It's Official: Mike Holmgren Will Not Be The GM

by BrianL on Dec 20, 2009 12:30 AM PST

A few days ago word got out that Mike Holmgren had received a front office position offer from the Cleveland Browns organization. Now word has gotten out that he recently received an offer of a "senior leadership" position from the Seahawks. We also know that Holmgren has rejected that offer.

Danny O'Neil at the Seattle Times sums up what we currently know and do not know about this news.

In brief, we know that the Cleveland position allows Holmgren to report directly to Browns owner Randy Lerner while he would have had to report to Vulcan Sports CEO Tod Leiweke (who reports to Paul Allen) should he have accepted the Seattle offer*. Exactly how many layers separating Holmgren from Allen is unknown, but it is fairly clear that the Cleveland job provides a good deal more autonomy for the Big Show.

If autonomy is what Mike Holmgren truly wants, the Seattle job was never going to be an option for him. Tod Leiweke and the Vulcan Sports oversight likely aren't going anywhere so long as Paul Allen is the owner of this franchise. If you're expecting the organization to restructure the offer to give Holmgren (or any other GM candidate) more freedom, don't hold your breath.

This is probably good news for the Seahawks. There are other (and likely better) GM candidates out there, and it would serve the team well to conduct a thorough search to find the best person for the job. In the end, the organization decided it would be in its own best interests to part ways with one of the greatest personalities in franchise history. Despite how we may all have felt about prospective Seahawks general manager candidate Mike Holmgren, we can probably all agree that we hope he finds success with his new organization**. Best of luck to you, Mike.

*Assuming that the position offered was President of Football Operations and not Senior Towel Boy Manager. Leiweke was rather vague when he referred to the offer as a "Senior Leadership" position.

**Please sign off on the Cleveland offer. Do it, Mike.

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Whew

Bullet dodged.

Now to see the fur fly on other, shittier, boards.

by djafrot on Dec 20, 2009 12:59 AM PST reply actions

I wonder if the "offer" Seattle made to Holmgren

was one where he was more in an advisory role then anything else. Something he would likely turn down, but could be pointed to if the public clamored for Holmgren (see, we TRIED to get him but he turned us down!). Leiweke was very vague about what he offered Holmgren and it didn’t take long for Holmgren to turn it down.

This is of course all speculation.

GMZ’s spectacular success has us all wishing for the stars. I just hope that we don’t end up wishing for simply an average GM 3 years from now.

by Fear on Dec 20, 2009 1:29 AM PST reply actions

I haven't the foggiest idea what the offer was to Holmgren.

It wouldn’t surprise me if it was something other than the President of Football Operations post (which O’Neil seems to think it was). What I’m fairly certain of is that Seattle wasn’t going to offer Holmgren or anyone something comparable to the Cleveland offer.

by BrianL on Dec 20, 2009 1:33 AM PST up reply actions

This is what I think too

by Nate Dogg on Dec 20, 2009 10:22 AM PST up reply actions

Yeah, I can't see Lewieke recruiting a person to usurp his authority in the organization

"Those who fear disorder more than injustice inevitably produce more of both." -- Rev. William Coffin

by dcrockett17 on Dec 20, 2009 10:27 AM PST up reply actions

It's not so much Leiweke as it is Allen.

Paul wants Vulcan Sports involved and providing oversight.

by BrianL on Dec 20, 2009 10:30 AM PST up reply actions

Agreed

I don’t want to reduce this to a Lewieke/Holmgren personality/power clash. I definitely see this as much more of an organizational structure issue where getting Holmgren would basically require a restructure. The Walrus would want to report to Allen.

I can’t imagine that Lewieke would go for that even if Allen didn’t care.

"Those who fear disorder more than injustice inevitably produce more of both." -- Rev. William Coffin

by dcrockett17 on Dec 20, 2009 10:36 AM PST up reply actions

Oh absolutely, this isn't a Leiweke vs Holmgren thing.

The way the organization is set up from top-down simply isn’t comparable to what exists in Cleveland.

by BrianL on Dec 20, 2009 10:46 AM PST up reply actions

I hope Holmgren turns Cleveland into a great team.

But I am glad this whole Holmgren/Seahawks thing is over. I can’t understand why most fans think if Holmgren’s not our GM, we won’t find anybody better or even comparable. I do hope we find someone new and exciting though.

Also a die-hard Hawks fan.

by Hopefulmsfan on Dec 20, 2009 2:24 AM PST reply actions

Do well in Cleveland, Holmy.

They need your humor, intelligence and oversight far more than we do… a resurrection of that franchise will be the perfect feather in your HoF career.

Bird Law in this country isn't governed by reason.

by Tyler Jorgensen on Dec 20, 2009 2:42 AM PST reply actions

I'm wondering if he was low-balled

on purpose. The organization saw that fans and the media were in a fever for Holmgren’s return, so they offered him the job at a paltry salary knowing he’d refuse.

The organization looks like it did the right thing; now Holmy looks like the bad guy for not coming back to his Seahawks.

Too conniving to be possible?

The demise of the Broncos in '09 is our future. Pray hard.

by Nick Andron on Dec 20, 2009 8:39 AM PST reply actions

That would be my guess if I had to guess anything.

Give him an offer he know he won’t accept, look ok in the eyes of the fans by getting rejected by Homgren with terms that will probably never be known.

by LantermanC on Dec 20, 2009 9:34 AM PST up reply actions

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they offered the lower position

After they knew he’d been offered a higher one from Cleveland. Makes the Seahawks look better without sacrificing anything.

by MT Olson on Dec 20, 2009 12:06 PM PST up reply actions

Ya that's what I was sorta alluding to.

