Mike Holmgren
Mike Holmgren
Michael George Holmgrenis a former American football coach and executive, most recently serving as president of the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. Holmgren began his NFL career as a quarterbacks' coach and later as an offensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers, where they won Super Bowl XXIII and XXIV. He served as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1992 to 1998, appearing in two Super Bowls, and of the Seattle Seahawks from 1999 to...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth15 June 1948
CitySan Francisco, CA
It can look a little chaotic on the sidelines, but if you have done things right ahead of time, you really are not surprised by much, Mike, for the next 60 minutes, we are not responsible for anything we say to each other.
That was very distasteful to me, to retaliate so to speak like that (against the Vikings). I do believe the commissioner should look into these kind of clauses. We work so hard on trying to gain labor peace and a new collective bargaining agreement and then we as clubs allow agents to get cute and circumvent it. On the playing field there are rules and there are unwritten rules about how the game should be played in the spirit and the fairness of it all. It doesn't make sense to me that we had to lose such a fine football player this way. I was surprised by the ruling.
That was very distasteful, our having to jump into something like that and retaliate, so to speak. I was very surprised that the special master came back with the ruling he did. It doesn't make any sense to me. But he did. And we lost a very fine football player.
Now that you mention it, I might take it easy. I haven't decided yet. I'm surprised (the staff) hasn't brought it up yet ... to get rid of me.
Be careful how you phrase that. I'm not surprised how he's playing and I didn't want to let him go. I wanted him to stay, but he was given a fabulous contract by Carolina and so he did what was best for he and his family.
I was afraid I was going to break furniture and throw the monitor out the window. It's just hard because we had our chances and we didn't capitalize.
I think we made a little mistake last year not throwing him in there sooner. He would have struggled a little bit, but when he did play, he was very good.
I think we have to wait on that. Let's just wait on that to make sure that what is written and what is said is correct.
I think that can be overstated just a little bit. If you have a very untalented guy who is a high-effort guy, you are going to lose every week. You like them like that, but the better player is going to win more games for you. The trick is finding those guys that are really fine football players and really don't think they are that great; they are always trying to get better.
I think it was necessary, and now in retrospect, I'm glad I did it.
It happens, because now you're down to one game, and anything can happen in any one game. But I think if you look over percentages over the last however many years, most of the times the guys that are playing at home have the advantage. So we're choosing to look at it that way.
I thanked him for allowing the coaches to build something. In such a volatile industry, you don't always get that.
I think the world of him and I think he is a really good football player. I set the bar very high for him. Anytime he falls short of that, fair or not fair, I will talk to him about it. He is a wonderful guy ... and he wants to do well. To go with his physical ability, all the things you have to do to be a great player, it should happen for him.
I said I was going to leave it up to him, but I have to pull rank. He's going upstairs.