Sports

<< Previous   of   Next >> Associated Press  (click to enlarge) Today could be an emotional day for Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren when he walks off Qwest Field following Seattle's game against the New York Jets.   ADVERTISEMENT   Holmgren's best, worst Four to remember … Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, who will be on the Qwest Field sideline for what will likely be the final time today, mentioned these as his four most memorable games at the stadium: Oct. 23, 2005: Seahawks 13, Cowboys 10 An afternoon’s worth of offensive frustration is all but forgotten after Jordan Babineaux intercepts a Drew Bledsoe pass with 12 seconds remaining. Josh Brown nails a 50-yard field goal to complete the improbable comeback. Jan. 14, 2006: Seahawks 20, Washington 10 After losing league MVP Shaun Alexander to a concussion early in the game, the Seahawks rally to record their first playoff win in 17 years. Jan. 22, 2006: Seahawks 34, Panthers 14 In what some people believe is the greatest sports event to ever occur in Seattle, the Seahawks dominate Carolina to win the NFC Championship game and advance to the first Super Bowl in franchise history. Jan. 6, 2007: Seahawks 21, Cowboys 20 Seattle wins yet another playoff game after Dallas quarterback Tony Romo drops the snap while holding for what looks to be the game-winning field goal. Romo picks up the loose ball and tries to scramble into the end zone, but Babineaux tackles him as time runs out to secure Seattle’s victory in a wild-card game. … and four to forget Holmgren didn’t mention these four games at Qwest Field: Sept. 15, 2002: Cardinals 24, Seahawks 13 In the first regular-season game ever played at the facility that was then known as Seahawks Stadium, Arizona running back Thomas Jones rambles for 173 yards and a touchdown. Jones is making a return trip as a member of the New York Jets today. Oct. 10, 2004: Rams 33, Seahawks 27 (OT) After storming out to a 27-10 lead early in the fourth quarter, the Seahawks give up 23 unanswered points — the most painful of which came on Shaun McDonald’s 52-yard touchdown reception in overtime. Dec. 6, 2004: Cowboys 43, Seahawks 39 Long before he joins the Seahawks as a 2008 free agent, rookie running back Julius Jones rushes for 198 yards and three touchdowns in a Monday Night Football appearance. The Cowboys score 14 points in the final 1:45, capped by Jones’s 17-yard, game-winning touchdown run with 32 seconds left. Jan. 8, 2005: Rams 27, Seahawks 20 Rival St. Louis wins at Qwest Field for the second time that season, this time in the playoffs. Seattle sees its furious comeback attempt fall short when Bobby Engram can’t corral a Matt Hasselbeck pass in the end zone in the waning seconds. Scott M. Johnson, Herald writer   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, December 21, 2008 So long, Mike Mike Holmgren will coach his last game inSeattle today as the head coach of the Seahawks. SEATTLE -- Mike Holmgren walked into his first head coaching job as a relative unknown: a lanky, unassuming 43-year-old former offensive coordinator who was being asked to bring the Green Bay Packers back to respectability. As Holmgren himself admitted last week, "No one knew who I was." When it came to Holmgren's arrival in Seattle seven years later, nothing could be further from the truth. When the limousine dropped off the $32 million man at the Seahawks' Kirkland practice complex in Jan. 1999, the eyes of the NFL were on the coach that was being asked to single-handedly save Seattle football. When he took the training camp practice field at Eastern Washington University that summer, Holmgren walked beneath a 100-foot-high likeness of himself that hung from a school's athletic complex. And when Holmgren led his Seahawks onto the field for that first season, the city of Seattle was told by an aggressive marketing campaign that it was "NOW time." Ten years later, having taken the franchise to unprecedented heights but also having gone through hardships that had rarely been a part of his career in Green Bay, Holmgren will be making what could be his final walk along the Qwest Field sideline this afternoon. "For what he's meant to this league and to this organization," quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said, "it's going to be a special day." Emotions might be high today -- and not just Holmgren's. "It'll definitely be kind of hard," defensive tackle Rocky Bernard said of Holmgren's farewell game. "Just the way he turned this organization around, it'll be kind of sad to see him go." During his time in Seattle, Holmgren has touched many lives, created many memories and won more games than any coach in franchise history. But there were plenty of lumps along the way, particularly early on in his career. The fact that Holmgren will likely get a long, heartfelt ovation this afternoon says a lot for how far he has come. With his 6-foot-5 frame and three Super Bowl rings -- one as head coach of the Packers and two more while serving as an assistant coach in San Francisco -- Holmgren arrived in Seattle with near legendary status but also with a confidence that some viewed as arrogance. A 6-10 record in Holmgren's second season with the team didn't help win over the fans. "I think my reputation when I was first here was that I had every single answer in the book," Holmgren admitted last week. "I don't know, maybe I portrayed that somehow." St. Louis Rams receiver Torry Holt recently painted Holmgren's outward persona with a more blunt brush. "A lot of people think he's (a jerk)," Holt said a couple weeks ago, using frank language while comparing Holmgren to a body part. "But I like his (jerk)-ness." Longtime Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle John Randle, who finished his career in Seattle, had a similar view of Holmgren from afar. "My first impression watching him was how he seemed very standoffish from the players," said Randle, whose Vikings teams battled against Holmgren's Packers teams for most of the 1990s. "He seemed like a guy you couldn't talk to, like a guy who always saw it one way and wouldn't look at things from the family perspective or the family-guy perspective." When Randle joined the Seahawks as a free agent in 2001, he quickly found out that Holmgren was, in Randle's words, "just the opposite" from what he thought. During Randle's first days as a Seahawk, friend and former Minnesota teammate Korey Stringer died of exhaustion while practicing at training camp. While Randle was stretching out for one of his first Seahawks workouts, he felt a large hand pat him on the back. It was Holmgren, telling Randle that he was sorry for the loss and that Randle was free to take some time off if he needed it. "That really opened my eyes," Randle said. "... At times, I found myself talking to him not only about football things but about life." As a football coach, Holmgren has made his reputation not only in strategy but also as a motivator. While offensive coordinator Gil Haskell calls him "a brilliant offensive coach," Holmgren's players often talk about his ability to inspire. "He should be a motivational speaker when he's done," said Bernard, who has played all seven of his NFL seasons under Holmgren. Of course, not all the pre-game and halftime speeches have been of the hugs-and-kisses variety. Last Sunday's game at St. Louis, for example, included a halftime dressing-down from the veteran coach, inspiring his team to a comeback win over the Rams. "There's no sugar coating with him," cornerback Marcus Trufant said. "He'll tell it the way it is. He expects the best out of you every time, and that's what he gets." Haskell, who has been a Holmgren assistant for 15 of the past 17 seasons, said that one of his boss' strengths has been his unique sense of his players' needs. "He has a great feel for the players," Haskell said, "when they're tired and how hard we have to push them. ... He was harder on the team when we were winning. He was so, so hard on them because he knew they were good." The winning came later. Holmgren's first few years in Seattle were more about shuffling players in and out of town and an impatient fan base that wondered why NOW time was taking so long. When the 2001 season got off to a slow start, some fans started calling for Holmgren's head. After the team went 7-9 in 2002, Seahawks team president Bob Whitsitt stripped him of his duties as general manager. But the end of that 2002 season, Haskell said, may have been the most important stretch of Holmgren's tenure. After a 4-9 start, Seattle rallied to win its last three games while the 27-year-old Hasselbeck began to emerge as the quarterback of the future. "I knew we had a good football team then," Haskell said. "I knew we did. The only thing I thought was that somebody was going to get this team before we went to a Super Bowl. And I would've been really (ticked) because we put it all in place. "If he would've gotten fired, somebody would have walked in and gotten a great football team." Holmgren stuck around and helped build that young team into a Super Bowl contender. After a 2004 season that saw the Seahawks finish 9-7 but fall short of the nation's Super Bowl expectations, Holmgren was so distraught that he considered, for the first time in his life, giving up. He soldiered on, eventually helping the Seahawks break their playoff curse and go to the first Super Bowl in franchise history. That 2005 season will be remembered as the finest in Holmgren's tenure. But it was not his only highlight with Seattle. He'll leave the franchise as the all-time leader in wins (89) and has taken the Seahawks to more postseason appearances (six) and division titles (five) than the team had before he arrived. He is the only coach in NFL history to win 75 or more games with two different franchises. "He's definitely earned the city's respect, with the amount of things he's done with the Seahawks," defensive back Jordan Babineaux said. "He helped rebuild the Seahawks into what we've been for the last couple of years." Until this season, what the Seahawks had become was winners. While Holmgren never got the Seahawks a Super Bowl trophy, he has lived up to the expectations. "I know what it was like when I first got here," said Hasselbeck, who will not play in today's game against the New York Jets because of a back injury. "He turned the franchise around. He made this team into a winner again and restored Seahawk pride again. That was important for our town." And today, Holmgren could be coaching in this town for the final time. "I wish it had more meaning in terms of the (playoff race)," wide receiver Bobby Engram said. "But to be a part of Coach's last game here, for what he's meant to this league and to this organization, it's going to be a special day." READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

