Pat Shurmur was 1-0 as Eagles head coach after Chip Kelly was fired. The Giants made it formal after Shurmur’s Viking’s lost the Birds in the NFC title game Sunday. Photo by Jesse Simmers / contrastphotography.com

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Giants today announced that Pat Shurmur will become the 18^th head coach in franchise history.

Shurmur, 52, completed his second season as the Minnesota Vikings’ offensive coordinator when they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday in the NFC Championship Game. Last week, he was named the NFL Assistant Coach of the Year by the Pro Football Writers Association.

This is the second head coaching assignment for Shurmur, who led the Cleveland Browns from 2011-12.

Shurmur succeeds Ben McAdoo, who was dismissed on Dec. 4. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo was named interim head coach and led the Giants to a 1-3 record in the season’s final four games.

Shurmur was one of six candidates to interview for the Giants’ coaching job. On Jan. 6, he met with team president John Mara, general manager Dave Gettleman and assistant general manager Kevin Abrams in Bloomington, Minn. Following that meeting, Shurmur had an hour-long phone conversation with Giants chairman Steve Tisch.

“We are pleased to welcome Pat to our organization and look forward to the leadership he will provide for our team,” said Mara and Tisch. “He has an outstanding track record in developing young players, and it is clear his players respond to his guidance and direction. We interviewed six talented and qualified candidates, and we feel like Pat, with his vision and experience, is the right person to lead our team.”

A 19-year NFL coaching veteran, Shurmur has been a part of teams that have qualified for the playoffs nine times, won seven division titles, and advanced to one Super Bowl (he was on the Eagles’ staff when they played in Super Bowl XXXIX vs. New England to cap the 2004 season).

“I want to thank John Mara and Steve Tisch for giving me the opportunity to be the head coach of the New York Giants,” said Shurmur. “I am looking forward to getting to work with Dave Gettleman and Kevin Abrams and starting the process to once again build a championship team. I have been fortunate to work with many great coaches and players, and I am thankful for those relationships. I would like to thank my family and friends for their tremendous support.”

“I can’t wait to start working with Pat,” said Gettleman. “I know he will provide the type of leadership we need to take our team back to where it belongs. I have followed Pat’s career for many years, and he has had great success wherever he has been. What struck me during our conversation is that being the head coach of the New York Giants is not too big for him. He is made for this moment and this opportunity.”

In 2017, the Vikings were one of four teams with an NFL-best 13-3 record. Minnesota finished 10^th in the NFL in scoring (23.9 points a game), 11^th in total yardage (356.9 a game) and seventh in rushing yardage (122.3-yard average). The Vikings were also third in the league in third-down conversion percentage (43.5, with 94 successes in 216 attempts).

Shurmur was in the spotlight last week, when he called “Buffalo Right Seven Heaven”, which became a shocking final-play, 61-yard touchdown pass from Case Keenum to Stefon Diggs that gave the Vikings a 29-24 victory over the New Orleans Saints in an NFC Divisional Playoff Game. The play was quickly dubbed, “The Minneapolis Miracle”.

Shurmur has long been renowned for his work with quarterbacks, including Nick Foles, Sam Bradford and, this season, Keenum, who was one of the NFL’s pleasant surprises. In his first four years, Keenum played for three teams and had a career passer rating of 78.4 and a touchdown pass/interception ratio of 24/20. In his first season with Shurmur, Keenum’s rating was 98.3 – placing him seventh in the NFL – and he threw for 22 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. His record as a starter entering the season was 9-5; this year, it was 11-3, plus 1-1 in the postseason.

In 2016, Shurmur joined the Vikings as their tight ends coach. For the final nine games of the season, he was also the team’s offensive coordinator, a title he retained this year.

Prior to his arrival in Minnesota, Shurmur spent three seasons as the offensive coordinator of the Eagles, his second stint with the club. In 2013, he was hired by Chip Kelly, then a first-year NFL head coach. In their first season together, they orchestrated one of the most efficient offenses in the NFL, setting team records in points (442), total net yards (6,676), touchdowns (53), passing yards (4,406) and fewest turnovers (19) en route to an NFC East title.

The Eagles also set an NFL record with 99 plays of 20-plus yards and became the first team since the 1991 Buffalo Bills to lead the league in rushing while ranking last in time of possession.

Shurmur guided Foles – who led the Eagles past Minnesota in Sunday’s conference title game – to a breakout season in 2013, when the then second-year quarterback threw 27 touchdown passes and only two interceptions while posting the third-best rating (119.2) and third-lowest interception percentage (0.63) in NFL history.

In 2014, Shurmur oversaw an offense that broke an Eagles record by scoring 474 points and 54 touchdowns and set franchise marks with 390 completions, 4,581 gross passing yards, eight 300-yard passing games and 356 first downs. Shurmur served as the interim head coach for the 2015 regular season finale after Kelly was dismissed and guided the Eagles to a 35-30 victory over the Giants.

Before joining the Eagles, Shurmur served as the 13^th head coach in Browns history, and the sixth since the franchise’s revival in 1999. In his first year, he helped develop a draft class in which all eight members saw action in the regular season, including three who started all 16 games.

Shurmur’s opportunity in Cleveland resulted after a successful two-year stint as the offensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams (2009-10), whose head coach was Spagnuolo. He helped the Rams improve to a 7-9 record following a 1-15 season in 2009. Shurmur guided the Rams to improvements in nearly every offensive category, including total yards, time of possession and third-down percentage. The top choice in the 2010 NFL Draft, Bradford – now with Minnesota – set NFL rookie records for completions (354) and attempts (590), while his 3,512 passing yards were the second-most by a rookie in league history at the time. Bradford was selected NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Shurmur’s NFL coaching career began under Andy Reid in Philadelphia, where he spent 10 seasons (1999-2008) with the club. He was the team’s quarterbacks coach from 2002-08 and helped guide Donovan McNabb to three Pro Bowl berths during his tenure. In 2004, Shurmur mentored McNabb to the most productive season of his career, as he set franchise records in passer rating (104.7) and completion percentage (64.0). McNabb also became the first quarterback in NFL history with 30-plus touchdown passes (31) and fewer than 10 interceptions (eight) in a single season. McNabb’s career year helped Philadelphia reach its first Super Bowl since 1980.

Shurmur was the Eagles’ tight ends coach his first three seasons in Philadelphia. During that time, he helped develop three-time Pro Bowler Chad Lewis.

Before joining the Eagles, Shurmur spent the 1998 season as the offensive line coach at Stanford University. Prior to Stanford, Shurmur instructed the tight ends, special teams and offensive line at his alma mater, Michigan State, from 1990-97.

A four-year letterman at Michigan State, Shurmur earned All-Big Ten conference honors and All-America honorable mention accolades as a senior in 1987. He played guard and linebacker as a freshman and started at center the next three seasons. Shurmur was a co-captain as a senior when the Spartans defeated USC in the Rose Bowl. Shurmur earned a master’s degree in financial administration and was the first-ever graduate student football player at MSU.

Shurmur is a native of Dearborn Heights, Mich. He and his wife Jennifer have four children – daughters Allyson, Erica and Claire, and a son, Kyle, who is a QB at Vanderbilt.