And I think it’s very possible. Leiweke is a businessman, PR is something he thinks about. Especially when it won’t cost your team anything to get good PR.

by Fear on Dec 21, 2009 2:01 AM PST up reply actions

I think the idea is new blood

I think this is a good move. We are stagnating right now and maybe some fresh perspective to give an objective look at what the team needs in right. If Holmgren would come in he would right the ship and we’d stay in the playoff hunt but wouldn’t do more than that. I grew up in Dallas and this is where the Cowboys were when Jimmy Johnson came in, it was a rough couple of years but worth it.

by Generzal Zod on Dec 20, 2009 9:10 AM PST reply actions

I don't mind not signing Holmy

But I don’t like the idea of having a “GM join us” attitude towards the search for the new GM of the Seahawks.

I think the only way that works is if a team already has set the tone for a winning franchise. Bringing in a GM to join and buy in to the philosophy of the Seahawks in a state of disarray is a recipe for disaster if he can’t bring in his own guys.

This team is not on a winning track and, IMO, does not have a winning philosophy or vision. I don’t believe the team has bought what Jim Mora and Greg Knapp are selling, hell even Gus Bradley for that matter. If the new GM does not have “cart blanch” then this team will continue to be bad until Paul Allen realizes that he needs all “new blood”.

"If, now this is a hypothetical, If I were offered the job, I would start with the offensive line" Mike Holmgren on KJR

by durteehawk on Dec 20, 2009 9:33 AM PST reply actions

I think the attitude and philosophy are fine

it’s not keeping players on the field, not keeping a QB upright, can’t make holes to run, and secondary that is so easy to shred that is the problem. If Mora had the right players would it be different? I am skeptical but I think it is hard to say they are the problem until we give them a chance with the right people.

by Generzal Zod on Dec 20, 2009 11:03 AM PST up reply actions

I don't either

The overall fan reaction (and Q13’s post-game analytical staff reaction, save Hugh Millen’s) to us not getting Holmgren is one of the most overblown single-day emotional escapades I’ve seen since I’ve been in Seattle. Mike might be the right GM for Cleveland, but I don’t know that he would be the right GM for whatever Seahawks we’’re going to see in the next decade.

But your mistrust of Seahawks management is not misapplied. They have to make a fucking smart move here. Enough with the passive/aggressiveness Seattle has been experiencing over the last four years. This has to be a transfusion.

I’m willing to give Mora a first-year pass, but that’s because I’m an overwhelmingly nice guy. Ownership has to keep him on the hot seat. I don’t see their belief in him, and I don’t see his results. His “dirtbag” speech reminded me more of John McLaren’s badly staged profanity fest on 2008: a desperate plea to the media that he knows we lack precision and aggression, and that strong language will cure it. Nobody is convinced.

We can’t hang onto sentiment for Mike just because he produced a winner as a coach. He could turn into a Parcells-type figure, but let’s remember that Parcells’ tenure as GM is, likewise, still unproven.

So the Hawks want a GM that will work within their managerial parameters. Fine. Just hire a shark who knows the waters and will get shit done. There must be somebody out there who’s been serving in a key role in developing our current perennial contenders — the Patriots, the Colts, the Eagles, the Chargers — who deserves a shot at being a GM. I’d like to think that’s who the Hawks are holding out for. That’s what we need.

I don’t think Holmgren can’t do it for the Seahawks. But the idea that nobody else can is tremendously foolish. The M’s got their Jack Z using the same process (and let’s not forget he, technically, is also still unproven); let’s hope the Seahawks employ it as well. They’d better.

Let’s not let our sentiment for Mike blind us. He deserves every good thing that’s coming to him, wherever it is. But this team needs a shakeup, to put it very fucking mildly. I hope that’s what management is keeping uppermost in their minds at the moment.

--Shrug
Field Gulls - The SBN Seattle Seahawks Blog

by Shrug on Dec 21, 2009 2:12 AM PST up reply actions 5 recs

Rec'd, and not just for the novelty of sighting the elusive Shrug.

by thebyron on Dec 21, 2009 9:34 AM PST up reply actions

Definitely a little confusing, and hard to know what to think.

I’m not sure what to think or how to feel. I know I’m not going to consider this statement from the Seahawks & Holmgren fact, though.

Won’t dismiss it outright, but it sure seems to save face for both sides, when such a large portion of the fanbase downright wanted Holmgren, and the day prior, Clayton strangely seemed to have confirmation that Holmgren was not only on their list, but that through back channels they’d gotten word to him that he was not being considered. When Holmgren so transparently seemed to be gunning for the job, before Ruskell stepped down, and escalated after he did. Sure conveniently saves a lot of face, for both sides, for this to come out. Maybe it’s true, I dunno.

Doesn’t really matter. Mike won’t be ours and I am now a surrogate Cleveland Brown fan. (I always chose a team from the other conference, to root for, and since the Hawks switched to the NFC it’s been the Titans; the Browns haven’t supplanted that, but I am really rooting for a turnaround there.)

by jacobstevens on Dec 21, 2009 10:22 AM PST reply actions

So from all indications

Danny O’Neil was right and the organization offered Holmgren something along the lines of President of Football Operations.

by BrianL on Dec 21, 2009 12:31 PM PST reply actions

It's official, Holmgren's Cleveland's team president

Quoth the Times:

Holmgren said he was intrigued by the opportunity to join Cleveland because of the absence of “layers” between him and Lerner, who in November announced he was looking to add a “serious, credible leader” to his organization.

--Shrug
Field Gulls - The SBN Seattle Seahawks Blog

by Shrug on Dec 21, 2009 4:20 PM PST reply actions