Full Holmgren transcript

The full transcript of Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren’s final press conference on Tuesday:

MIKE HOLMGREN:

(Welcome statement) Well, coming in here, I was trying to think of what we could possibly talk about that we haven’t talked about in the past few weeks.

(How about Matt Hasselbeck, will he play this week?) Yeah, Matt’s going to play. Write it down.

(Opening statement to the media) First of all, I want to thank you all. In 10 years, we’ve had our moments together, that’s for sure. I’ve always felt that this group of people treated me very fairly. And when we didn’t play well, that was stated; when we did, that was stated. I tried to understand, as best I could, the job you had to do. I think I learned a little bit in San Francisco, watching Coach (Bill) Walsh and Coach (George) Seifert, learning from them the difficulty in your job. And it helped me in my dealings with you. There are times, I think every coach, you must withhold certain things so the opponent doesn’t get an edge, things like that. But for the most part, I think I’ve been fair and honest with you as well. And I do appreciate the fact that you were very, very kind to my family. For the most part, it was all good. So thank you for that.

(On his greatest highlight as Seahawks coach) You have to talk about the Carolina championship game, when we won the game and had the opportunity to go to the Super Bowl. Had we won the Super Bowl, that would’ve been the highlight. But the experience of getting there, all the hard work it took, I had the same feeling at that time as I did in my earlier Super Bowl experiences, given the time to reflect just a little bit on the accomplishment – not just of the players and the coaches but of everyone in the organization. The smiles on people’s faces, knowing that people who’ve been here a lot longer than I’ve been here finally got a chance to do this, that makes a coach feel good. And sometimes, if you’re not careful, you get wrapped up in your own little world too much. I tried not to do that with the people in this building. They all contributed to the success we had. So I would say the Carolina championship game, among many special moments, was probably a highlight.

(On when it started to set in) You know, it started to set in yesterday (Monday). I went up and saw my good friend Cindy Kelley. She’s the person you see when you’re checking out, the checkout physical, and you sign the papers. See, no one knows what to do in that situation. So fortunately, she’s someone that really could help you. I started thinking. She took my insurance and my keys and my little file that I used to get into the building. What do I do? And she talked me through that. So the first time, yesterday, when I left her office, I was like: it’s getting close. Pretty soon, my little parking stall there, they’ll scratch that out. The real stuff starts to happen.

(On how hard it will be to watch the team on TV) My family, my daughters and my lovely wife, have affectionately called me a control freak at times. I suspect I’ll watch the team play, and I’ll be yelling like I do on the sidelines – but rooting like crazy. I still have a lot of emotion and a lot of things tied up with those players and the coaches. They’re like family. So I’ll watch and I’ll root. It’ll be hard, though, I suspect. That’s the whole thing behind this, to find out how I’ll react to some of these things.

(On the state of the team) Well, I told the players yesterday, and I told the staff — in separate meetings – that whatever happened this year, it shouldn’t happen again. It really shouldn’t happen again. No one will get injured like we got injured this year. It hadn’t happened to me in 25 years; it’s not going to happen again. I did tell the players this: if you think that was the only reason that our record was what it was, then you’re making a huge mistake. The injury thing was absolutely a factor, absolutely. But it wasn’t the only factor. I’ve always said that, to get to the Super Bowl and do those things, your best players have to have their best years. The guys that are pulling everybody else with them have to have their best years have to have their best years; the players look to them, the coaches rely on them. And that didn’t happen this year – for whatever reason. So the guys are going to be looking at that hard. But they’ll be good next year. There’s no question in my mind they’ll be good next year.

(On Monday’s exit interviews with players) Yeah, I didn’t talk to as many as I normally would. Normally, that little talk is a little bit about the season and a lot about what I expect them to do in the offseason and next year. And that’s not my spot anymore. So the guys that came up and talked to me – I talked to a number of players – they were teasing me about the motorcycle and what I was going to be doing. It was more a mutual thank you for the time we spent together. It was pretty neat.

(On whether he plans to do some TV commentary in the playoffs) No. No. I’m fighting this little cold I’ve had for about four months. And we have some family things planned this weekend. So I’m going to be around. It’s going to be a nice weekend, but I’m going to be around.

