Tag: Pat Shurmur

REPORT: Colorado analyst Pat Shurmur to assume offensive play-calling duties alongside Sean Lewis

Coach Prime reportedly made a major change to Colorado’s offensive staff

Following a rough showing for Colorado’s offense at UCLA, head coach Deion Sanders has reportedly made a major change to how things will operate this weekend.

Per Brett McMurphy of Action Network, analyst Pat Shurmur will be taking over play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Sean Lewis for the Buffs’ Saturday game against Oregon State. Shurmur was previously the Denver Broncos’ offensive coordinator from 2020-21.

It’s fair to speculate that this move comes in response to Colorado’s near-absent run game. While the Buffaloes haven’t struggled to put up points, they rank dead-last in the Pac-12 with 78.6 rushing yards per game.

Brian Howell of BuffZone later confirmed that Shurmur and Lewis will serve as co-offensive coordinators.

Here’s how social media reacted to Shurmur’s sudden promotion:

Former Michigan State football QB to take over Colorado play-calling duties

A former MSU QB is set to take over play-calling duties at Colorado:

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders has taken the college football world by storm, with his crazy personality and taking over the Colorado football program. While their record is not as good as they would like, they have had a very potent offense this year, but obviously not potent enough for Sanders liking.

It is now being reported that Sean Lewis is being relieved of his play calling duties and will be giving the reigns to former Michigan State QB Pat Shurmur, who has had a long coaching career of his own.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Cory Linsner on Twitter @Cory_Linsner.

New Colorado analyst Pat Shurmur talks Deion Sanders, development of culture

Pat Shurmur discussed how establishing a winning culture at CU all starts with Deion Sanders

The Colorado Buffaloes offense is going to look much different this season with a ton of new faces. Head coach Deion Sanders has brought in a flurry of new players and assistant coaches.

One veteran on the staff is former Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, who’s now an analyst with the Buffs.

With the season approaching, Shurmur opened up on his role and then gave Coach Prime some huge praise (h/t Adam Munsterteiger of BuffStampede)

“You’re always trying to establish a winning culture. And when you have a leader of your team like Coach Prime, who has won at everything he’s done in life, that’s where it starts,” Shurmur said. “If our players and the people around them just listen to what he’s saying and take his message to heart, it’ll all start to blossom and then we’ll win football games. And then we can start talking more about what the culture looks like.”

Shurmur is right: Sanders has a lengthy resume of winning. His professional playing career as an NFL and MLB player was fascinating, and he made Jackson State a big name.

Now, he heads to Boulder, and there are high hopes for the Buffs this year and for the foreseeable future.

Contact/Follow us @BuffaloesWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Colorado news, notes and opinions.

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Pat Shurmur opens up on decision to join Deion Sanders in Boulder

Pat Shurmur opened up on his decision to join Coach Prime’s staff

The Colorado Buffaloes football program has a ton of big names entering the 2023 season. The coaching staff is loaded and one name that joined head coach Deion Sanders’ team over the summer is Pat Shurmur.

The longtime NFL coach was most recently the Denver Broncos offensive coordinator, so he’s a familiar name for Buffs fans.

Recently, Shurmur opened up on his role as an offensive analyst for Coach Prime and what it means to work for an emerging Buffs team. He also mentioned how he jumped at the opportunity to join CU’s staff (h/t Brian Howell of BuffZone):

“I believe in Coach Prime, and I believe in him as a man,” Shurmur told the media on Thursday. “I believe in his competitive spirit. When I was given an opportunity to come work (at CU), I jumped at it.”

Shurmur did not coach in 2022, but when the opportunity presented itself to become an offensive analyst in Boulder, he couldn’t help it.

Now, here he is, and having an experienced guy such as Shurmur is a huge bonus for Sanders and offensive coordinator Sean Lewis.

“Being an analyst, I work primarily behind the scenes,” Shurmur added (h/t BuffZone). “I’m in the meeting room with the coaches. I’m really not allowed to have one-on-one with players. It’s really hard to be out there and bite your tongue when you see something. But if there is something I see that might help a player, I gotta just kind of track it through one of the coaches.”

Contact/Follow us @BuffaloesWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Colorado news, notes and opinions.

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Deion Sanders hires ex-Broncos OC Pat Shurmur for CU’s staff

Deion Sanders has added former Broncos offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur to his offensive staff with the Buffaloes.

Pat Shurmur will be coaching football in Colorado again this fall, but not with the Denver Broncos.

The former Broncos offensive coordinator is joining Deion Sanders’ staff at the University of Colorado. Carl Reed Jr. of 247Sports first reported last week that Shurmur was expected to join the Buffaloes as an analyst.

Mike Klis of KUSA-TV later confirmed that Shurmur has indeed been hired by Sanders as an offensive analyst. The 58-year-old coach will now return to the college ranks, where his coaching career began as a graduate assistant with at Michigan State in 1988.

Shurmur served as Denver’s offensive coordinator from 2020-2021. He was fired by the Broncos following the 2021 season and he took a break from coaching in 2022 before joining CU this summer.

Denver scored 19.7 points per game in 2021 (10th-worst in the NFL) and 20.2 points per game in 2020 (fifth-worst that season). The Broncos went through four different starting QBs during that time frame (plus the Kendall Hinton game). Shurmur will now aim to bounce back at the college level and prove that Denver’s offensive struggles didn’t all fall on him.

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Pat Shurmur to join Deion Sanders’ staff at Colorado

Former New York Giants HC Pat Shurmur is joining the Colorado staff under Deion Sanders as an analyst.

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NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders is shaking up the college football landscape these days with his unconventional style.

The Colorado Buffaloes head coach is reportedly adding an NFL-level offensive mind to his coaching staff – former New York Giants head coach Pat Shurmur.

