The list of former Andy Reid assistants who have gone on to head coaching gigs has continued to grow this offseason. The first was when when former Reid assistant Ron Rivera was named head coach of the Carolina Panthers. Today, the tree grew a little larger when a true protege of Reid, Pat Shurmur, was hired as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Shurmur spent nine years as an assistant to Reid first as a quality control coach before working his way up to quarterbacks coach. Shurmur was then hired as an offensive coordinator by another former Reid assistant, Steve Spagnuolo, after Spags was hired as the head coach of the St. Louis Rams.
↵For the Browns, Shurmur would seems like a natural fit. Mike Holmgren, Andy Reid's mentor, and Tom Heckert, former Eagles GM, are running the show in Cleveland... so getting a guy that Heckert knows and who is well versed in Holmgren's preferred system makes sense for the Browns. The Browns are clearly trying to copy the Philadelphia model as they continue to stock up on former Eagle players, coaches and front office guys.
↵Shurmur has quite a job in front him that starts first and foremost with figuring out the Browns QB situation. Colt McCoy showed flashes as competence last season and Shurmur, who has been coaching QBs his whole career, will be tasked with developing McCoy into a franchise type QB.
↵So now the Andy Reid coaching tree looks like this... Pat Shurmur, Ron Rivera, Leslie Frasier, Steve Spagnuolo, John Harbaugh & Brad Childress.