(On whether television is in his future) I don’t know. I don’t know. When I say, and please believe me on this: I’m going into a big adventure here. I’ve been doing something for 40 years, and now I’m going to be doing something else, or not doing anything. So I’ve got to learn. I’ve got to find out how that’s going to work.

(On what he likes about Jim Mora) A number of things. First of all, he’s very knowledgeable. He’s got a good base, (and) he’s been in the league a long time. He looks like he’s about 25 years old, and he fools you a little bit that way, but he’s been in the league a long time. He’s got great enthusiasm and he’s a great teacher. To me, when I’ve hired coaches over the years, those are things I look at first: Can he communicate with the players, is he a good teacher, does he have great enthusiasm? He has great work ethic. He loves this place. He has a history here. And I had a nice conversation with Jim yesterday. He was very nice about his experience with me here. We have different styles, and you guys know that. All coaches do. They have a way they do things. And it’ll be different that way, with the players. But he will absolutely be himself. There’s no conning; he will be himself. He was very complimentary to me in learning some patience and some things that maybe we would do differently. And he’s going to try. Like I said, he’s a good coach, he’ll hire a good staff, we’ve got good coaches here already that I trust some of them will be on his staff – I don’t know that, it’s his call – and we have a good nucleus of players. We just have to get a bunch of them healthy.

(On what changes he would make if he were coming back) That’s the biggest hypothetical question I have ever heard. And he knows how I’m going to answer that too. Yes, I would. Absolutely, there would be areas. And I’ve done that every season that I’ve been coaching here. Now, what those areas are, I’m not going to tell you. But you can ask Jim that question, I’m sure, in a couple weeks. He’ll tell you.

(On what his proudest achievements were as general manager) I felt pretty good after we got two No. 1s for Joey Galloway (from the Dallas Cowboys in 2000). I was dealing with Jerry Jones, and Jerry’s a pretty shrewd guy but a dealmaker. That worked out well for us, that particular trade. Getting Matt Hasselbeck here, I feel good about that one. We got Steve (Hutchinson) with that pick. I will say this, and I’ve told you this before: I came here originally to be the coach and the general manager. I messed up. Maybe not everyone messes up, but I messed up. But I did learn. I don’t think I made the same mistake twice. We did some good things there. When I talked about the itch that I couldn’t scratch, that’s an area of football that I feel a little unfulfilled, only because I feel like I didn’t do a good enough job and I’d like another crack at it. Whether that happens or not, who knows. I might enjoy this time off too much to get back into it.

(On whether that lack of fulfillment led to his decision to leave Seattle) I don’t think that entered into it too much. A couple of years ago, after we lost a tough playoff game against the Rams, for the first time I seriously felt like: shoot, I don’t know if I can bounce back from this one and do right by the team and do what you have to do. I was never going to be unfair, hopefully, to the owner or to the players. I didn’t want to give them anything less than 150 percent. There was a chance that I wasn’t going to be able to do that. And then time kind of healed that, a little bit. But then in the last few years, I kind of wished that my vacation was longer, and that the minicamp didn’t start quite as soon. And when you start feeling like that … When the players come in, and the minicamp starts, everything’s fine. But the combine wasn’t as much fun as it used to be, sitting in Indianapolis for a week. So when I start having those types of feelings, I kind of know. I think that’s the normal process coaches go through, I think. It wasn’t anything reacting to the other thing.

(On his earlier comments that there’s a “99 percent” chance he will be back in the NFL after 2009) You know what? I don’t know. That’s part of the adventure of this thing. I may have said that, you know. When you go through a season like we just went through, it attacks your competitive juices. I wasn’t used to it. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the feeling. And so you just go: ‘Ah, give me another crack at it.’ But as soon as I calmed down a little bit, and kind of settled down a little bit, I am looking forward to this time. I need this time. In fairness to (wife) Kathy and my family, certainly, they deserve this time. So that’s what they’ll do.

