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Still adjusting Holmgren continues to get used to dual role in Seattle
Posted: Tuesday March 28, 2000 06:39 PM
By Don Banks PALM BEACH, Fla. (CNNSI.com) -- There were days last season, Mike Holmgren now freely admits, that left him talking to himself, and getting all the predictable answers. But such is life in the NFL these days for the head coach who also serves in the dual role of general manager. Holmgren, who last year left the cozy state of idol worship that was his in Green Bay to accept an all-encompassing role in Seattle, endured an eventful first season in charge of both the Seahawks' locker room and front office. Looking back at the first year of his dream job, Holmgren on Tuesday gave himself mixed reviews at an AFC coaches breakfast with the media at the NFL annual meeting. Holmgren's biggest failings? In his eyes, he flubbed the handling of star receiver Joey Galloway's contract holdout, which extended into Novermber, and never really discovered just the right buttons to push with his new team. "Personally [the Galloway situation], that was a hard thing for me," Holmgren said. "Because I thought I coached OK last season. The G.M. stuff and all the other stuff, I think I did most of that OK. "But I looked at that [the Galloway situation] as I failed him. I failed to get him in. I feel bad about that, although I know I couldn't have done anything else. I still feel bad about it. And then, on the field, I couldn't light the fire. And usually I can light the fire. But for whatever reason, I couldn't last year." Holmgren, of course, led the Seahawks to a 9-7 record and their first playoff berth since 1988. They were quickly upset by visiting AFC East wild-card Miami at the Kingdome, ending a season that had opened with the promise of a 6-2 start on a down note. Finessing the often tricky differences between the general manager and coach's roles was every bit the challenge Holmgren expected. Especially in terms of Galloway's ill-fated holdout, which centered on his desire to become the NFL's highest paid receiver. "You get into an interesting dialogue with yourself there," Holmgren said. "In years past I would go into [Green Bay general manager] Ron Wolf and say, 'Hey, Ron, what's happening with [holdout running back] Dorsey Levens? C'mon. Let's get going.' And he'd kind of explain it to me, that the club was doing everything it possibly could. Which I knew already, but as coaches you kind of think you can move things along. "Then I'd leave and I'd say, 'OK, we're doing everything we can.' This year, I had that conversation with myself. I'd sit there and say, 'Boy, I really need this guy on the field.' Then I'd think, 'But I really know what these numbers are. And I know for the total picture and for next year and the year after that, to be fiscally responsible, I've got to do it this way.'" And therein lies the dilemma of every coach in the NFL who now holds both of those powerful positions: The coach's desire to win now must be balanced by the general manager's ability to look out for the long-term good of the organization. It's a present versus future debate that can often prove tense. Galloway reported to the Seahawks in time to not lose a full season of service in terms of free agency eligibility, but his impact on a team that was already slumping by the time he arrived was negligible. Some believe Galloway's return only hastened Seattle's slide. After being designated the Seahawks' franchise player, Galloway last month was signed by Dallas, a move that cost the Cowboys a pair of first-round picks over the next two years. Dallas rewarded him with a seven-year, $42 million contract. While Holmgren the GM deserved and received kudos for extracting that kind of return on a player who has never made the Pro Bowl, little about the Galloway saga will linger fondly in the memory of his first year in Seattle. "I don't blame what happened in the last part of our season on Joey Galloway," Holmgren said. "It was one of those unfortunate situations where we were hoping we could strike with him, and it just didn't happen. As a team and a staff we learned a tough lesson from that. "I don't know if he was angry at me. Certainly he did not act that way. He's a good guy. But maybe down deep he was still a little mad about things. Maybe I was too down deep. I think we probably both flunked that [part]." Holmgren is convinced that the Galloway debacle was the aberration, and that he will successfully navigate other potential personnel landmines in his dual role. "The players in this day and age, they understand what the salary cap is all about," Holmgren said. "It's not like this comes as a great shock to them. They know what you sometimes have to do. When I came in, I had to release [veteran quarterback] Warren Moon, because of the way they had structured the contract the year before. There was just no way. He knew that. I knew that. Everyone understood what had to happen. "There is a problem if a player allows what happened in negotiations to carry over to the field. That can't happen and most of the players don't allow that to happen. They have to understand that it's not personal. So you've got to make them believe that you care about them in other ways, and I think we do a pretty good job of that."
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