Holmgren eager to discuss Seahawks return
When Mike Holmgren left Seattle at the end of last season, he did so with the knowledge that he would return to the league in a management capacity relatively soon. His former employer seemed to be out of the question, with general manager Tim Ruskell maintaining the two positions Holmgren would want to fill.
But when Ruskell was forced from his office with the Seahawks on Thursday, both the general manager job and the team president job opened up, giving Holmgren a perfect opportunity to make a return to the team he built into a championship caliber club from 1999 to 2008.
Holmgren expressed a sincere interest in taking over as the general manager with Seattle during an interview with KJR AM in Arizona earlier today.
“Absolutely, I would like to talk to them. 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. 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?”
– Former Seattle head coach Mike Holmgren
Holmgren has also been mentioned as a possible candidate in Buffalo and Cleveland, although it’s difficult to imagine that either team would be appealing to him, given the distance from his family’s home and a lack of talent already in place. The job in Seattle obviously is not without its own challenges, but given Holmgren’s extensive experience with the team, his transition back into the daily workings would likely be relatively easy.
For their part, the Seahawks have yet to indicate that Holmgren would even be considered as a potential replacement for Ruskell, choosing to move forward in the search by hiring a firm that specializes in finding executives for various organizations. That move would seem to show that Seattle is interested in bringing in a fresh face to run the team, but it will be hard to ignore the impact that hiring Holmgren would have on both the team and the city, as he is a known quantity that brought the Seahawks to their greatest triumph to date with a Super Bowl run in 2005.
As always, we’ll keep you posted when more information becomes available.
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