(On all the coaching changes in the NFL over the past 48 hours, and whether they bring temptation) No. Here’s how I’m reacting to those things as I read them. One, I’m very thankful that the places I have been, most recently Seattle, my owner was patient with me. I mean, you’re going to have a year, and you’re going to have a bump in the road. And as long as everyone understands, and you get a chance to explain, and they hang in there with you, you have a chance to go to the Super Bowl. I think continuity is hugely important. And one of the problems in this day and age – not in all the situations, but certainly in one that’s come up the last couple days – is that it happens too fast. There’s such a kneejerk reaction, and I don’t think it’s fair. Bill Cowher and I have talked about this many times. He was with the Steelers, and I was here, and he had a couple seasons there where it was hard. And Pittsburgh has a tremendous winning tradition. But the Rooney family, obviously, they knew they had the right coach. They were willing to be patient. And I’ve had that type of feeling from my owner here. So I’ve been very fortunate that way. Not every coach gets that opportunity. But I don’t think it’s fair. In fact, I feel bad for the guys because I know them all very well. No, I don’t want to dive in anywhere. I’m not fixing anything for awhile except for maybe a squeaky door or something.

(On whether he would take a front-office position in charge of personnel) If I were to ever do that, clearly I’m getting up there (in years), that would be it. The circumstances would have to be right. I would research the circumstances, certainly, more than I did before I came up here. I was just so happy to come up here. I’ve told you that before. You love Seattle, the place, and here we go. You think, as a coach, you can fix anything. You can fix anything that’s broken. And it becomes a little harder than you think. But if there’s enough time, you can get it done. I think every coach must think about that before they go anywhere.

(On whether he would ever return to the Seahawks) I love this organization. But this chapter is kind of closed. And now there’s a new chapter, there’s a new chapter going on. Am I never going to see these guys again or say hello to my friends? No. One of the beauties of the fact that I was able to hang around for 10 years is that I’ve got a place here, my kids are here, now I can go to the same market I shop at, I can go to the same deli, I can ride my motorcycle to the same places. I just won’t be the coach anymore. Hopefully, the people that were saying nice things when I was the coach here will say the same nice things now. Just because I’m not the coach anymore, I hope that happens.

(On the pressure of the next coach living up to his standards) Well, that’s very nice of you to say. I experienced that first-hand when I went into Green Bay. No one, ever, you could never live up to Coach Lombardi’s standards. I mean, you couldn’t. It’s the Lombardi Trophy. It’s Lombardi Avenue in Green Bay. How do you do that? And one of the things that I figured out right away is that I couldn’t. So the best thing to do is just be yourself. Do what you know, be who you are. Because you’re not going to be that man. It’s not going to happen. And that’s Vince Lombardi. Jim is his own guy, and it’s going to be good. We’ve won a lot of games here, and we’ve had some really good moments, but I’m under no illusions. You follow Bear Bryant, that’s one thing. You follow Vince Lombardi, that’s another thing. You follow Mike Holmgren? Eh. I think we can handle that one.

(On whether he was ever so mad at a reporter that he wanted to blow up) I’m sure I had feelings like that. One of the great things (the Seahawks’ PR staff) does is, it’s important, very important, for any coach who has to get up and give a press conference, or anyone, you get coached up a little bit. And some of your anger … if I was to say, ‘Well, this was written and …’ It’s their job to kind of settle you down and make sure you go in and say what you want to say and approach it properly. The worst is right after a game. That’s the toughest thing for a coach. With these guys, as I’ve said, they’ve been very fair with me…During the season in particular, I rarely read anything or listen to the radio or watch television when it pertains to us…It used to be really fun, when you’re first starting coaching and you won a good game, you’d want to read everything. But then you can’t have it one way. Then when you lost a game, you’d read it and you’d get mad. ‘Why is he saying…? That shouldn’t be the way it is.’ So I just figured out early on that everyone has their jobs to do, as long as there are no cheap shots. With you guys—unlike a lot of cities, it’s been my experience—you’re fair. There aren’t a lot of cheap shots. And I probably wouldn’t read it anyway. That’s the way I handle it. That helped me. I don’t think it’s ever personal. I just don’t believe that. I don’t think it’s personal. Everyone has their job to do. I think if you can think about it in terms like that…The other thing, from a coach’s standpoint: don’t be condescending. Don’t think you have all the answers and no one knows anything. There are a lot of smart people. As long as you approach it that way—like I talk to the players—a mutual respect, most of the time, it’s okay. That’s kind of what I’ve tried to do.”