From CBSSports.com:

Veteran NFL coach Pat Shurmur is expected to join Deion Sanders’ Colorado football staff as an analyst, 247Sports Carl Reed reports. Reed notes that Shurmur has been on campus in Boulder all week, spending time around the football program.

“Colorado will be looking for him to add to the culture they are establishing offensively,” Reed wrote on Twitter. “And to give the players another resource in their pursuit of reaching the NFL.”

Shermer would bring more than 20 years of NFL experience to the staff. He most recently served as the Denver Broncos’ offensive coordinator from 2020-21. Before that, he was the head coach of the New York Giants, amassing a 9-23 record in two years.

Shurmur was hired as the Giants’ head coach in 2018, replacing Ben McAdoo. after being named the NFL’s Assistant Coach of the Year as the Minnesota Vikings’ offensive coordinator in 2017.

Unfortunately, Shurmur was shown the door after two dismal seasons but did leave behind one bright spot. He coached up rookie quarterback Daniel Jones in 2019 to a 3,029 yards passing-24 touchdown season in just 12 starts. The 24 touchdowns (versus 12 interceptions) are still the most in a season by Jones.

Eric Bieniemy to meet with Commanders on Thursday

Eric Bieniemy will finally meet with the Commanders.

The Washington Commanders have waited weeks to speak with Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy about their OC vacancy. According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, that meeting will occur on Thursday.

Bieniemy is the presumed top candidate. Head coach Ron Rivera spoke at the Super Bowl’s Radio Row last week about Bieniemy, saying that Bieniemy wanted to work with a defensive-minded coach, which Rivera is. And that Rivera wanted to speak with Bieniemy before making a decision.

Washington has been without an offensive coordinator since Jan. 10, when it fired Scott Turner. Turner has since landed with the Las Vegas Raiders as a pass game coordinator.

The Commanders interviewed former Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman on Tuesday, which apparently went well. It would appear that Bieniemy and Roman are the top candidates, but quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese and former NFL head coach Pat Shurmur are also firmly in the mix.

Rivera hopes to have a decision by the end of the week. Bieniemy will be the eighth person to interview with Rivera for the position.

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Ranking Commanders’ top offensive coordinator options

Ranking the current options for Washington’s next offensive coordinator.

The dust appears to have settled on the Washington Commanders and their search for an offensive coordinator. Head coach Ron Rivera made his rounds at Radio Row during Super Bowl week last week and envisioned his search for an offensive coordinator wrapping up soon.

The Commanders fired Scott Turner on Jan. 10 and have interviewed seven known candidates since that time. Washington waited until after the Super Bowl to interview Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator, something Rivera openly acknowledged. While Washington has reached out for an interview with Bieniemy, it’s unknown when that interview will take place.

One of the candidates, Charles London, took a new job with the Titans. Two of the other candidates, Eric Studesville and Thomas Brown, don’t appear to be top contenders. That leaves us with four remaining options.

We rank each of those options for Washington. We consider cost, style of offense and fan reaction in our rankings.

Commanders, Rivera, new offensive coordinator NEED to win next year

Ron Rivera needs to hire the offensive coordinator who can help him win — not necessarily who he is most comfortable with.

Ron Rivera and the Commanders are searching for their next offensive coordinator, and one name has yet to generate much discussion.

The reason might be play-calling experience. Or it might be something as simple as why would an offensive coordinator leave Patrick Mahomes for another OC job.

Calling the plays in the NFL? Don’t all offensive coordinators do this today? Not if the head coach wants to be calling the plays. Eric Bienemy has been in Kansas City now for ten years. For the first five, he coached running backs, and for the last five, he has been the offensive coordinator, but it remains Reid who calls the plays.

Apparently, the play calling of OC Scott Turner was upsetting enough to Coach Ron that Turner was sent packing after his three years under Rivera.

Play-calling is the most criticized aspect of NFL coaching.
Every fan knows the coordinator should not have called that play that didn’t work well. Actually, what most of us confuse is play-calling with execution.

The Commanders run it up the middle on 4th & 1, “Everyone knew they were going to run it up the middle! They should have out-smarted the defense and pitched it wide!”

Yet, when Washington pitched wide on a 4th & 1 early against Cleveland, “What are you doing, pitching wide when you need only one yard!? You should have sent Brian Robinson up the middle to pick up the one yard!”

Of course, those fans were completely forgetting that the interior line had trouble getting a surge in the previous game in San Francisco, missing on three plays needing a single yard.

Pat Shurmur?
Ken Zampese?
Charles London?
Eric Studesville?
Thomas Brown?
Greg Roman?

Who knows?

I certainly don’t.

One thing we do know. Coach Ron has won 7, 7 and 8 games in his three seasons in Washington. He is well aware he NEEDS to win next year.

Consequently, won’t Rivera thus hire whom he feels will best help him get over the hump and into the playoffs in 2023?

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Commanders’ OC tracker: Check here for the latest news in the offensive coordinator search

Tracking each candidate in Washington’s search for an offensive coordinator.

The Washington Commanders fired offensive coordinator Scott Turner two days after the 2022 regular season ended after three seasons with the team.

The writing was on the wall for Turner after a Washington Post story late in the season featured at least 10 Washington players unhappy with the offense. Some players felt Turner would often overthink things and had issues with play-calling.

The criticism of Turner was fair. However, what’s also important to note is that Washington started eight quarterbacks in Turner’s three years as offensive coordinator. It was certainly time for a change, but not everything was Turner’s fault.

Who replaces Turner?

Washington’s search will feature plenty of veteran coaches with an emphasis on running the football. Remember general manager Martin Mayhew’s odd comments after the season about wanting a run/pass ratio of two-to-one?

Here’s our offensive coordinator tracker, with news and/or notes on each confirmed or rumored candidate.