Home
Mike Holmgren: His Life Reads Like a Good Book
By Rick Lund
SEATTLE, WA (September 27, 2004) - Those of us who view Mike Holmgren from
afar only have perceptions of who he is - a mountain of a man who is
larger than life, a master of the "West Coast offense" who coached Green
Bay to two Super Bowls in the late 1990s and who now prowls the
sidelines as coach of another NFL team with Super Bowl aspirations, the
Seattle Seahawks.
Peel beneath the football layers, however, and you will find a
thoughtful, sensitive and sincere man who is steadfast in his faith and
generous with his time and money. You will find a loyal husband who was
shaken to the core when his soul mate, wife Kathy, was
diagnosed with cancer. You will find a tender father who is close to his
daughters. And you will find a man who not only coaches football
players, but a coach who molds men.
This coming Saturday, those in attendance for North Park University's
football game with Augustana College will see yet another side of
Holmgren - that of a parent whose wife and daughters love their alma mater.
North Park will dedicate the Holmgren Athletic Complex on October 2, a
date determined by the NFL schedule-makers (the Seahawks have a "bye"
and that's the only Saturday the project's leading donor can attend the
ceremony). Mike and Kathy will be on hand for the festivities, to be
held at halftime during North Park's home contest. The project includes
a new football field with state-of-the-art turf, new grandstands and
lighting and adjacent baseball and softball diamonds, among other things.
"We're excited," Holmgren said. "North Park is a wonderful school. It's
been so good for our kids. I believe in what they're doing there. I
believe in the president (Dr. David Horner) who's there."
Holmgren's life reads like a book, filled with the suspense and twists
and turns of a best-selling novel.
Chapter One – The Cancer
Meet Mike Holmgren for the first time and you're instantly struck by his
stature. The Redwood-sized guy from San Francisco stands 6-foot-5 and
has a commanding presence to go with it, which is why players privately
call him "The Big Show." But spend a few minutes with Holmgren, and you
realize he's a regular guy who's personable and interested in a lot of
things besides football. Family comes first for this coach. He's proud
of his daughters and is tight with his childhood sweetheart and wife of
32 years, Kathy.
The two have been inseparable since they met as youngsters at Mission
Springs Conference Center near Santa Cruz, California. Mike beams when
he talks about her. Speaking at a North Park alumni gathering in Seattle
a few years ago, he introduced Kathy as "the real hero in this family."
The phone rings during the interview, conducted in Holmgren's palatial,
corner office overlooking lush-green practice fields at Seahawk
headquarters in Kirkland, Washington. It's Kathy. She wants to stop by
around lunch time so he can sign some papers. "I'll treat you to lunch.
What would you like?" Holmgren asks playfully. "A baloney sandwich? A
hot dog?"
The mood wasn't as light three years ago. Just days before the 2001 NFL
Draft, a routine checkup revealed Kathy had breast cancer, a period
Holmgren once called "one of the most horrible times in my life." This
one blindsided the former University of Southern California quarterback,
like a hit to the head from a blitzing linebacker. As a coach, Holmgren
can devise a plan to beat the best defenses in the NFL, but cancer was
an opponent with which he was not familiar. He read everything about the
illness he could get his hands on. He worried. And he thought about what
was important in life.
"It scares you," Holmgren said. "And to have someone you love so much to
be that sick, it's hard. You think about priorities, how you view stuff
and time. You step back and look at things a little bit. You think about
the time that's been taken away (by the demands of the coaching
profession). But we're empty-nesters, so now if you can do something
about it, that's another thing."
Holmgren adjusted his work schedule to start each day with meaningful
time with Kathy. Instead of going to the office at 5 a.m. – like most
NFL coaches do – Mike goes to work later these days. The two begin their
day by exercising in their home and follow it with devotion time. One
particular series of devotions included a Covenant hymn of the
day. Mike and Kathy sang the hymns together.
