BEREA, Ohio -- It's hard to get excited about the Browns naming Pat Shurmur as their new head coach.

Then again, they probably said that in Philadelphia when a quarterback coach named Andy Reid was hired. Or in Baltimore, when a special teams coach named John Harbaugh took over the Ravens.

Shurmur comes from St. Louis, where he was the offensive coordinator for a team whose unit ranked No. 26 in the NFL. The general consensus in the St. Louis media is Shurmur is a conservative play-caller married to the West Coast offense, but he did a good job with gifted rookie quarterback Sam Bradford.

In terms of total yards, Bradford had the best passing season of any rookie quarterback since Peyton Manning. The Rams generally played it safe with Bradford, lots of short passes -- his 5.95 yards per attempt ranked 30th in the NFL. By comparison, the Browns Colt McCoy was at 7.10 -- No. 16.

It can be pointed out that the Rams had the 26th-ranked offense playing against the 25th-ranked defensive schedule in the NFL. The Browns were 29th, but they faced the fourth-toughest schedule. So is this really an upgrade?

Before last season's 7-9 record, the Rams were 1-15, 2-14 and 3-13. They made the Browns almost look respectable. So it's fair to realize Shurmur at least won't be intimidated by any challenge that he faces in Cleveland as it was even worse in St. Louis when he was hired in 2009 and endured that 1-15 season.

I talked to some executives with the Ravens, who said Harbaugh was set to hire Shurmur as offensive coordinator a few years ago. Harbaugh's first choice was Cam Cameron, who had just been fired by Miami. Cameron considered taking a year off, and the Ravens were ready to offer the job to Shurmur -- but Cameron changed his mind.

So Shurmur was the runner-up.

Then the Rams hired him in 2009.

His best endorsement is being Donovan McNabb's quarterback coach from 1999-2008, along with the respect that he earned from Reid.

Like Reid, Sean Payton was a quarterback coach in Dallas before the Saints made him a head coach -- and he won a Super Bowl. Payton had been an offensive coordinator for the Giants in 2000-02.

What we really know when it comes to picking NFL head coaches is that we often don't know who will be a success. Of the 12 coaches who made the playoffs, four had been defensive coordinators, three were quarterback coaches, two were offensive coordinators, two had previously been head coaches and one was a special teams coach.

It's hard to imagine anyone set off fireworks when Mike Smith was hired to coach the Falcons, but they love him in Atlanta right now.

Most of them underwhelmed the fans when they were introduced as the next head coach of their respective teams.

Of the coaches interviewed by the Browns, the most intriguing (at least to me) was Mike Mularkey. He coached Buffalo to a 9-7 record in 2004, its last winning season. He was fired in 2005 after a 5-11 record.

He has been offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh (2000-02), Miami (2006) and Atlanta (2008-2010). When the Browns interviewed him, it appeared either he or they were not especially serious. For whatever reason, there was no connection.

Much is being made of the connection between Browns president Mike Holmgren and agent Bob LaMonte. He represents Holmgren, general manager Tom Heckert, and many of the coaches that Holmgren hired in Seattle before he came to Cleveland in 2010.

Yes, Shurmur is a LaMonte client. But he also worked with Heckert in Philadelphia, and let's hope that connection ruled far more than being on LaMonte's client list. Or the fact the Shurmur's uncle (Fritz) coached on Holmgren's staff in Green Bay.

It's a safe guess that football did rule as Shurmur runs Holmgren's style of offense. He comes from the same Andy Reid/Eagles football factory as Heckert. Of course, Reid also is connected to Holmgren.

So this won't be a philosophical shotgun football marriage as was the case with Holmgren and former coach Eric Mangini. Both men respected each other as people, but had extreme differences in how the game should be played.

Meanwhile, Shurmur and Holmgren should be able to work together to shape an offense that helps McCoy.

Would Shurmur have been my first pick for the Browns?

Probably not.

Does that make him a bad pick?

Who really knows?

But at this point, I'm willing to give him a fair chance as most of the decisions made by Holmgren/Heckert since taking over in 2010 have been good ones.