(On what he’ll miss most about his daily life here…) “Well, you know, in the old building, it was a little bit easier, but I did like to, on occasion just make the rounds and say hello to everybody. Take five minutes and do that. That was fun for me. Tease them a little bit, whatever. This is such a magnificent building, but it’s a lot bigger, and I’m a little bit older, and my knees bother me. Walking up those stairs is a bugger sometimes, so I don’t get up there too much in the rarified air of the executive suites on the third floor. But I do try to get up there. I’ll miss that. Just the little things with each person that I know, make them laugh a little bit or whatever, I’ll miss that. I won’t miss the late nights watching film, necessarily, eating off paper plates, even though…we really have nothing to complain about here. But I won’t miss the hours too much.”

(On what Seattle and the Seahawks have meant to him…) “Well, this is our home now. The feeling in the community towards the team, and then the team’s feeling towards the 12th Man and our fans and the city, how our players get involved in humanitarian things, speaking in schools or whatever it is, I think it’s real healthy now. I think it’s great. Those are the things that Seattle means to me. I’ve found this to be a very generous place in a lot of way. So I’m just glad, as I’ve said before, that we can stay here and live here and still be a part of this community without being the football coach. A lot of times you can’t do that, and it doesn’t happen that way. I’m just glad it did. I once had a goal, if it was possible, that when I coached for so long or do whatever I do—I [had] my kids and stuff and they were spread out all over the country—that eventually they could kind of trickle in. I don’t want them living next to me, I didn’t want that. But I wanted them close by. That’s happened. That’s happened here. It’s good.”

(On how this transitional year has been different than if he had been forced to leave abruptly at the end of the season…) “I think it’s probably allowed me to have more closure. I think when it’s as abrupt as you suggested, I think there can be some misunderstanding. There can be some bitterness, resentment, or feeling that you wish you’d had time to do that. This particular thing, you know, I was teasing you, ‘What are you going to ask me that I haven’t answered the last two weeks?’ and at the very least, I can say that I’ve had a chance to process this. For me, it’s been healthy. It’s been good. Jim and I, I said we had a great talk yesterday. He will have his first staff meeting on Monday morning at 9 o’clock. I’ll be in the building packing up some stuff, but it’s his meeting. That transition will effectively take place then for me. That’s his meeting. I’m not going in there. So it’s been good for me that way. It’s been probably easier.”

(On whether he ever thought he’d be able to leave on his own terms this way…) “I think when you’re going through it, you don’t really think about it that much until it gets close to D-Day one way or the other. So I don’t think coaches think about that very much until it’s kind of crunch time and you’re having a bad season and you go, ‘Oh boy, this could get nasty here.’ I don’t think you’d think about it much until right near the end. Because we did it the way we did it, and I knew this was going to be the last year coaching, I didn’t have to think about it at all.”

(On what he would have changed about this year…) “Well, I wish we had won some more games. It’s been a great year. The coaches coached hard, the players played hard. The fans were great. We’ve had fun in here a little bit. I just wish we’d won more games.”

(On how hard it was to relinquish the general manager position and allow someone else to make personnel decisions…) “Once you’ve had a little taste of the fine wine, it’s hard to get the ones where you screw off the cap, you know? But I don’t think I’m the lone ranger that way…But please understand this: when I had the responsibility of making the final call, or if Tim [Ruskell] has the responsibility of making the final call, or Ronald Wolf has the responsibility in Green Bay of making the final call, or Bill Walsh in San Francisco, the actual decision that takes place, there’s a lot of information by a lot of people funneling into one guy’s chair. No one ever comes into any draft room and starts pounding the table and saying, ‘We’re taking this guy! I don’t care what anybody else thinks!’ No one does that. I’ve never been in a situation where that happened. And there weren’t huge arguments in our draft room. We all kind of talked about it, and there’s the guy, okay let’s go. It’s a blending of coaches and personnel. Yeah, your own ego gets stroked a little bit if you know you’re the guy making the call, but I just wanted to get a good player, someone who could help the Seahawks. That’s what everyone’s goal is. No one wants to get a player that’s not going to work for you. No one’s working at cross-purposes ever.”

