Holmgren: Decision wasn't about money, it was about responsibility

ROCK BOTTOM, Wash. — No disrespect to Sounders FC goalkeeper Kasey Keller, but imagine what this Sunday afternoon could have been.

The Seahawks could have announced Saturday that Mike Holmgren was returning.

They could have signed him as team president and given him the muscle needed to begin the difficult process of rebuilding the foundation of a franchise that has been weakened to the point of irrelevance by poor personnel decisions.

And then Sunday, just before the kickoff of their meaningless game against Tampa Bay, they could have run a scoreboard montage of Holmgren's greatest moments in Seattle. They could have shown him hoisting the 2005 NFC championship trophy.

Finally, they could have directed everyone's attention to the top of the South stands, where Holmgren, the once-and-future Seahawks president, not Keller, would have raised the blue-and-white 12th Man flag and rallied the loyal and surprisingly large throng inside Qwest Field.

Imagine the spice Holmgren would have added to as dead a Sunday afternoon as the Seahawks have had since the end of the Tom Flores era. Imagine, if he had been hired, the Jack Zduriencik-like buzz he could have returned to pro football in this town.

It could have happened. This was the job Holmgren wanted. It was the organization he knew the best. This was where he lived and where he worked for 10 years.

On Friday it was this close to reality.

The Seahawks, it appeared, had come to their senses. Sure it had taken them a while to get to this point. They should have hired Holmgren three weeks ago, the day after president and general manager Tim Ruskell announced his resignation.

But that seemed irrelevant Friday. The Seahawks were ready to negotiate. They were prepared to make a deal.

And then they botched it. They fumbled away this opportunity the same careless way quarterback Matt Hasselbeck fumbled away the Hawks' first scoring opportunity in Sunday's 24-7 loss to the Bucs.

They banked too heavily on Holmgren's desire to stay in Seattle and they lowballed him. They didn't lowball the money. They lowballed the responsibility.

And Saturday, reluctantly, Holmgren and his agent, Bob LaMonte, said thanks, but no thanks, to the Hawks' offer.

"It wasn't about the money. It was about the job," Holmgren said by telephone from his Arizona home Sunday. "It was about what I wanted to do with the last years of my football life and [the Hawks' offer] wasn't what I wanted to do."

There are two sides to the story of these negotiations.

A Seahawks' spokesman said Sunday that Holmgren had been offered a Bill Parcells-sized contract, a four-year deal worth $3 million a year.

Holmgren said that wasn't true.

A Seahawks spokesman said Holmgren would have control over the selection of the general manager and the last word on whether Jim Mora would be retained as coach.

Holmgren said that also wasn't true.

As a matter of fact, with the way owner Paul Allen runs his sports franchises, there is no such thing as total control. There is a filtration system that often involves the input of non-football people.

That isn't the way it is supposed to work in football. Bill Walsh only answered to Eddie DeBartolo when San Francisco was winning Super Bowls in San Francisco. Parcells has complete control of the football operation in Miami. And, in Philadelphia, Andy Reid only answers to Jeffrey Lurie.

But in Seattle, there always is another layer to muck through in front of Paul Allen. It can be someone like Vulcan board member Bert Kolde, or it can be team CEO Tod Leiweke, as good a person as there is in sports, but not a football expert.

This is an unnecessary layer in a business where decisions have to made, quickly and surely. It is a layer Holmgren won't have to go through when he takes the job that is expected to be officially offered him this week by the Cleveland Browns.

"Money has never come up in my discussions with Cleveland," said Holmgren, disputing reports he has been offered a $50 million, 10-year deal.

It was obvious in talking with Holmgren that it was important to him that Seahawks fans understand he didn't turn down the Hawks' deal because of money. It was important that they knew it was a football decision.

But no matter who offered what during this weekend's negotiations (the Seahawks did not respond to Holmgren's claims), football is a bottom-line business and the bottom line of this story is that the Seahawks lost Mike Holmgren.

He wanted the job and they blew it. No matter how they spin it, they didn't get Holmgren and it could be years before they recover from this blunder.

Holmgren, 61, wanted to finish his football career in Seattle and even after they decided they wanted him, the Hawks let him walk.

Sunday could have been special. The fans could have raised the roof, while Holmgren raised the flag. It could have been the slow beginning to a brighter future.

But instead of a day of celebration, this was a day of profound disappointment.

On this Sunday, the Seahawks landed on Rock Bottom.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com.