Pat Shurmur's tenure as Giants head coach came to an abrupt end on Monday morning when he was fired. But even though Shurmur is out, Dave Gettleman -- the architect of the team that under-performed under Shurmur -- will remain.
While announcing the firing of Shurmur, team president John Mara released a statement detailing the decision to move on.
"Steve (Tisch) and I have had many extensive discussions about the state of the Giants," Mara said. "This morning, we made the very difficult decision that it would be in the best interest of the franchise that we relieve Pat of his duties. The last three seasons have been extremely disappointing for the organization and our fans. Pat has been a successful and highly-respected NFL coach for 21 years and he is not solely responsible for our record. But we came to the conclusion it is best to have a fresh start with the coaching staff. We very much appreciate how much Pat has done for this franchise. He is a man of character and integrity and the team has conducted itself with pride and professionalism."
Mara added that the Giants will do everything in their power "to see that there is a rapid and substantial turnaround."
Tisch also touched on the frustration of the last few seasons and the impact that has had on the fans.
"We understand how frustrated our fans are. They expect more from us and we expect more from ourselves. Our focus now is on developing and improving our football team so that our fans can enjoy the winning team they expect and deserve."
As far as the search for the team's next head coach, Mara said it will be "extensive."
"We understand this a very big decision for our franchise," he explained. "We've had three losing years in a row and, quite frankly, we have lost some standing as an organization. When you have three losing years in a row as we have, you face a lot of criticism. A lot of it is deserved. It's up to us now to turn that around and get back to where I think we should be."
Regarding why Gettleman is the right GM to help lead the turnaround, Mara referred to the "strong nucleus" that has been put in place since Gettleman's arrival.
"Dave Gettleman is our general manager in 2020 and hopefully for many years after that," Mara said. "We believe he is the right person to lead us going forward. Dave has a long record of success. We think he's capable of putting a great team together and he's going to get that opportunity. To the extent we need to make changes in personnel or the way we do things, we're going to discuss that."
Speaking during a press conference on Monday afternoon, Mara echoed much of what was in the release issued earlier in the day, and said the Giants wanted to give Gettleman a chance to finish what he has started.
On the head coaching search, Mara said it will begin immediately but that the team would not comment on specific candidates.