The New York Giants have fired head coach Pat Shurmur, but will be retaining general manager Dave Gettleman, according to ESPN.
Schurmur was formally dismissed on Monday morning, and he still plans to meet with the team, and his assistants will be met with individually later on Monday. Schurmur lasted only two seasons at the helm in New York.
Schurmur leaves the Giants after compiling a 9-23 record, and his career .292 wining percentage, which includes his time as head coach of the Cleveland Browns, is the seventh-lowest in NFL history among head coaches.
New York finished the season 4-12, and will now be focusing on Baylor head coach Matt Rhule, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.
“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. We very much appreciate how much Pat has done for this franchise. He is a man of character and integrity and the team has conducted itself with pride and professionalism.”
Mara and Tisch will aim for a “rapid and substantial turnaround” and think that Gettleman is the “best general manager for the team.”
“We believe he is the right person to lead us going forward,” Mara said. “Dave has a long record of success. We think he’s capable of putting a great team together and he’s going to get that opportunity. To the extent we need to make changes in personnel or the way we do things, we’re going to discuss that.”
Despite the results, Schumur believes he is leaving the team in a better place than when he took the reigns.
“I think so. I do,” he said. “These guys battled. We can talk about the dynamics of how the team was built and where it’s going. We’re building a team. A lot of dead money this year, a lot of cap space next year, and some prime picks where we can use the draft wisely and make decisions on making this team better with impact players.
“You need to have a quarterback, you need to be able to play defense, you need to run the ball. On defense, you need to have impact players that, when the game is on the line, can do things. We have some strung throughout this roster and we’ll have a chance to go get more. I think that’s exciting.”