(On whether there’s anything personnel-wise he would have done differently…) “I’m not going to go there. I think I’m right all the time. At least that’s what Kathy tells me: ‘You think you’re right about everything!’ This is a great place with great people who care working here. I wish them well next year.”

(On his evaluation of Lawrence Jackson…) “I think Lawrence got a chance to play. Now, again, I’m not going to be in the room evaluating these guys next year. I think he has a bright future ahead of him. He played two positions in college. I think probably we’ve got to find out—they have to evaluate—which is his best position and let him play there. And like most rookies, he’s got to get stronger and bigger, and figure out how this league is different than college football. You could say that about a lot of rookies.”

(On his favorite story that he’s ever told the media…) “The feel-good stories are my favorite stories. The Super Bowl story about my wife not being at the Super Bowl, and having all those guys in my first press conference thinking we were having trouble with our marriage, you know: ‘Why isn’t she here?’ I said, ‘Well, she’s in Africa.’ [They said,] ‘What?’ They couldn’t quite get it. And then by the end of the week, that story had gotten some legs and it actually turned out to be a really nice story, and I had the same guys coming up to me and saying, ‘You know, that’s pretty cool.’ Now, Kathy, she said, ‘Do you want me to stay?’ and I said, ‘No, we’ve planned this a long time. This is special for you.’ I missed her that week. It would’ve been nice if she was there, but she and Calla were doing something very, very important. That was a funny week for me in the beginning.”

(On whether it would be surprising if he never coached again…) “I think it probably would, only because it’s hard for me right now to think I can’t do it anymore. But I’m going to see how this works this year. There’s a chance that I won’t. I might find something else that fills that void, you know?”

(On whether he thought about doing something other than coaching or teaching when he was first starting out…) “Not really. My father, he passed as a young man at 48. When I was wondering what I wanted to do with my life, I was working on a ship in Hawaii and floating around. I was a no-direction type of person. One of my former high school coaches persuaded me to come with him and that’s how I became involved in coaching and teaching. There was one point where my father was involved in real estate and wanted me to go into business with him. I was a real estate major in college and I went through the broker exam and did all that stuff to go into real estate with my dad. I got right near the end and I said I couldn’t imagine I could ever do it, and I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t know how to tell my dad. I learned early on the best way to do it was say it. That is another lesson he taught me. He didn’t get upset. He just told me to do what I wanted to do. Once I started coaching and teaching I really liked it. I enjoyed the young kids in the beginning and I enjoy the big kids now. There really hasn’t been anything else I could imagine I would enjoy as much.”

(On reuniting with his old band…) “In Arizona before the game, some guy is hollering at me from the stands. It was Dave Gelotti, who was our piano player for Big Bop and the Choppers. They had a reunion concert in June and they invited me to be a part. One of the band members passed away and it was to raise money for scholarships for his kids. I was trying to figure out a way to get there, and remember, I can still sing. As a Chopper, we used to have to do a lot of physical things. Remember the song ‘Roll Over Beethoven?’ We would dive, hop up and roll. My partner, part of the Choppers, who is a real estate guy and is 65, I was thinking, ‘How are we going to perform?’ I have a bad knee and I don’t know how he is. I asked Dave, ‘When they performed the song, did they hop, dive and roll?’ He said, ‘Yeah they did.’ Those guys are 65, 70 years old. The only problem was when the crowd would say ‘Roll! Roll!’ nobody rolled. They couldn’t. They just dove and laid there. I think my entertaining days are over.”

(On preparing himself for life after football…) “That is a good question; I made the comment at home where I’m not setting the alarm anymore. My whole life has been pretty regimented, on the clock. I will still work out in the morning—that is our time together—and then whatever the days brings. I suspect I will be planning things. That is how I do, and that is how I’ve done it. I won’t feel the need to be strict and that might be something hard for me to stop.”

