New Rams OC: Pat Shurmur

The Rams have hired Philadelphia Eagles QB coach Pat Shurmur as their new offensive coordinator. His late uncle Fritz, of course, was the Rams' defensive coordinator at one time.

So there's the pedigree; how 'bout the resume?
Shurmur has been QB coach at Philadelphia for seven years, and according to their website, is "one of the rising stars in NFL coaching ranks". He and Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb all got to Philly at about the same time, so Shurmur not only deserves credit for having a hand in his development, but also in the development of backup A.J. Feeley, who stepped in for McNabb after an injury in 2002 and led the Eagles to the playoffs with a 4-1 record. The Eagles even got a second-round pick out of Feeley after trading him to Miami (where he flamed out), so that's the kind of value a coach like Shurmur brings to a franchise.

Also of high note, as Eagles TE coach from 1999-2001, Shurmur developed former Ram TE Chad Lewis into a 3-time Pro Bowler (2000, 2001, 2002).

Shurmur did not play in the NFL but played center at Michigan State. After graduating in '88, he worked for the Spartans as a TE/special teams/offensive line coach. Three Spartan TEs became NFL TEs in that time, and Derrick Mason set a school record returning kickoffs. Shurmur coached offensive line at Stanford in 1998, where his line led the conference in fewest sacks per pass attempt.

I'm not an overwhelming fan of the West Coast Offense, which appears to be coming to St. Louis with the Shurmur branch of the Andy Reid coaching tree. I also sincerely hope Shurmur is not infected by Reid's disdain for the run. How many times has Reid had McNabb drop back and chuck it on 3rd-and-1, even though he's got Brian Westbrook (or even Correll Buckhalter) running behind a good offensive line? But what I'll extrapolate from a Shurmur offense right now is that Marc Bulger will be protected better, get hit less, and by God, the Rams might end up with a tight end worth throwing to before very long. If Shurmur can make something out of Joe Klopfenstein, start carving that HoF bust now. (More likely, he makes something of Daniel Fells, who I just got even more enthused about.)

Needless to say, Al Saunders will not be back on the Rams' staff in 2009, though it wasn't really made official until after Steve Spagnuolo became head coach. Al will always be thought of well here as the WRs coach who helped launch the Greatest Show on Earth and a Super Bowl title, so we wish him well.

But may he take that stupid smoke route with him.