Holmgren deserves to end it his way

KIRKLAND — Few coaches get to end it this way. They don't get to leave on their own terms. Don't get to make the ultimate decision.

Most coaches go quietly, through the back door, after a disappointing season. They don't get news conferences that are all laughter and warmth. Most leave generous helpings of bitterness and pathos in their wakes.

They don't set the agenda. They don't get the last shot.

But Tuesday afternoon, in the same cramped room where he announced last week he was leaving for the Arizona desert, with his wife Kathy, to decide his future, Mike Holmgren reconvened the Seattle media to say he was coming back for his final season as the Seahawks' coach.

"It came down to a very personal decision," he said. "I like my job. I like the players, and we have some unfinished business."

Already Holmgren seemed reinvigorated, much less pensive, less wistful, than he was a week ago. At that news conference, two days after his team was routed in the NFC divisional playoffs in Green Bay, Holmgren looked and sounded exhausted.

The season is long, nerves get frayed. In those first days after the season, every fumble, every bad snap, every bad decision is right there in a coach's face.

It took this past week for Holmgren to remind himself that his love of the game transcends his hatred of losing. It took a week to purge the hurt.

"This will be my last year," he said. "And rest assured we're going after it hard. It's full speed ahead."

Like a marathon runner with the finish line in sight, Holmgren can start his kick. He can push himself through the dog days of minicamp and the tedium of training camp.

There will be no holding anything in reserve. This is it, and Holmgren is going to grind like a rookie coach with something left to prove.

"We have a great owner [Paul Allen] here, and I absolutely owed it to him to do this correctly," Holmgren said.

It will be his final season, but Holmgren won't be a lame duck.

He still has the respect of his players. He has the support of the owner and the front office. This still is very much his team, and he still is very much in charge.

"There is no inherent danger in doing what we're doing," he said.

Holmgren won't turn this into a farewell tour and doesn't want to be reminded week to week that this is it for him. He doesn't expect his players to be distracted, or overshadowed by the decision.

Even his logical successor, assistant head coach Jim Mora, is in place.

"The team is in great shape," Holmgren said.

He didn't get the contract extension he hinted at last week, but said Tuesday the extension wasn't a serious consideration.

He was either coming back for the final year of his contract, or he was leaving now. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Few coaches get to choreograph their leave-taking. Few are fireproof — Don Shula, Bill Walsh, Bill Belichick, maybe Mike Shanahan.

Holmgren has earned this right to finish his 10-year run in Seattle his way. He restored the franchise. He led it through the difficult transition from the Kingdome to Husky Stadium to Qwest Field.

He turned Seattle into a football city again and transformed the Seahawks' new home into one of the most punishing places for visiting teams to play.

He is the Seahawks' first Hall of Fame coach. He has given the franchise a national identity it hasn't had since Chuck Knox left after the 1991 season. He raised expectations and made every fan feel as if they were a part of this.

Holmgren has turned Januarys in Seattle into something more than short days and cold rain. The Hawks have been to the playoffs five straight seasons, won four NFC West titles and one NFC championship.

He is leaving the job the way he wants, which doesn't mean it will be easy for him to give it up.

Mike Holmgren is a coach. He started in high school and has risen to a level even he never anticipated. And late in the news conference the finality of the decision hit him.

"Look, it's going to be an emotional time," he said, pausing briefly to corral those emotions. "It is what it is."

One last season. One more exhausting push toward the Super Bowl. One universally respected coach given the chance to finish his job his way.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists