John Mara Acknowledges Giants' Failures Start at the Top

So why was Pat Shurmur the only one to get the axe? Mara explained his decision just hours after Shurmur was relieved of his duties.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

There’s an old belief saying that one wins as a team and loses as a team.

Unfortunately, when it comes to making changes higher up the food chain, that’s often not practical.

Such is the case with the Giants, who on Monday fired head coach Pat Shurmur after only two seasons on the job. Shurmur was informed of his fate about an hour after he arrived for work Monday but was allowed to meet with his now-former players at an 11 a.m. team meeting before gathering his belongings and exiting the Quest Diagnostics Training Center through the players and coaches entrance.

Meanwhile, those he leaves behind that are above his pay grade—general manager Dave Gettleman—remains, having been given a somewhat vote of confidence by team ownership John Mara and Steve Tisch, both of whom arrived at the conclusion that it’s too premature to pull the plug on Gettleman after he implemented numerous changes into how the team evaluates personnel and runs the football operations.

And speaking of Mara and Tisch, they, as the two owners of the franchise, are obviously not going anywhere, though Mara was perfectly willing to embrace ownership’s role in what has become a fiasco of gigantic proportions over the last several years.

"I think it all starts at the top," Mara said. "So yes, you can criticize me all you want. It would be warranted. Because it all starts at the top. The success, the failures of the past eight years have been pretty miserable. So I'll accept my share of the blame."

Watch: Giants Chairman Steve Tisch denies there was friction between him and business partner John Mara regarding the organization's latest changes.

In explaining why they cut Shurmur loose but decided to retain Gettleman, who assembled the roster, Mara acknowledged that Gettleman had some hits and misses regarding personnel, but he also revamped the way the team has done business.

“He implemented so many changes within our organization, we just felt like at this stage to pull the plug on all of that would not be the wise thing to do,” Mara said. “I’m excited about what I see in the future for this team because of the young players we have, because of the changes that we’re making.”

And Shurmur?

“With Pat, it ends up being as much a gut instinct as anything else. I just felt like we weren’t winning enough games, we weren’t winning the games that we should have won, and we just need to go in a different direction.”

With the Giants having made their decision, all eyes will be on Gettleman this year and the ownership, who for the third time in the last five years will be looking for a new head coach, a press Mara said he and Gettleman will spearhead but which Tisch will also be involved.

Then there is also the likelihood of Tisch having more of a boot on the ground presence at the team’s New Jersey headquarters that would exceed the multiple conversations per week he said he has with Mara.

“I would like to be more involved, I will become more involved. So, going forward in 2020, the day after tomorrow,” he said.

As in having more of a presence?

“Yes, I will be here more physically. But the opportunities that John and I spend with each other in the same building, or the same stadium, or the same locker room will increase,” Tisch said.

"We understand how frustrated our fans are. They expect more from us and we expect more from ourselves," Tisch added. "Our focus now is on developing and improving our football team so that our fans can enjoy the winning team they expect and deserve.”