1. Lawsuit blames county and weed inspector in man’s death 2. Cost of dispute falls on Monroe 3. Salish Sea: Huge body of water now has common name 4. Mind if I smoke? 5. Boeing says 787 fixes are done 6. Worker dies after falling 4 stories from Lynnwood building 7. FOOTBALL FORECAST: Battle of unbeatens highlights first week of state-playoff action 8. Granite Falls-area fire chief placed on paid leave 9. Everett dentist travels world to help 10. Benefit to help injured soldier, his family 2 - Top 10 Stories Most Talked about 3 - Top 10 Stories Most Emailed

• Memorial for Peggy Pritchard Olson set • Bazaar Fever • Hawks proud of historic season • Olson always put Edmonds first • Honoring student veterans • ‘Wheedle' author comes to Lynnwood bookshop • Mavs build early lead en route to easy win • Prep football games of the week (state playoffs) • Tears of laughter, tears of grief • Boeing will build, flight test and deliver 787s in South Carolina to spe ... • Snohomish County EDC promoting job growth in key industry clusters • $4 million grant to advance brain tumor research has Everett links • Providence medical center construction tops off its 12-story steel frame ... • Tulalip affordable housing project to be financed by KeyBank, Raymond Ja ... • Arlington's Lak of Ink has a growing following for Luke Kooyman's creati ... • Bank of the Northwest formed • Cascade Bank earns $1.6 million