CBS Sports: Mike Holmgren, a former Seahawks coach, was once again denied admission to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
It will be even longer before the coach who guided the Seattle Seahawks to their first Super Bowl participation can claim the title of Hall of Fame coach.
Once more, Mike Holmgren has been passed over for membership in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The former head coach of the Seattle Seahawks did not obtain the required 80 percent of votes from the Selection Committee, hence he was not inducted into the Hall of Fame. When he was revealed as a HOF finalist in December, it was the first time he had ever made it past the semifinals.
Due to a modification in the criterion, Holmgren’s participation in this year’s class was less assured than in prior years when his status as the only coaching candidate would have guaranteed his spot.
According to Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times:
Holmgren is grouped with five other candidates, including three senior candidates (former players Maxie Baughan, Jim Tyrer, and Sterling Sharpe) and one contributor candidate (Ralph Hay, who owned the Canton Bulldogs and co-founded the National Football League in 1920).
Instead of one coach and one contributor, there was just one combined candidate the previous two years. At least one of those five is guaranteed, and up to three may be elected.
With the Green Bay Packers, the 76-year-old Holmgren brought them back to prominence and amassed an incredible 75-37 record over seven seasons, marking the beginning of his career as a head coach. In 1996, the Packers defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 31. The following year, they made it back to the Super Bowl but were defeated by the Denver Broncos.
Holmgren departed the Packers in 1999 to take an eight-year deal as general manager and executive vice president of the Seattle Seahawks. In his first season, Holmgren got the Seahawks back into the playoffs right away. Following some difficult times as both coach and general manager (which resulted in his dismissal from the front office in 2002), he went on to win four consecutive NFC West crowns and five consecutive postseason berths.
The highlight of Holmgren’s time with the Seahawks was in 2005, when the team ended with a 13-3 record and the top seed in the NFC. Steve Hutchinson and Walter Jones led the offensive line, and Shaun Alexander established a record with 28 touchdowns to win league MVP. In their first-ever trip to the Super Bowl, Seattle defeated the Carolina Panthers to win the NFC Championship.
In 2008, Holmgren’s Seahawks finished with an 86-74 record, including four more playoff victories than Seattle had ever achieved before he arrived (3). Before Pete Carroll, Holmgren was the Seahawks’ most successful coach by any measure.
Holmgren is one of just seven head coaches to lead two teams to the Super Bowl, even if he was not able to become the only one to do it. In addition to being in the Rings of Honor/Halls of Fame for the Packers and Seahawks, he has three Super Bowl victories and rings from his time as an assistant on the San Francisco 49ers dynasty.
