Read Tony Grossi's live blog of Pat Shurmur's press conference from this morning as Shurmur was introduced as Browns head coach this morning.
Watch video
![shurmur-intro.jpg]()
Chuck Crow | The Plain DealerPat Shurmur was introduced as Browns coach at a press conference this morning.BEREA -- It's a packed house in the Dino Lucarelli Media Center. On the dais will be Browns President Mike Holmgren, GM Tom Heckert and new coach Pat Shurmur.
We'll be blogging live to give instant updates of things asked and said.
As a point of information, Shurmur is the ninth Browns coach I've covered in my days on the beat. The roll call: Sam Rutigliano, Marty Schottenheimer, Bud Carson, Bill Belichick, Chris Palmer, Butch Davis, Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini and Shurmur. There were two interim coaches also, Jim Shofner and Terry Robiskie.
Browns legal counsel Fred Nance has slipped into the back of the room. No sign of owner Randy Lerner as yet ...
Here we go.
Holmgren's opening remarks are predictably eloquent.
"We narrowed it down to three candidates. I thanked Mike (Mularkey) and Perry (Fewell) for their involvement. Great coaches. Pat emerged as the best man to take the Cleveland Browns where we hope to go. Today is his day." ...
Shurmur: "You dream of an opportunity like this."
Referring to notes, he thanks Steve Spagnuolo and the Rams and Andy Reid of the Eagles.
"(They) helped build this view of how to win."
Introduces wife Jennifer. "We've been friends for 25 years and partners. Our four kids back home. I'm a father and a husband.
"Can't wait to get to work and start the process (of winning). I can't wait to basically get off this dais and get to the task of assembling a staff we can all be proud of."
Shurmur: "Our goal is to win the AFC North, compete in the playoffs and win Super Bowls. We will make all our decisions based on winning. There's a great amount of excitement."
Questions ...
What are you inheriting?
"I think we have a team here with great tradition. There's a lot of pieces in place. Wouldn't be fair for me to comment on any details at this point."
What advantages do you have with your background?
"I think the relationship I have with Coach Holmgren and Tom is part of the strength of what we embark on. We have a collective view of what it takes to win.."
On Colt McCoy:
"The quarterback in this league is so, so important. We had a structure (at other places). I would anticipate the vision of this team will be seen through the eyes of the quarterback."
Will you call plays? Final say on coaches?
"Yes, initially I will start out by calling the plays. That really is the fun part. In terms of hiring the coordinators, the staff in general is an ongoing process. We're actively pursuing the guys we want to come to Cleveland."
You have the necessary qualities. What are they?
Holmgren: "He's a modest guy. He's very bright, hard-working, a team player. He served his apprenticeship to get to this point as a long-term college coach and professional coach, and he's coordinated the last couple of years. Plus I like his personality. He's a good man. He's got a wonderful wife, wonderful family and is a dedicated football coach. He's got all the characteristics we kind of listed prior to this search. WE have a good man here."
Tom Heckert: "Andy (Reid) and I talked about (Shurmur) a lot. The way he handled Donovan. Things he did. I knew it would come and just be a matter of time. Lucky for me it happened here."
What about defense?
Shurmur: "There's a defense? Typically I don't tell jokes. We've talked a lot about that already. We're obviously going to build a fine, fine defense."
Are we in another rebuilding phase with another roster overhaul?
"We're tyring to build the best team that we can. There's ways to do that. Keep the players here, the draft, free agency. I think we have the pieces we have to evaluate that and put it all together."
What did you learn from your uncle?
"My uncle Fritz was a great inspiration to me. He was the one who helped encourage me to do it (coach). I always tended to be an educator and a teacher. My passion for the game encouraged that. Uncle Fritz had a unique way of simplifying complex tasks. That's the start for a teacher.
Holmgren on Fritz Shurmur
"Pedigree actually did factor into this a little bit. Fritz would come up to me before any game and wish me luck. For the next 60 minutes, neither one of us are responsible for what we say to each other. Second thing, Pat bought me lunch yesterday. Fritz never did. I'm sure Fritz is up there smiling."
On your offense
Shurmur: I think the running game is very important. Everything starts up front. You need to have a gritty offensive line to block the run and protect the passer. From that standpoint, the next most important guy is the quarterback, how he plays and how efficient he is. I think it's very important we run the ball, but in the NFl you have to be able to efficiently and explosively throw the ball. That's soomething we have to get done."
On McCoy
Shurmur: "Obviously with last year's chosoing of a quarteback, I got to know Colt very well. Very impressed with him and I think he has the skill set to win in this league."
Heckert on how do you know ?
"Fortunately I've been around some pretty good football coaches. 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."
Holmgren: The honest answer to the question is you're not absolutely sure. There's no guarantees on anything. But I do know this -- we cannot keep changing around here every 2-3 years. You can't do that and expect to be successful. So my hope in why this is so important and I'm excited, I see these two men working together. I can envision where it's a pretty good fit. My hope and prayer is the change has stopped. Now the growing and building begins. My hope is this is the coach for a long, long time.
Holmgren be more hands on?
"Pat and I talked about that this morning. As we speak our IT guys are creating a phone system where I'm actually going to call the plays. Here's how I'd like this to work. He is the head coach of this football team. I am the president. I've coached a long time. My door is always open. If he wants to come in and bounce things off me, I hope he does that. I know we're goiing to have a great relationshp. But it's his football team. I can't make that any more clear."
