We spent part of the morning listening to former Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren’s one-hour visit on Friday with Dave “Softy” Mahler of KJR radio in Seattle, and Holmgren dropped several nuggets beyond indicating that he’d “absolutely” be interested in talking to the Seahawks about a return.
Though he has yet to close the door on coaching, Holmgren seems to be targeting a front-office job. Indeed, the prevailing rumor is that Holmgren hopes to occupy a spot at the top of the Seattle organization, with a G.M. and a head coach working under him.
“I don’t want it to be a ceremonial type thing,” Holmgren said. “I don’t want to be there with a coat and tie, heaven forbid, and then go over and sit at Barnes & Noble and read books all afternoon. . . . I want to be very active in the organization. Now to what level? That’s an interesting question. . . .
“It kind of boils down to how the owner and how the organization wants to set it up. And that’s what I’m going to be listening to. I don’t have to make every decision in the world but I absolutely have a vision and have an idea on how an organization should be built, and I wouldn’t have much fun doing it any other way. I think I would have to be assured that I would have a fair amount of input in the major decisions.”
As further evidence that Holmgren is eyeballing opportunities above the coaching level, he said that one of his daughters spent time over the summer putting together comprehensive information regarding the organizational structure of each NFL team.
Holmgren also seemed to indicate that Seahawks coach Jim Mora wouldn’t be dumped after only one year on the job, if Holmgren were to end up with the keys to the franchise. But Holmgren seemed to be careful to leave the door open to can a coach after only one season, possibly in the event that he ends up in Cleveland.
“I never thought [firing a coach after one year] was fair, as a coach,” Holmgren said. “As a management person, you might have to make . . . a very difficult decision that way, if in your opinion you think it’s absolutely going in the wrong direction. But those situations are really few and far between.”
Holmgren also talked about the importance of a G.M. and a coach working together, explaining that former Packers G.M. Ron Wolf said he would provide Holmgren (who spent seven years in Green Bay before ten in Seattle) only with players he would use. It’s hard not to wonder whether Holmgren also was implicitly making a point regarding his relationship with former Seahawks G.M. Tim Ruskell.
But Holmgren’s relationship with Ruskell is no longer relevant, and now Holmgren seems to have his sights set on the job from which Ruskell recently resigned.
