Holmgren will not be fined by NFL

Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren will not be fined by the league for comments he made about the officiating in the Super Bowl.

NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, speaking at the owners meetings in Orlando, Fla., on Wednesday, said he never mailed a letter to the Seahawks informing Holmgren that he would be fined. The letter had been on the commissioner's desk ready to be sent.

"So I adhered to a rule that I learned long ago that the first draft of a letter is better put in the trash can," the commissioner told The Associated Press.

Holmgren drew the NFL's attention with his comments at a post-Super Bowl rally at Qwest Field.

"We knew it was going to be tough going against the Pittsburgh Steelers," he told the crowd. "I didn't know we were going to have to play the guys in the striped shirts as well."

The officiating from the game — and Holmgren's response to it — was still a hot topic at the meetings, though it has been almost two months since the Super Bowl.

"It was an unusual game, and I don't think you ever really get over it," Holmgren told the AP. "You think about it for years. It was devastating."

Reporters also asked about the 2006 season possibly being his last as a coach, as he is entering the final year of his eight-year contract with the Seahawks. He reiterated his thoughts from the scouting combine last month, saying he is undecided on his future after this season. But he could make a decision in the next few weeks.

A report from FOXSports.com quoted Holmgren as saying he might like to try his hand at being a general manager and coach somewhere again, though he wouldn't leave Seattle for "just another coaching job." Holmgren stepped down from the GM post in Seattle after the 2002 season.

Holmgren also said he thought the Seahawks were going to designate left guard Steve Hutchinson as their franchise player last month. Instead, the team gave Hutchinson the transition tag at a lower price and wound up losing the All-Pro to the Minnesota Vikings when the Seahawks declined to match the Vikings' offer sheet because Seattle would have had to guarantee the deal.

"We thought putting the transition tag on him would put us in a position to sign him to a long-term contract," Holmgren told FOXSports.com. "But it blew up on us. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would lose him. Steve always made it clear to me he liked Seattle."

When the Seahawks signed Vikings wide receiver Nate Burleson to an offer sheet with two provisions the Vikings probably aren't going to match by the deadline Friday, Holmgren apparently didn't approve of the tactic.

"That was very distasteful to me, to retaliate so to speak like that," Holmgren said. "I do believe the commissioner should look into these kind of clauses. We work so hard on trying to gain labor peace and a new collective-bargaining agreement, and then we as clubs allow agents to get cute and circumvent it.

"On the playing field, there are rules and there are unwritten rules about how the game should be played in the spirit and the fairness of it all. It doesn't make sense to me that we had to lose such a fine football player this way. I was surprised by the ruling."

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com