Posted by: Chris Vannini on February 12, 2013

When Chip Kelly hired former Cleveland Browns head coach Pat Shurmur to be his offensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles, it surprised some.

Kelly's run-first spread option is pretty unique, and what Shurmur ran with the Browns wasn't even somewhat similar.

Shurmur joined WIP in Philadelphia and was asked about having a different offensive background from Kelly.

"What's important is that everbody wants to harness what we are as coaches," Shurmur said. "The fundamentals of what I learned in this business were from a west-coast philosophy, but I think, and the same could be said here Philadelphia for a lot of years ... you try to utilize the players that you have. You learn the foundations of how to coach offense, but it really is more homogeneous than you might think.

"I think folks really try to harness what you are and give it a label, and I think that's the part that was interesting when I visited with Coach Kelly was that, even though we came from what sounds to be very diverse backgrounds in terms of what we've done, I think philosophically we both believe it's important to score points and win football games.

"We had a common ground on how we practice the players, how we inspire them to perform. And I think that's the important part. Then, we were both of the opinon if let's sit in a room with a bunch of guys that have different experiences and let's decide on what's the best thing for our offense as we move forward. You'll hear Chip talk about it, the one answer that's not good is, 'We've always done it that way.' Regardless of how we do it, let's make sure it's the right way."

You can listen to Shurmur's interview by clicking here.

_______________

Chris Vannini is the lead writer for CoachingSearch.com and has covered Michigan State sports for The State News, The Oakland Press and MLive.com. He writes a weekly column for the Detroit Free Press on behalf of SB Nation. Vannini lives in Big Ten country, so his foot speed is far from SEC caliber, but his pulse on coaches is hard to match. Be sure to follow @CoachingBuzz on twitter and send your feedback to chris@coachingsearch.com