New York Giants head coach Pat Shurmur has an extremely different take on his team's locker room environment compared to predecessor Tom Coughlin.
The 54-year-old former Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator, entering his second year in charge of the Giants, has allowed a ping-pong table and “stand-up Connect 4” in the locker room, per NorthJersey's Art Stapleton.
Interesting dynamic inside #Giants locker room today, our first time in there since last season:
Ping pong table. Stand-up Connect 4. Practice squad again intermingled throughout, not excluded to corner of one row as in pre-Shurmur years.
— Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) September 2, 2019
Stapleton also adds that Giants players are participating in a ping-pong tournament, which was started during the preseason with at least wide receivers Sterling Shepard and Golden Tate joining in the fun. Tate, 31, was signed in the offseason by the Giants but is facing a four-game suspension by the NFL for violating its performance-enhancing substances policy.
Article Continues BelowThe “assumption” is the tournament is a go when Tate returns from the suspension.
The affable and light-hearted locker room, also featuring practice squad members “intermingled” as opposed to quarantined in years past, is a drastic change from how former head coach Tom Coughlin ran the Giants. Coughlin, who left the franchise after the 2015 season, was known as a disciplinary before eventually lightening up in later years with the Giants. Coughlin led New York to two Super Bowl victories—both over the New England Patriots—in 2007-08 and 2011-12. He was once also famous for fining players who didn't arrive early enough to the posted times of meetings.
Shurmur joined the Giants last season, with a dismal 5-11 record to show for his initial foray leading the storied NFL franchise. He replaced Ben McAdoo—Coughlin's successor—who was fired after a doomed one-plus season tenure at head coach. It appears, though, the culture is changing—for better or worse—for the Giants.