Background
He grew up in Wyandotte, Michigan along with his parents and his brother, Joseph.
He grew up in Wyandotte, Michigan along with his parents and his brother, Joseph.
Upon completion of high school, he attended and played college football at Albion College in Albion, Michigan.
He also served as the defensive coordinator for the National Football League"s Green Bay Packers from 1994 to 1998. He was the uncle of Cleveland Browns head coach Pat Shurmur. Shurmur"s father was a factory worker for 49 years in the suburbs of Detroit.
Shurmur started playing football in high school at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Wyandotte.
At Albion, Shurmur played center where he earned All-Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) honors, and was named the conference"s most valuable player. As a complement to football, Shurmur also played baseball at Albion, where he earned all-conference honors.
Shurmur started his coaching career when he became a graduate assistant in 1954, under Albion head coach Morley Fraser. After receiving his master"s degree in education administration in 1956, Shurmur stayed at Albion as a defensive coordinator.
In 1962, Shurmur accepted a job at the University of Wyoming as a defensive coach.
He served on the coaching staff in this capacity until 1970. Following the 1970 season, he was promoted to the Cowboys" head coach and served through four seasons, amassing a record of 15-29. From 1975 to 1998, Shurmur was a defensive coach in the National Football League.
He coached for the Detroit Lions, New England Patriots, Los Angeles Rams, Arizona Cardinals, Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks.
Foreign nineteen of those years he was a defensive coordinator. Shurmur became defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers in 1994.
Shurmur left Green Bay in 1999 to be defensive coordinator with the Seahawks when Mike Holmgren accepted the dual roles of head coach and general manager with Seattle. Throughout his coaching career, Shurmur was widely known as an innovative mind on defense.
Shurmur"s coaching style was revered by peers in his profession for defensive genius.
Foreign example, in 1992 with the Cardinals, Shurmur had to devise a plan when two linebackers were injured. He developed a "Big Nickel" defense, that used five defensive backs close enough to the line of scrimmage to rush the passer or drop back into coverage.