RENTON, Wash. (AP) -Maybe Mike Holmgren’s biggest accomplishment through 17 years, 12 postseasons, three Super Bowls and more wins than any other active coach: He’s leaving on his terms.
With huge smiles, a waiting family and a new Harley, to boot.
“It’s allowed me to have closure,” a composed, jovial Holmgren said Tuesday in his final public goodbye after 10 years as the coach of the Seattle Seahawks, a day after meeting with successor Jim Mora. “For me, it’s been good. It’s been healthy.”
The 60-year-old Holmgren is taking a sabbatical from football in 2009. He’ll spend another week cleaning up tasks in Seattle, then go with wife Kathy to their home in Phoenix to ride the motorcycle he already had – plus the red, $40,000 model his players gave him as a surprise gift at practice last week.
years.
He wants to see how he feels about doing nothing for the first time since he was “a no-direction type of guy” just out of college at Southern California, working on a ship off Hawaii in 1970.
“Please believe me on this: I’m going into a big adventure here,” Holmgren said. “I’ve been doing something for 40 years. I’m going to be doing something else – or not doing anything. I’ve got to find out how this is going to work.
“I’m looking forward to this time. I need this time.”
The feel-good exit was far from a retirement.
Holmgren reiterated he’d like a second chance at being a general manager. He envies good friend Bill Parcells, whom he trails by nine victories for ninth on the league’s list, for the executive position Parcells has running the Miami Dolphins.
“Once you had the taste of the fine wine, it’s hard to get the ones you screw off the cap,” Holmgren said, chuckling.
Holmgren arrived a decade ago from Green Bay to be the coach and general manager and pull the Seahawks out of chronic mediocrity. He mostly succeeded, but not as a GM. Seattle relieved him of that role after the 2002 season.
l where I feel a little unfulfilled, only because I feel like I didn’t do a good enough job and I’d like another crack at it.
“Whether that happens or not, who knows? I might enjoy this time off just too much, you know, to get back into it.”
The Seahawks won four consecutive NFC West titles before an avalanche of injuries and ineptitude created a 4-12 mess this season, the worst of Holmgren’s career.
Seattle had four playoff appearances from its inception in 1976 through 1998. The Seahawks made the playoffs six times in Holmgren’s 10 years, including their only Super Bowl appearance when they lost to Pittsburgh to end the 2005 season.
“I think in the first press conference I said we were going to win the Super Bowl,” Holmgren said. “But everything else, I’ll feel pretty good about.”
The only time Holmgren got emotional was when he discussed meeting with Walter Jones and Matt Hasselbeck on Monday.
Jones, the nine-time Pro Bowl left tackle, was with Holmgren in Seattle since Day 1. Holmgren called him the best offensive player he ever coached, with Reggie White the best defender. Hasselbeck became the Seahawks’ starting quarterback after Holmgren acquired him from Green Bay in 2001.
it down on his bottom lip, looked to the floor and stopped speaking. He finally took a drink of water and moved on.
The feeling was mutual.
“He’s had a huge influence on everything we’ve done here for a long time. There’s going to be a major void there with him being gone,” said Hasselbeck, who became a three-time Pro Bowl passer and Super Bowl quarterback as part of Holmgren’s lineage at the position, which includes Brett Favre, Joe Montana and Steve Young.
“He’s taught me a lot of football, but he’s also taught me a lot about leadership and how to be a quarterback of a football team, which there’s no handbook for. All of us in this locker room would say we’ve learned a lot about just being a father or a husband, or what’s important.”
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