Mike Holmgren

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Mike Holmgren
Date of birth	June 15, 1948 (1948-06-15) (age 59)
Place of birth	San Francisco, California
Position(s)	Head Coach Executive VP of Football Operations Offensive coordinator
College	USC
NFL Draft	1970 / Round 8/ Pick 201
Career Highlights
Career Record	157-99-0 (Regular Season) 13-11 (Postseason) 170-110-0 (Overall)
Super Bowl       Wins	1996 Super Bowl XXXI
Championships       Won	2005 NFC Championship 1997 NFC Championship 1996 NFC Championship
Coaching Stats	Pro Football Reference
Coaching Stats	DatabaseFootball
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
1971 1972-1974 1975-1980 1981 1982-1985 1986-1988 1989-1991 1992-1998 1999-present	Lincoln High School (offensive coordinator) Sacred Heart High School (offensive coordinator) Oak Grove High School (assistant coach) San Francisco State University (offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach) Brigham Young University (quarterbacks coach) San Francisco 49ers (quarterbacks coach) San Francisco 49ers (offensive coordinator) Green Bay Packers (head coach) Seattle Seahawks (head coach)

Michael George Holmgren (born June 15, 1948 in San Francisco, California) is the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League. Prior to being named the sixth coach of the Seahawks in January, 1999, Holmgren coached football at the high school, collegiate, and professional level, most notably as head coach of the Green Bay Packers, whom he led to a championship when the Packers won Super Bowl XXXI. One of Holmgren's claims to fame is the success he has experienced molding future Hall of Fame quarterbacks such as Joe Montana, Steve Young and Brett Favre during his tenures in San Francisco and Green Bay. During that time the Green Bay Packers were a consistent winner and Holmgren became known as one of the best coaches in the NFL. Under Holmgren's leadership and play calling, the Seahawks have become an annual playoff team and went to the franchise's first Super Bowl in 2005.

Holmgren and his wife, Kathy, have four daughters –- twins Calla and Jenny (9/27/73), Emily (1/24/77), and Gretchen (7/14/81), and four granddaughters, Emma, Emerson, Mary and Isabell.

[edit] Career as a player

Holmgren started out as a tight end before becoming a standout quarterback at San Francisco's Lincoln High School, where he was named "Prep Athlete of the Year" in 1965 and graduated in 1966. He continued his playing career as a quarterback at University of Southern California from 1966-69. As a sophomore he was on USC's national championship team of 1967, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1970. He played behind starter Steve Young (not to be confused with BYU's Steve Young) in 1967-68, and a knee injury put him behind sophomore Jimmy Jones in 1969. Although a back-up, Holmgren was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the eighth round (201st overall) of the 1970 NFL draft and went to camp with both the Cardinals and the New York Jets that year.

[edit] Career as a coach

[edit] High school

Holmgren's coaching career began in 1971 at his alma mater Lincoln High School in San Francisco, where he also taught history. One year later, he moved to San Francisco's Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory as a teacher and assistant coach. He also coached at Oak Grove High School[1] in San Jose, California, from 1975 to 1980.

[edit] College

In 1981 Holmgren became the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at San Francisco State.

From 1982 to 1985, Holmgren was the quarterbacks coach at Brigham Young University under Lavell Edwards. During his four-year tenure at BYU, Holmgren (who is not a Mormon) not only helped coach the team's potent offense to a national championship in 1984, but in that period mentored and developed two of BYU's future NFL quarterbacks: Steve Young, and Robbie Bosco; and one future NFL head coach, Andy Reid.

Robbie Bosco would make it to Green Bay several years before Mike Holmgren, but Holmgren's eventual appointment as Packers head coach would bring him back into contact with Andy Reid and Steve Young.

Under Mike Holmgren, BYU quarterback Robbie Bosco led the Cougars to a national championship in 1984, finished third in Heisman Trophy balloting and was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1985. Bosco's NFL career was cut short by an arm injury, and he returned to BYU as a quarterbacks coach.

In 1987 Holmgren would be quarterbacks coach with the San Francisco 49ers when the team traded its 2nd and 4th round draft picks to Tampa Bay for Steve Young, who by that time was considered to be an NFL bust. As a 49er, Steve Young was twice named NFL MVP in 1992 and 1994, Super Bowl XXIX MVP and inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005 (Though Young's MVP seasons came under offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan, not Holmgren).

In addition to mentoring quarterbacks at BYU, Holmgren also worked with Andy Reid, at the time a Graduate Assistant. Reid went on to become an offensive line coach at Holmgren's previous school, San Francisco State and would later re-join Mike Holmgren as Offensive Assistant Coach at Green Bay in 1992, quarterbacks coach and assistant coach in 1998 then become Head Coach of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999.

One year prior to the beginning of Mike Holmgren's tenure as BYU quarterbacks coach, BYU quarterback Jim McMahon had been drafted by the Chicago Bears after his stellar performances in 1980 and '81. He led the Bears to victory in Super Bowl XX vs New England then played for San Diego, Philadelphia, Minnesota and Arizona.