Shurmur: "I don't know everything. I do think I'm smart enough when there's a problem to go find the resource. In this building, we have a man who's been to three Super Bowls. It would be silly for me to not ask Coach Holmgren what he thinks about various issues from time to time. I intend to use those resources."
What about working under Andy Reid that makes coaches ready?
Shurmur: "My first introduction to pro football on a day to day basi was Andy Reid. He hires a staff of people to do a job and watches them do it and helps them do it. A man that can be in a job as long as he has ... the test of time is a testimony to the job he's done. I think there's a lot of people in the NFL that would hire a part of Andy Reid."
Your thoughts on defensive scheme?
Shurmur: "It is a process. At this time of year, the season stops abruptly for most teams. I really don't want to go beyond that. We're going to try to get the very best defensive coordinator we can and put that to play with the players in place."
On competing in the AFC North ...
Holmgren: "Those type of answers are difficult. It would be unfair for Pat to comment, but Tom and I can. We were in just about every game. Had chances to win a number of games this year, I thought. I thought we made strides. A field goal here, a play there, maybe our record would've been different. But they (Balt and Pitt) have set the bar in our division. Are we there yet? We'll see. If those games are any indication, we're a little closer than we were two years ago.
On presenting a West Coast offense in this division ..
Holmlgren: "Because you're going to look out at the Browns and see a little different style, please, don't interpret that as going away from the run. What has to improve is our ability to throw the ball and our utilization of our receivers. I don't think you have to give up one to get the other. The problem is, always will be, with those two teams in our division, they're outstanding, and they see this offense enough outside the division. So while it might be a little bit different from what they see from Cleveland in the place, execution is the key. We're not fooling anybody.'
Is McCoy the guy?
Heckert: "We've talked. I think he's on the right track. he had some good games for us. His poise. He's proved he belongs here. We'll just have to wait and see."
How do you relate to players?
Shurmur: "I would say my relationship with players is very professional. I believe players are different. Coaches are different. You folks will determine what my style is. I will say we have to do the very best to get our players to be the best they can. Some guys, a couple quiet words will get them to be their best. I think the key is to get to know your players as best as you can and communicate with them in those ways."
Dick Jauron for DC? Mike McCoy for OC?
Shurmur: Because it's an ongoing process, I'd rather not (comment).
What did you learn coaching Sam Bradford?
Shurmur: You're taking a guy very talented, which I think Colt is. When he woke up in the morning, he gets it. He understands the position. He worked very hard. He hund on every word. Basically we tried to rpesent a consistent approach.
Fitting the players ...
Heckert: There's going to be a challenge, no question. There's going to be turnover here. We have some change."
I do think we have some players that can fit whatever we do. The guys that don't we just have to go out and get."
On using backs in the passing game. Peyton Hillis?
Shurmur: I think Peyton Hillis is a tremendous running back. It's very important the runner has the ability to catch the football. I think he's a fantastic player."
Daunting to come to a place with constant change?
Shurmur: We talked about when ytou're ready to be a head coach. We're all teachers and educators. I feel honored to be here. I feel I'm ready for this challegne. To have the resources we have here is just remarkable. One of the overused phrases is being on the same page. but I'll use it and it happened from Day 1 here."
Talk to Jon Gruden?
Holmgren: It's been documented in the last week One, I did talk to Jon. I did talk to Bill Cowher. I did talk to a number of people that didn't appear in stories anywhere. It was important for me to hear how interested they were.
(Bob LaMonte) We've been friends for 30 years. Everyone knows the story. Moving forward... he represents a lot of people To think you're going to do any coaching hire without his name coming up, is unusual. I can honestly say when I put Pat on the list, I didn't know Bob represented Pat. Bob told me. Second, his responsibility as an agent to any of his clients, he is honest and works hard for them. He is representing that person with that organization. He does his job very well. Now, when I'm talking to Pat, I'm not thinking about Bob. I wanted to get who I felt was the best man for the job and it turned out to be under (Bob's) representation. Bob was not part of that process. He was part of the contractual process."
How did you get to the final three?
Holmgren: There was a committee (he and Heckert and Bryan Wiedemeier, etc.) And we met daily, gathered information and narrowed it down to I'd say a finalist group of 10. Then we did more digging and came down to three. I wasn't going to formally interview 10 guys. It would waste their time and my time. My charge to my committee was let's find three guys we want to talk to.
How to convince players they can win?
Shurmur: There's a huge piece of this called trust. In St. Louis, we won 1 game. This year we won 7 and were fighting for the division. That's built on a day to day basis. You put the people in place and just trust that it's going to happen.
Does your knack for finding coaches extend to head coaches?
Holmgren: I believe hiring your staff and hiring assistant coaches you're looking at certain specific things. When hiring a head coach, there's a lot of stuff. There's the football part of it. The character of the person was important to me. Then an instinct, a feeling, of how he will deal with the whole group, getting people to do sometimes things they don't want to do. That's a little bit of a gut reaction.
Holmgren: This is the first head coach I've ever hired. I trust it will be my last."
Philosophical similarites between you guys, how much did it play in?
Heckert: "I don't think you can understate that. From the day Pat walked through the door, we were on the same page."
Current coaches ruled out?
Shurmur: "Again, that's a process we're going through. I think it'll become very obvious very quickly, in terms of the staff. To protect the process, we'll leave it at that.
Now we'll disperse to one on one interviews.
.
View full sizeWill it be a case of "make the playoffs or hit the road" for new Browns coach Pat Shurmur?
