Holmgren still undecided
KIRKLAND, Wash. – It only felt like a retirement.
Mike Holmgren looked nervous. He leaned forward and pushed his hands into the armrest of his chair. A half-dozen photographers jostled for position around him. They flashed at each of the Seahawks coach’s expressions.
There were smiles. Deadpan stares. And, when reminded how much Seattle wants him to stay, there was obvious emotion in reddened eyes and pressed lips.
“I’m kind of getting the feeling you guys are moving me toward the door here,” the 59-year-old Holmgren said Tuesday, chuckling during his annual season-ending news conference, which offered more hints that the most successful coach in Seahawks history may retire after 16 seasons.
Seattle will find out soon. Holmgren said he could decide “perhaps” by next week, after he spends a few days talking with his wife, Kathy, at their home in Arizona.
“We’re going to bang around some stuff and talk about the future. We have our lists (of pros and cons) made up,” he said, adding he is or soon will be seeking the advice of Joe Gibbs, Bill Cowher, Bill Parcells and Tony Dungy.
All have recently retired from coaching or, in Dungy’s case with Indianapolis, is considering it.
Holmgren was speaking three days after Seattle’s fifth consecutive postseason appearance ended with a 42-20 loss to Green Bay in the NFC divisional playoffs. He sees three options for next season: retirement, which he’s contemplating for the third consecutive off-season; completion of the final year of the two-year contract he signed soon after the Seahawks’ loss in the Super Bowl two years ago; or what he prefers over option two, something he called “longer, larger” – a new extension to stay in Seattle.
Holmgren’s record with Green Bay and Seattle, where he arrived in 1999, is 170-110, one win behind Gibbs for 10th in NFL history. Holmgren is 86-68 in nine seasons with Seattle. He passed Chuck Knox this season for most wins by a Seattle coach.
Seattle won its fourth consecutive NFC West title in 2007 and will return the core of its team next season. Five of the Seahawks’ six division titles have come with Holmgren.
Yet Holmgren said maybe, after seven years and two Super Bowls in Green Bay and another Super Bowl appearance in Seattle, it’s time for someone else.
The nearest and most qualified someone else is former Atlanta Falcons coach Jim Mora, now a Seahawks assistant. Mora was due to leave today for Washington to interview for the head job with the Redskins.
Holmgren acknowledged all his assistant coaches are “in a little limbo,” too.
“In fairness to everybody, there’s also a time where maybe it’s time for someone else to get you over the hump,” Holmgren said of the Seahawks, who are without a league title since their inception in 1976.
“You start thinking, ‘Are they still listening to me? Am I still as effective as I once was?’ “
It’s the most open he’s been in discussing retirement, which he has hinted for months he may do this year.
“It’s not going to be a long thing. Just bear with me a little bit,” he said.
Notes
Holmgren also announced leading receiver Deion Branch will have knee surgery that’s likely to keep him out past next season’s opener. … Shaun Alexander, the league MVP two seasons ago who just finished his least productive season as a starter, will have surgery to repair the left wrist he broke in the season opener. … All-Pro left tackle Walter Jones is likely to have surgery on his chronically sore left shoulder for the second straight off-season.