Now the hard part for Holmgren: Stay or go?

Published 11:35 pm Tuesday, January 15, 2008

KIRKLAND — Mike Holmgren is torn.

He’s not being melodramatic when he says he has no idea if he’ll come back as the Seahawks’ head coach next season. He really doesn’t know.

That much was obvious Tuesday, when he held his end-of-the-year press conference, three days after the Seahawks’ disappointing finale at Green Bay.

Holmgren was his usual frank and honest self, only more so. He was unusually introspective, as though he was verbally mulling “the issues,” just to hear how they’d sound.

His nerves still raw from having just completed his 22nd season as an NFL head coach, Holmgren readily addressed the tough questions, with little prompting from a captivated media: How much does he have left? Is he still the innovative offensive mind for which others give him credit? Would the organization be better off if he left?

“You think that maybe it’s time for someone else to try and get them over the hump,” Holmgren said. “We tried like crazy. We went to the Super Bowl once. We have a good football team. We’re in the playoffs. Those are all good things.

“But you start questioning that. You start thinking, ‘Are they still listening to me? Am I still as effective as I once was?’ That kind of stuff. That’s what happens.”

Holmgren could stay and fulfill the last year of his contract. He could retire. He could negotiate a contract extension beyond 2008-09. Or he could explore other options, such as latching on to a different team as a general manager, something he admits his ego tells him he should try again.

The last is always possible. One of the reasons Holmgren joined the Seahawks in 1999 was that he would be both coach and general manager. The results were rocky, however, and he agreed in 2002 to relinquish the GM job and remain coach.

The desire to manage, to construct a team and build a dynasty, still burns inside Holmgren, even though he knows it would be difficult to give up coaching.

“I’ve never been off the field,” he said. “I’ve always been on the field. So if I had a job that wasn’t on the field, I don’t know. Maybe I’d come running down, yelling at the officials.”

Fortunately for him, Holmgren’s future is largely his decision. None of the suits upstairs are dying to kick him out the door. And that’s saying a lot for an NFL coach who just completed his ninth year with the same team.

If Holmgren stays, he will earn $9 million under his current contract. He is believed to be the NFL’s highest paid coach.

But Holmgren coaches — and coaches this team — for more reasons than the paychecks.

He feels a kinship with his players, as much as an NFL coach possibly can. He likes their professionalism, their drive and their dedication. He likes the camaraderie he has with his assistants. A former high school history teacher, he loves the teaching aspect of practice.

For every reason Holmgren comes up with to stay in coaching, there’s one that gives him reason to explore his next life. The losses stick with him longer. Training camp is a grind. The season is exhausting and time-consuming.

“I remember talking to coaches in the league who have gone through this,” Holmgren said. “When they made the decision (to quit), they just could not imagine themselves going through another training camp, eating in the dorm and doing that kind of stuff. It wasn’t the football, because we’ll love football forever. It’s all the other stuff.”

Most reasons, though, involve family.

Although Holmgren and his wife of 35 years, Kathy, are empty-nesters, the family is close: four grown daughters and four grandchildren mean life after football will be busy and grand.

Any notion that Holmgren’s life begins and ends with football ended when Kathy was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001, a period Holmgren said was “one of the most horrible times in my life.” Kathy has been cancer-free for nearly four years.

Perspective is not a problem with Mike Holmgren.

The Holmgrens are tight. Even during the season, they start their day by exercising at home, followed by words of prayer and devotion. They sing hymns together.

So it is with Kathy that Holmgren will decide his future. They will spend some days in Arizona to decompress from the season. Each will bring a list of discussion topics. They will speak honestly and frankly.

The decision, as mutual between husband and wife as one can imagine, will be made by next week.

“I trust her a lot,” Holmgren said. “She knows me better than anybody. I feel good, but there’s a lot that goes into a decision like this.”

Mike Holmgren loves what he does. Once he leaves the game, he’ll dive into his next life and love it as much as he loves coaching.

He knows it.

That’s why he’s torn.

Sports columnist John Sleeper: sleeper@heraldnet.com. To reach Sleeper’s blog, “Dangling Participles,” go to cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/danglingparticiples.