seasons were spent as the defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers, and prior to that he worked for the Phoenix Cardinals and the Los Angeles Rams.

Pat Shurmur played his college football at Michigan State University, playing guard and linebacker as a freshman before moving to center for his final three seasons in East Lansing. As a junior, he was All-Big Ten and an honorable mention All-American.

Shurmur’s first coaching job was as a graduate assistant with the Spartans, and he stayed with the Spartans as an assistant coach for eight seasons after that. His last college job was with Stanford University, where he coached the offensive line in 1998.

Shurmur moved on to the NFL in 1999, joining Andy Reid’s coaching staff with the Philadelphia Eagles. He served primarily as the team’s quarterbacks coach, filling that role from 2002 to 2008. From there, he moved on to the St. Louis Rams as the offensive coordinator for two seasons, and went from that job to the head coaching job with the Cleveland Browns for two seasons, 2011 and 2012. After he was fired by the Browns, he made his way back to Philadelphia as the Eagles’ offensive coordinator from 2013 to 2015, and served as the Eagles’ interim head coach following the firing of Chip Kelly near the end of the 2015 season.

More importantly, Shurmur was the Eagles’ offensive coordinator during the two seasons that Sam Bradford served as Philadelphia’s quarterback. That’s probably the biggest part of why the team has chosen to make him the offensive coordinator in the wake of Turner’s resignation.

Will things change drastically with Shurmur as the offensive coordinator? We won’t have to wait long to find out. . .the Vikings host the Detroit Lions at U.S. Bank Stadium this coming Sunday.