(On not coming to training camp next season…) “We will see. In all likelihood we will be out our place in Santa Cruz during the summer. That’s where I have been before training camp starts here. I always look forward to the start of the season; I had enough vacation. From what I have [heard from] people, that is the hardest time for guys like me. Everything is fine up until that point and things kick in and it’s time to go. Well it’s not time to go, you don’t have to go. Well, I want to go. Well, you can’t go. We’ll see how it goes.”

(On when he’ll leave to go Phoenix…) “I talked to Tim [Ruskell] and Tod [Leiweke] and they said I can keep my chair for a few more days. I’m going to pack up my stuff and be out of here by sometime mid-week. I will say my goodbyes. Jim will start his meetings. I don’t want to get in his way. There are a few things I want to do, but I would imagine sometime by the middle of next week.”

(On thoughts and insights towards losing the Super Bowl against the Pittsburgh Steelers…) “As a head coach I have been to three Super Bowls. We won the first one. We lost the second one to Denver in San Diego and after that game, I felt as bad as I have ever felt as a coach. I thought I really messed it up there in the end. I was so angry. I lost a down. Ultimately it didn’t have an effect on the actual game, but there was nothing I could do to get my team to believe that Denver was good enough to beat us. I knew they were good and I tried everything and I really had the feeling of failure after that game. Fast-forward to our game against Pittsburgh. Our team played a good game that day. The team was ready to play and we played a good team and we played in an environment unlike I have ever experienced in a Super Bowl, it was like we’re the visiting team. It was unusual. I remember thinking we were playing a heck of a game, and if you remember, Marquan Manuel got hurt and we put in a young guy to play free safety. There were two big plays and he was involved in both those plays. It wasn’t his fault; he did the best job he could. That was the game. Then the game is over. I was disappointed in the fact that the story after the game was about something else other than the game itself. The game itself should be talked about and not something else, and if you remember, there was a lot of talk about other things. I didn’t have the same feeling because I thought our effort was good. I was disappointed we lost the game but I thought our guys played a pretty good game and we just got beat that day.”

(On someone effectively working both the general manager and head coach positions…) “It appears to be a dying breed, but I have never bought into that. I think you can absolutely do it. The key to that is who you have around you. Do you trust them, do they do a good job, and are they honest with you on things? There are a couple of ways to look at it. If you’re the type of person who wants to be involved in more personnel and less coaching, then your two coordinators have to be something special because you’re allowing them to coach the football team. If you’re the type like I was, who was going to still coach, then you have to have personnel people who you rely on who will give you all the information. It is a time issue; can one person do it if they are organized? I believe you can.”

(On his message to the fans…) “I want to thank them again for being patient with me over the years. I want to thank them for the opportunity that they gave to this organization and to this team to grow. We went through stages: we went from the Kingdome, then to Husky Stadium and now we’re in Qwest Field. It has built up to the point where going to games is a fun thing and that is because of the fans and the atmosphere. I talk to guys around the league all the time and when they see us on the schedule at our field they don’t like it at all. Joe Gibbs told me after last season’s playoff game—remember he is a Super Bowl winning head coach—that it was the toughest game he has ever had to coach in. Bill Parcells has told me things about playing in our stadium. That type of atmosphere in this city, and the love affair between the team and the fans is great. I feel good about that, and it’s one of the things I will feel good about as my tenure here as head coach.”

(On whether he felt like he accomplished what he came here to do…) “Well no. In my first press conference I said we were going to win the Super Bowl. We didn’t, but everything else, I will feel okay about. You have heard it many times. The organization and how it is put together, the stadium and all the sell outs…The team—I will remove our record this season because it will be better next year—is in better place now than when I first arrived here. I feel good about that.”

(On whether he thinks his next job will be a general manager, a head coach, or both…) “I don’t know. I’m going to listen and try to make an intelligent decision if the time ever presents itself. I’m just a high school history teacher who got lucky. I might not have all the opportunities everyone may think is around the corner. There are no guarantees about that stuff. If I thought I want a job where I’m the king of everything, and that doesn’t happen and nobody phones or offers, you open yourself up for tremendous disappointment. At this stage of my life, I don’t want to be disappointed about anything, I want to go and enjoy life and we will take everything as it comes.”

