PENINSULA POLL BACKGROUNDER: Holmgren would like to talk return to Seahawks

  • By Gregg Bell AP Sports Writer
  • Tuesday, December 8, 2009 12:01am
  • Sports

By Gregg Bell AP Sports Writer

SEATTLE — Mike Holmgren wants to talk to the Seahawks about coming back.

Seattle’s former coach and one-time general manager said Friday during his semi-weekly radio show in Seattle that he’d like to talk to Seahawks owner Paul Allen and chief executive officer Tod Leiweke about becoming the team’s GM and perhaps president.

Those titles became vacant on Thursday when the Seahawks forced Tim Ruskell to resign weeks before his five-year contract was to end.

“Absolutely, I would like to talk to them,” Holmgren said on KJR AM from Arizona, where he has one of his homes.

The 61-year-old former Super Bowl-winning coach with Green Bay is the Seahawks’ longest-tenured and winningest coach. He spent 1999-08 remaking Seattle into an NFC champion during the 2005 season and a perennial playoff team until its fall the last two years.

Holmgren acknowledged it was a “weird” circumstance that finds him a candidate to return to the Seahawks one year after he took 2009 off to fulfill a promise he’d made to his wife and family, after his coaching contract with Seattle ended in January.

Cleveland and Buffalo are two other teams that have been linked to interest in Holmgren, who hasn’t decided whether he wants to come back as a coach or as an executive. Other teams could be angling for him soon, too.

None has the inherent advantages present in Seattle, where Holmgren still owns a home, where his family is now rooted — and where Holmgren still has experience with and detailed knowledge of the roster.

“I think I’ve made it pretty clear I’d like to go back to work after this season. I didn’t know where. This is a little bit of a surprising development in Seattle,” he said.

“But I’ve also said this, that the people and the team has to want you. The situation has to be right, the opening has to be right. And that’s why I’ve tried to keep an open mind, not get too emotional about it … This is not news: my family is there, I have a strong attachment to the city and my time there. But I also know things change. You never know. The organization has to feel you’re the right fit.

“If the fit is right, who knows?”

With a teary-eyed Ruskell seated to his left on Thursday, Leiweke was asked if Holmgren was a candidate to replace the architect of Seattle’s 8-19 record the last two seasons.

“I’m just not going to go there,” Leiweke said of Holmgren. “I’m just not going to talk about that today.”

Leiweke said he expects Jim Mora, who replaced Holmgren in January, is close to Ruskell and has three more years remaining on his contract, to remain Seattle’s coach.

The Seahawks have hired a national search firm to help them find a new GM. Holmgren thinks Leiweke, with his business acumen, is already fulfilling the traditional duties of an NFL team president.

Holmgren said one of his grown daughters did research on the organizational structure of each NFL team before this season. She prepared a book for him that he’s studied to learn which teams have the traditional separation of president, GM and coach and how many are like the Seahawks, which had Ruskell as both the president and GM.

Holmgren said as he talks to teams for a return in 2010 he will be keenly interested in “how the owner and organization wants to set it up … I’d have to have a fair about of input in the major decisions.”

Leiweke said the search to replace Ruskell has already started.

“I will tell you this, that there’s going to be a process,” Leiweke said. “We’re going to do a thorough audit of this football team and we’re going to be very, very careful going forward to ensure that we find just the right person to lead the organization.”

More in Sports

Sequim Gazette photo by Emily Matthiessen/ Port Scandalous Roller Derby league members pose for a group photo during a recent practice. Roller Derby athletes traditionally use special names when they play. Back row left to right: Big Papa, Lily Hammer, Skully, Small Fry, Sinna Buns, Steel MadNOLA, Summit Slayer and Austin Plowers. Kneeling: Elastigirl, Malice in Wonderland and Sarah Strange.
ROLLER DERBY: Port Scandalous Scandals, the tough little team that could

The roller derby team the Port Scandalous Scandals will host… Continue reading

For the first time in four years, Sequim and Port Angeles rivals competed against each other on the track in college. Sequim’s Riley Pyeatt, left, a 2022 state champion in the 800 and 4x400, and Port Angeles’ Lauren Larson, who finished second in the 800, second in the 3,200 and third in the 1,600 in the state in 2019, met at the Husky Indoor Track and Field Classic in Seattle this weekend. They both competed in the 1-mile run and both finished under five minutes. Pyeatt, who ran for Abilene Christian for a couple of years but now competes for Washington State, finished 57th with a time of 4:52.23, while Larson, who now runs for Boise State, was 75th in a time of 4:54.85.
COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD: Old rivals meet again and Port Townsend Crush

Above: For the first time in four years, Sequim and Port Angeles… Continue reading

Left, the Port Angeles boys 200 freestyle relay team came in second at the West Central District III championships this weekend. Clockwise from top left are Finn Thompson, Patrick Ross, Miles Van Denburg and Thomas Jones. At right, Port Angeles’ Grant Butterworth won the West Central District III diving championship this weekend. (Port Angeles Swim Team)
PREP DISTRICT SWIMMING: Port Angeles boys finish third

Grant Butterworth wins district diving title

The East Jefferson girls basketball team celebrates their district playoff win over Cascade Christian on Saturday in a game that the Rivals trailed by nine points in the fourth quarter. The win also assures the Rivals a winning season. (East Jefferson girls basketball)
PREP BASKETBALL RECAP: Peninsula teams prevail in must-win games

The Port Angeles boys, Forks boys and girls and East… Continue reading

Bailey Johnson, Forks basketball.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Bailey Johnson, Forks basketball

Forks’ Bailey Johnson is getting red-hot at the perfect time of the… Continue reading

The Port Angeles and Sequim gymnastics teams competed at the District 3 meet this weekend. From left are head coach Elizabeth DeFrang, Lillian Sutherland, Lexi Possinger, Denise Galvan, Amelie Martin (Sequim), Lucy Spelker (Sequim), Shavari Epps, Ryah Deleon, Mya Callie and assistant coach Laura Rooney.
GYMNASTICS: Port Angeles and Sequim will send two gymnasts to state

Two members of the Port Angeles/Sequim gymnastics team qualified to… Continue reading

The Presidents’ Day Basketball Youth Tournament was held this weekend in Port Angeles with 40 teams coming from as far away as Elma, Sedro-Woolley, Belfair and Forks. Boys and girls teams had players in grades four through eight. Here, KaLeah Quilt of the seventh-grade Port Angeles girls team dribbles up the court against Shorewood. Shorewood won 22-21 on a last-second shot. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
STANDALONE PHOTO: Presidents’ Day hoops in Port Angeles

The Presidents’ Day Basketball Youth Tournament was held this weekend in Port… Continue reading

Peninsula College's Ryana Moss battles in the paint against Olympic's Allie Greene (2). Moss and Greene were teammates on Neah Bay's state championship team in 2023. (Jay Cline/Peninsula College)
COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Peninsula women clinch playoff berth

Men win crucial game for postseason chances