College Shurmur became a graduate assistant at age 22 in 1954, under Albion head coach Morley Fraser. After receiving his master's degree in education administration in 1956, he stayed at Albion as a defensive coordinator. In 1962, Shurmur moved to the
University of Wyoming as a defensive coach under first-year head coach
Lloyd Eaton, who was promoted following the departure of
Bob Devaney for
Nebraska. The Cowboys won three consecutive
WAC titles (
1966–
1968), which included a
Sugar Bowl appearance after the
1967 season. Following a season in
1970, Eaton resigned and Shurmur was promoted to he had a record over four seasons
NFL career From 1975 to 1999, Shurmur was a defensive coach in the
National Football League with six teams. He coached for the
Detroit Lions,
New England Patriots,
Los Angeles Rams,
Phoenix Cardinals,
Green Bay Packers, and
Seattle Seahawks. For nineteen of those years he was a defensive coordinator. Throughout his 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. For 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. Shurmur became defensive coordinator for Green Bay in
1994 under head coach
Mike Holmgren; in his third season with the team in
1996, the Packers won
Super Bowl XXXI over the
New England Patriots in January 1997. When Holmgren accepted the dual roles of head coach and general manager with Seattle in 1999, Shurmur went with him as defensive coordinator. That May, he was diagnosed with
esophageal and
liver cancer; he died at his Wisconsin home in late August, before ever coaching a game with ==Head coaching record==