"We're visiting them one time in Seattle," daughter Jenny recalls, "and
at eight in the morning the two of them are singing 'Children of the
Heavenly Father.' It wasn't something I expected to see." Before Mike
leaves for the office, they talk over coffee, he says, to "check on each
other's day." Mike still cherishes that time with Kathy each
morning and acknowledges he's still able to get his work done at the
office, working late if necessary.
As for Kathy, the cancer was caught early, and today she is cancer-free.
"It (the cancer) really snapped things back in perspective again,"
Holmgren said. "I think those of
us in our profession periodically have to be drawn back. This life
(coaching profession) can be very hard on marriages. It can be
all-consuming. And if you let it, it can influence a lot of the rest of
your life, your relationships and what kind of person you are.
"Hopefully, I won't let that happen, and with Kathy's sickness, it's
brought it back into focus." Says Kathy, a former volunteer, full-time
parish nurse at Mercer Island Covenant Church, where she and Mike
attend: "We begin the day focusing on God and what He has in store for us."
Chapter Two - Father's Daughters
At work, Holmgren is almost exclusively around men. When it comes to
family, however, he lives in a female world.
Holmgren has four grown daughters and two granddaughters. Even the
family pets – a bulldog named Maxine and a Chinese pug named Lily – are
females. The same man who can be as demanding and intimidating as any
coach in the NFL is a soft touch when it comes to his daughters. He
admits he got choked up when his three oldest daughters were married and
when they had children.
It's a rare day when Holmgren doesn't hear from at least one of his
girls. "I usually get a couple hits every day," says Holmgren with a
smile. "It's funny." The oldest are the twins, Jenny and Calla. Jenny is
director of communications for North Park University. Calla is a doctor
who recently completed her residency in Chicago and is now working on a
fellowship in high-risk pregnancies at the University of Utah. Daughter
number three is Emily, a school teacher in Chicago. The youngest,
Gretchen, is a law student at the University of Washington. All four are
graduates of North Park. Though they're scattered around the country,
all have satellite dishes so they can watch every Seahawks
game. They are their dad's biggest fans. Like clockwork, they'll check
in after a game.
"They're very close, and they love football," Holmgren said. "But the
questions are so different. Calla will say, 'you really ran the ball too
much on third down.' Jenny will critique the defense - she's the one who
wanted to be a scout. She'll talk about how the Rams blitzed us pretty
good. Emily will phone and say, 'how are you feeling, dad?
Are you okay?' And she's sweet. In fact, she (Emily) won't watch the
games with her sisters anymore because they're yelling. And then there's
Gretchen. She goes to every game and she's really into it. She'll e-mail
me about the draft, this and that. It's very funny."
Other family members have learned it's best not to be in the same room
when Calla and Jenny are watching the game. "My husband tells us to
relax, because we're yelling
at the TV, and my daughter is very sensitive to noise," Jenny says. "I
remember the Green Bay playoff game last season (which the Seahawks lost
in overtime). I couldn't watch the end of the game, I was so stressed
out. I went outside and shoveled snow."
Chapter Three - Molding Men
Holmgren's Seahawks raised a few eyebrows in 2002 when they drafted in
the first round local star Jerramy Stevens, a talented but troubled
tight end out of the University of Washington (UW). In choosing the
promising 6-foot-7 Stevens, the Seahawks overlooked an accusation of
sexual assault and a reckless plunge with his truck into a retirement
home during his years at the UW. He also faced DUI and reckless-driving
charges not long after he signed a $7.2 million contract with the Seahawks.
Holmgren took Stevens under his wing and after two disappointing,
injury-plagued seasons, it appears the big tight end has turned his life
around. Last Christmas Eve, he made Rice Krispie treats and delivered
them to the Union Gospel Mission. He launched his own foundation in the
spring and hosted a football skills camp and began speaking to community
groups. He worked hard in the off season, had a good training camp and
began this season as Seattle's starting tight end. "Normally speaking, I
haven't done that with a kid," said Holmgren of his controversial
decision to draft Stevens. "But I really felt we could make things work.
Jerramy and I have spent a lot of time together.
