The Cleveland Browns named Pat Shurmur as the
team's new head coach Thursday afternoon.
Shurmur becomes the 13th full-time head coach in franchise history.
He spent the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator for the St. Louis
Rams, who engineered a turnaround from 1-15 in 2009 to 7-9 and the brink of a
playoff berth in 2010.
Quarterback Sam Bradford made a huge impact for the Rams this past season,
setting NFL rookie records for completions (354) and attempts (590) while
compiling 3,512 passing yards, the second most in league history for a first-
year signal-caller.
"I want to thank the St. Louis Rams and Steve Spagnulo for two terrific
seasons and for giving me a chance to be a coordinator at this level," Shurmur
said. "I am looking forward to this challenge and can't wait to get started in
helping to build the Browns back to one of the elite teams in the NFL."
Shurmur spent the previous 10 seasons with Philadelphia, including the last
seven as the quarterbacks coach when he worked very closely with Donovan
McNabb, who set most single-season and franchise passing records during that
time.
"I am extremely excited about having Pat Shurmur as the next head coach of the
Cleveland Browns," said team president Mike Holmgren. "Pat is a bright, young
man who grew up in football and around the coaching profession. I came away
from our interview very impressed with him as a person, his extensive
knowledge of the game and his track record of success as an assistant coach in
this league. Most importantly, I feel as though he possesses the necessary
qualities which make him the right man to lead our football team."
Shurmur also spent the 1990-97 seasons as the tight ends, special teams and
offensive line coach at Michigan State and the 1998 campaign coaching the
offensive line at Stanford before making the transition to the NFL.
He is the nephew of former long-time NFL assistant coach Fritz Shurmur, who
coached in the league for 24 years and was the defensive coordinator for the
1996 Super-Bowl-winning Green Bay Packers.
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