2007 MEDIA GUIDE - Seahawks Online Media Packet

HOLMGREN 30Mike Holmgren enters his ninth season ashead coach of the Seattle Seahawks afterguiding the club to its third straight NFC Westtitle in 2006 and the club’s fourth consecutivepostseason appearance. His clubs have postedwinning records six of his eight seasons,including four division titles after winning theAFC West in 1999, his first season with theteam and a club-record 13 wins in 2005.Holmgren is tied (Baltimore’s Brian Billick) asthe third longest tenured head coach with thesame club behind Tennessee’s Jeff Fisher andDenver’s Mike Shanahan (13 years).Holmgren originally joined the Seahawksas Executive Vice President/General Manager& Head Coach on January 9, 1999. Followingthe 2002 season, Holmgren decided to focusexclusively on coaching and relinquished hisduties as general manager.Since 2003, the Seahawks 41-23 record(.641) is the best in the NFC, along withPhiladelphia, and are the only teams in theNFC with winning records each of the lastfour seasons. Seattle has posted four consecutivewinning seasons for the first time inclub history.The Seahawks have made significantstrides in becoming one of the elite teams inthe NFL under Holmgren the last four seasons.The Seahawks reached 10 wins for justthe fourth time in franchise history in 2005,marking the second time that had beenaccomplished in Seattle in 18 years (1986).Last season, Holmgren guided theSeahawks to the NFC Divisional Playoff Gameafter winning the NFC West and posting a 9-7record. After beginning the season 4-1,Seattle persisted through injuries to nineoffensive starters (totaling 48 combinedgames), including 2005 MVP ShaunAlexander who missed six games with a brokenfoot. Matt Hasselbeck missed four gamesin the middle of the season with an injuredknee and finished the season with a smallfracture in his left hand.It was the first time Seattle has won aSeahawks Experience: 9th YearTotal NFL Experience: 22nd YearNFL Head Coaching: 16th Yeargame in back-to-back postseasons since the1983 and 1984 seasons and ended a five-seasonNFL streak in which the Super Bowl runner-updid not make the following postseason.In 2005, he joined an elite group of coaches,becoming just the fifth coach in NFL historyto take two different teams to the SuperBowl (1996 & 1997 Green Bay, 2005 Seattle).In that group are Bill Parcells, Dan Reeves,Don Shula and Dick Vermeil.Holmgren guided Seattle’s second-rankedNFL offense to its best year in club history.Beginning the season 2-2, the Seahawks