(On whether he really believes that nobody will want to hire him…) “I have been around this game a long time. I really want to enjoy the rest of my life and I’m trying really hard to set it up that way.”

(On being emotional these past few weeks…) “The best line in a movie the last 20 years is Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own. Remember when the little gal drops the fly ball and he comes in starts yelling at her and spitting tobacco and she starts to cry? He says, ‘Alice, what are you doing?’ And then he says, ‘There’s no crying in baseball! What are you doing?’ Well, there’s no crying in football. I will admit that the last two weeks, I’ve found myself unable to speak, and I have been gauging that it is best I just stop.”

(On relaxing the barrier between himself and the players this season and whether that’s been rewarding for him…) “It has been fun. I firmly believe, and I think this is very important that as a head coach, you have to draw the line. Sometimes it’s hard because you have an affection for players and what they do for you on the team. As a position coach, you are allowed to get close to them. [Jim] Zorn and his quarterbacks, sometimes I would go into a meeting and I would wonder, ‘Who’s the coach and who’s the player?’ They would all blend together. I suspect Jim, as the head coach in Washington, has to draw a little clearer line. It is necessary but sometimes it is hard. Our offensive line the last couple weeks and month…holy smokes. At the beginning of training camp I didn’t know if they would be with us. Now they were starting, and I loved them for that. I did relax a little bit along those lines. I had some of the players come up to me and say it was pretty cool. What they did for me with the Largent Award and the motorcycle was overwhelming. I said before, I was speechless and I thanked them, but that is not enough. That was one of those experiences, like the Jets game, that will stay with me forever.”

(On visiting the team next season…) “I probably won’t. I have thought about it a little bit. One, it would probably be hard for me only because I care about everybody a lot. We worked really hard to make this transition seamless and it’s probably best if I’m not around. To allow Jim [Mora] to do his thing and establish his plan, no one needs to see me standing on the sides and be reminded of everything. Without a doubt, I’ll be phoning my friends in the building, but I probably won’t be around.”

(On talking to the media next season…) “It’s absolutely not my place to do that.”

(On whether he’s at peace with how things have turned out as far as the transition between himself and Coach Mora…) “I think so, if I’m being real honest with myself and listening to my wife. As coaches, we’re all guilty of this, but as we were losing games, I said, ‘I wish I had another shot at fixing this.’ But I thought long and hard about the decision in a calm, less emotional way and it’s absolutely the right decision. That’s why I script the first 15 plays: it takes some of the edge off and allows you to get in the flow of the game. You make mistakes and decisions when you’re all emotional about it. As the season wound down and I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, it’s the right thing.”

(On having a connection with a core group of players…) “It’s funny. The guys I was close to or the guys who have been with me the longest, Walter Jones, Matt Hasselbeck… The actual conversation was short as any with them. There wasn’t a lot that needed to be said.”

(On the best offensive player he has ever coached…) “Walter. He is the best lineman I’ve ever seen. I have been around some good lineman. Walter is the best offensive player and Reggie [White] was the best defensive player.”

(On what he didn’t know in his third year of coaching that he has since learned…) “If you think you have all the answers, you are making a huge mistake. I can’t be really specific with you on what I have learned. Jim and I had a nice talk and I wouldn’t presume to tell him how to do stuff. He is a bright guy and a good coach. Absolutely you learn something every year. From years three through 17, I absolutely learned something and hopefully I got better. Whether you’re talking about patience, understanding, getting through to a player, how to deal with the quarterback, dealing with a tough loss and dealing with a great win, as you go along, you just keep learning. I always challenge my coaches to learn and don’t come in with the same stuff. I tell them to study, and that is why we had assignments to learn more about different offenses and schemes. I tell them to change their drills around and make the players better. This was their obligation as a coach. Jim has learned a lot his first three years as a head coach. We talked yesterday and he said he learned a lot his two years here. The good ones never stop learning and never accept the status quo.”