In 1995-96 McMahon and Mike Holmgren would meet in Green Bay. For his antics, McMahon was somewhat unpopular within the NFL, but Holmgren signed McMahon as a back-up quarterback to help mentor Brett Favre who led the Packers to victory in 1996 Super Bowl XXXI.

[edit] National Football League

[edit] Assistant Coach

[edit] San Francisco 49ers, 1986-1991

Holmgren began his NFL coaching career as an assistant coach of the San Francisco 49ers from 1986 to 1991. He coached the 49ers’ quarterbacks from 1986-1988 under head coach Bill Walsh, working with Joe Montana and Steve Young, who he also coached at BYU. When George Seifert took over as head coach, Holmgren became the team's offensive coordinator and served from 1989 to 1991. During his tenure with San Francisco, the 49ers posted a 71-23-1 (74.7%) regular season record to reach the postseason each year except 1991, and won Super Bowl XXIII over the Cincinnati Bengals and Super Bowl XXIV over the Denver Broncos. As offensive coordinator in 1989, Holmgren's 49er offense was ranked number one in the NFL. His years with the 49ers have led to later success mentoring other young assistants and Holmgren is one of the larger branches of the Bill Walsh coaching tree.

[edit] Head Coach

[edit] Green Bay Packers, 1992-1998

Holmgren was head coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1992 to 1998, which became one of the most successful coaching stints in NFL history. As head coach of the Packers, Holmgren posted a 75-37-0 (67.0%) regular-season record, a 9-5 (64.3%) postseason mark, and two Super Bowl appearances, including a 35-21 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI. By winning at least one game in five consecutive postseasons (1993-1997) Holmgren joined John Madden (1973-1977) as the only coaches in league history to accomplish the feat. Holmgren's Packers posted an NFL-best 48-16 (75.0%) record, finished first in the NFC Central Division three times, second once, and set a 7-3 mark in the playoffs between 1995 and 1998. By taking the Packers to six consecutive postseasons (1993-1998), Holmgren set a franchise record with a team that had had just two winning seasons in the 19 years before he was hired.

Many of Holmgren's 1992 assistant coaches, including Andy Reid, Steve Mariucci, Dick Jauron, Ray Rhodes and Jon Gruden, would go on to head coaching careers in the NFL. Marty Mornhinweg, an assistant hired later in Holmgren's tenure at Green Bay, also became an NFL head coach, but now is the offensive coordinator under Andy Reid in Philadelphia.

[edit] Seattle Seahawks, 1999-Present

Mike Holmgren resigned from the Green Bay Packers after the 1998 season to accept an eight year head coach contract offered by the Seattle Seahawks. Originally, Holmgren was the Executive Vice President/General Manager and Head Coach of the Seahawks. Following the 2002 season, Holmgren relinquished his duties as general manager to focus exclusively on coaching.

Holmgren took the Seahawks to their first postseason since 1988 during his first season with the club in 1999, breaking a 10-year playoff drought. Holmgren has posted a 72-56 (56.3%) regular-season record and a 3-4 (42.9%) postseason record, including an AFC West Division title (1999), one NFC Wildcard berth (2003), four consecutive NFC West Division titles (2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007), an NFC championship (2005), and the Seahawks' first-ever berth in a Super Bowl.

Holmgren's (and the Seahawks') best season to date was 2005. The team posted the best regular-season 13-3 (81.3%) record in franchise history, set a team record 11 consecutive wins, and won their first playoff game since 1984. Holmgren also molded former Green Bay backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck into a Pro Bowl and Super Bowl quarterback in the 2005 NFL season (much as he did with Favre in the 90s), and coached Shaun Alexander to the NFL's MVP, a 2005 rushing title, and an NFL record 28 touchdowns in a single season.

With the 2005 NFC Championship win, Mike Holmgren became the fifth member of a small coaching fraternity that has taken two different NFL teams to the Super Bowl, joining Bill Parcells, Dan Reeves, Don Shula, and Dick Vermeil. Had the Seahawks won Super Bowl XL, he would have become the first head coach in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with two different teams, but Seattle fell short, losing 21-10 to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

On January 22, 2008, Mike Holmgren announced he would serve out the remaining year of his contract and end his tenure as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks at the end of the 2008 NFL season^[1]. Jim L. Mora, the defensive backs coach, will succeed Holmgren upon his departure.

[edit] Head Coach record

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Seattle Seahawks coaches - Mike Holmgren
• Pro-Football-Reference.com statistics - Mike Holmgren
• 1970 NFL draft Mike Holmgren St. Louis Cardinals 8th round
• The Classroom History of Mr. Holmgren - The Seattle Times 05-Nov-2006, by Greg Bishop
• Native Son - Mike Holmgren - S.F. Chronicle - 04-Feb-2006, by Tom FitzGerald
• Mike Holmgren profile - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 29-Jan-2006
• College Football Data Warehouse.com - USC Trojans 1965-69 results