Can the history of the National Football League be authentically told without talking about Mike Holmgren? That is the question that has held the voters of the Pro Football Hall of Fame back year after year.
The former high school tennis and football coach entered the league right when Joe Montana needed him the most. Early that first season in 1986, Montana went down with a career-threatening back injury that would sideline him for much of the season. As the quarterback's coach, Holmgren had to learn the complex West Coast Offense on the fly as he tutored the backups.
That trial-by-fire approach served him well as the system was seared into his mind. Steve Young arrived the following year and immediately began pining for Montana's job. Holmgren would often act as a sounding board for his former BYU pupil as he rose through the ranks as a quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator. After he was promoted in 1989, he spent much of his time making the West Coast Offense his own while continuing to tutor Joe Montana and Steve Young in the finer points of quarterbacking.
After noticing that Montana coughed up an awful lot of his interceptions on one favorite play, Holmgren deleted it from the playbook. And seeing how Young was always just a little late delivering the ball down the field, Holmgren told him to ignore his short-for-the-league 6'2" stature and throw with anticipation rather than relying entirely on his eyes. His coaching worked and was a critical factor in Montana winning consecutive league MVP's and the 49ers winning back-to-back Super Bowls.
With great success comes great responsibility and by 1992, Mike Holmgren came to Green Bay are the hottest head coaching candidate on the market. After stepping away from the golden shores of the Golden State, he stepped into an environment that had lost its identity as one of the league's most storied franchises. After an 0-2 start to his head coaching career, newly acquired backup quarterback Brett Favre stepped in for the injured Don Majkowski, beginning one of the great coach-quarterback partnerships in the history of the game.
Still Mike Holmgren couldn't coach his young colt alone. He needed a team of coaches to help him out. Young coaches such as Steve Mariucci, Jon Gruden and Andy Reid each provided their time and insights into making Brett Favre a Hall of Fame quarterback. While he never fully shook his wild ways on the field, Favre learned through trial and error how to perfectly blend the intricately timed West Coast Offense with his natural instincts. By the time he retired, Favre was a three-time league MVP and Super Bowl champion, all thanks to Mike Holmgren and his army of coaches.
With a Super Bowl ring of his own, Mike Holmgren next sauntered over to Seattle to serve as both the coach and general manager. While his coaching tree wasn't as impressive in the Pacific Northwest, his hand-built rosters were. He traded for quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and drafted running back Shawn Alexander and Hall of Fame guard Steve Hutchinson to line up alongside fellow Hall of Famer Walter Jones.
Led by one of the league's most potent offenses, the Seahawks reached their first Super Bowl in 2005, making Mike Holmgren just the fourth head coach to lead to different franchises to the big game. Of course, all the excitement of the big game was deflated when the Seahawks lost to the Steelers, but it was the journey that cemented his status as one of the game's great teachers and architects of the West Coast Offense.
While he retired in 2012 after a forgettable three year run as the president of the Cleveland Browns, Mike Holmgren's lasting impact in the NFL has long lasted his career as his coaching tree continues to grow. From the extensive branches of Andy Reid (three Super Bowls) and Jon Gruden (one Super Bowl) have sprouted some of the game's brightest minds and winningest coaches such as John Harbaugh (one Super Bowl), Sean McVay (one Super Bowl), Doug Pederson (one Super Bowl), Ron Rivera, Sean McDermott and Kyle Shanahan.
Having also personally tutored some of the game's greatest quarterbacks and consistently building up dysfunctional franchises (aside from Cleveland), the history of the game CAN'T POSSIBLY be written without speaking glowingly of Mike Holmgren.
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