"As a high-school coach, I found I could help mold a kid's future a
little bit," Holmgren continued. "I don't think that responsibility
changes just because you're the head coach at the professional level. If
you can impress upon them something that might help them in their
relationships - how they conduct themselves, that they don't drink and
drive - I talk about it a lot, just about every day. I hope they don't
shut me out."
Chapter Four - Foundation of Faith
Some of Holmgren's earliest childhood memories are of First Covenant
Church in San Francisco. His grandmother and grandfather, who owned a
Swedish bakery in San Francisco, he describes as "patriarchs" of the
church. Holmgren's father was church chairman. His parents sang in the
choir. He hardly missed a Sunday service and was expected to attend
mid-week prayer meetings as well.
"I remember in high school going to football practice and then having to
go to church on Wednesday night," he recalls. "I'd be so tired that I'd
ask my sister sitting next to me to hit me if I fell asleep. But we had
to go. In those days it was the Swedish thing – more strict than it is now."
Kathy saw those convictions as a child at Mission Springs. "I remember
going to Mike's (family's) cabin to play with his sister and Mike would
be there with his friends," Kathy said. "They all had to do devotions
before they were allowed to go out and play." Years later, devotion time
is still a priority. When the two vacationed in Hawaii after last
season, they read together Philip Yancey's book Rumors of Another
World. "When we go on vacations, we don't do much – just relax and
read," Kathy said. "We'd read about two chapters of the book each day
and discuss it over dinner. Mike enjoyed it so much, he bought 10 copies
of the book when we got home and sent them to his friends, including one
to his agent."
Many of his Holmgren's friends are in the NFL. Several years ago,
Holmgren and fellow NFL coaches Dave Wannstedt and Tony Dungy helped
start a prayer breakfast for coaches and their wives at the annual NFL
owners meetings. It grew from a handful of couples 12 years ago to 15
couples this past year. "My faith is very important, to set an example
for my children, for my players," Holmgren said. "Now I'm not an
evangelist. But it's important to me."
Chapter Five - Trying Times
Holmgren, in his sixth year as coach of the Seahawks, is excited about
his young and talented team, one many considered a preseason favorite to
win the NFC. The
Seahawks posted a 10-6 record during the regular season last year and
went to the playoffs for only the second time since 1989. But there
were difficult years for the Seahawks following Holmgren's first season,
1999, when the team made the playoffs. Holmgren largely inherited an
aging, salary heavy team from his predecessor, Dennis
Erickson. While Holmgren let go several veteran players to free
salary-cap room, the Seahawks went 6-10, 9-7 and 7-9, missing the
playoffs all three seasons.
Conventional wisdom in Seattle was that Holmgren was stretched too thin
in his dual role as general manager and coach. Holmgren maintains the
rebuilding process just took more time than he expected. "It took a
little longer than I thought to fix the salary-cap situation," said
Holmgren. The team overcame a spate of injuries to key players
to finish the 2002 season strong, quieting some critics. Still, team
ownership told Holmgren after that season he had to relinquish his
general manager duties – or else. It was a difficult time for him.
"I really wanted to stay in Seattle and be the coach of this team,"
Holmgren said. "I really didn't have a choice. I like our football team
and we love Seattle. The job was unfinished. I think I could do both (be
general manager and coach), I know I can. But the team had to do
something, so they did it."
For all his coaching accolades – he ranks fourth among active NFL
coaches in victories – he is a sensitive big guy who unabashedly cries
at sad movies like Brian's Song, Saving Private Ryan and The
Perfect Storm. Holmgren's faith and the support of his family keep
him strong in the pressure-cooker world of an NFL coach. Kathy's
steadying influence helps him talk things out after a difficult day at
the office. And then those daughters of his keep calling to light up his
day.
"It's pretty hard to do what I do without being pretty grounded in your
faith," Holmgren said. "None of us are strong enough to rely on ourselves."
Faith and family. For a coach who's known as a master of the
passing-oriented West Coast offense, he's pretty well grounded.
(Editor's note: Rick Lund is a member of Bethany Covenant Church in
Mount Vernon, Washington. He serves as editor of the North Pacific
Conference News.)
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
