There are several acccomplishments which set a coach apart where they reach the status as a coaching great. Of course winning a Super Bowl is the ultimate prize however when we look at the legacy of their coahing tree, PFHoF players the coach produces, and the ability to turn around a franchise. Mike Holmgren has soared every hurdle and has turned around 2 franchises.
Do you realize when Sterling Sharpe gives his speech this August, he’ll be the 6th player enshrined in Canton that played for Holmgren? That is 1 fewer than Tom Landry who coached Dallas 29 seasons and 2 less than Don Shula who coached for 33. Mike Holmgren was head coach in Green Bay & Seattle for just 17 seasons. The late Reggie White, Brett Favre, LeRoy Butler, T Walter Jones, & G Steve Hutchinson are the others with bronze busts.
Try this on… The Mike Holmgren coaching tree with branches Andy Reid, Jon Gruden, Steve Mariucci, Jim Mora Jr, & Tom Coughlin have gone on to take their teams to 22 conference championship games! This includes 6 Super Bowl Championships (XXXVII, XLII, XLVI. LIV, LVII, & LVIII) in 9 appearances. In contrast when you compare this to Hall of Fame Coach Bill Walsh, you have to include Holmgren’s 4 conference championship appearances just to make it to 13. You know the reverence Coach Walsh is kept here at Taylor Blitz but that is an astounding measure.
No other coach has had 3 staff members move on to become Super Bowl winning head coaches. Bill Walsh & Bill Parcells each had 2 but that is it. Not Jimmy Johnson, not Chuck Noll, not Bill Belichick, not George Seifert, not even Tom Landry. Keep in mind 5 of these coaches are already enshrined in Canton with Belichick eligible in 3 years.
He was also able to win in different fashions. He developed a young Brett Favre and won with his passing prowess featuring Hall of Fame receiver Sterling Sharpe. Sharpe set back to back NFL records for receptions in a season (1992 -108rec/1993 -112 rec) while Favre went on to be NFL MVP 3 straight years 1995-1997. He set NFC record with TD passes with 38 in ’95 & 39 in ’96. They were a pass first West Coast offense that leaned on the run to close out games.
Then in Seattle he leans on a bellcow running back Sean Alexander who wins the 2005 NFL MVP rushing for 1,880 yards with 28 rushing TDs. They made it to Super Bowl XL where several questionable calls kept Holmgren from becoming the 1st coach to win Super Bowls with 2 different franchises. He was “this” close…
2005 NFC Championship Trophy
Of course his most notable stop was resurrecting a Green Bay franchise that had been flat on its back since the Lombardi era in the 1960s. No coach could sustain excellence in what had become a desolate place where other coaches would use the threat of “sending” players off to Green Bay as a banishment. There is an NFL Films clip of the late John McKay saying this on the Buccaneer sideline. This was a team that had been 0-26!
In bringing the team to respectability from a competitive standpoint, his rise came at the advent of free agency at the beginning of the 1993 season. One of the principle arguments that persisted was ‘how could Green Bay attract black free agents?’ He was instrumental in landing the 1st prized free agent in Hall of Fame DE Reggie White. He actually pranked him by leaving a voicemail saying he “was Jesus and he should come to Green Bay.” He won over Reggie White when no pundit thought he had a snowballs chance to sign him.
That move attracted key black free agents TE Keith Jackson, WR Andre Rison, FS Eugene Robinson, DE Sean Jones who spearheaded Holmgren’s Super Bowl XXXI champion. Yes there were other great notable signings in WR Don Beebe, QB Jim McMahon, and FS Mike Prior but in ’92 while the players were suing for free agency Keith Jackson was the #1 free agent. Reggie White’s name was on the lawsuit and he was ’93s prize free agent every team was after. Holmgren charmed them both.
He needed them to get over the top after taking the Packers to 9-7, 9-7, 9-7 and 11-5 records 1992-1995. His 13-3 masterpiece returned the Vince Lombardi Trophy to Green Bay making Holmgren a legend:
His final two years in Green Bay, he was on the precipice of winning back to back Super Bowls when they charged into XXXII as a defending champion. Needless to say Holmgren’s team fell behind and he took the ball out of Dorsey Levens hands chronicled here
In 1998 the Packers entered the playoffs as a wildcard and lost in dramatic fashion to San Francisco 30-27 on a last second TD from Young to Owens. His final game as a Packer. I was disappointed he didnt win in XXXII and believe he would have been in Canton years ago had he gone back to back. Referee whistles and flags against his Seahawks in XL withstanding… however as The Chancellor of Football I wanted to offer this piece.
For his career he is tied with Don Shula & George Seifert as the only head coaches to produce 4 NFL MVPs with Brett Favre (1995,96,97) & Shawn Alexander in 2005. Considering 2 of the MVPs won under Seifert, Joe Montana ’89 & ’90, Holmgren was the Offensive Coordinator calling those plays. Winning Super Bowls XXIII and XXIV. The latter a 55-10 blowout in one of the most artistic games ever called. Peyton Manning won his with 3 coaches & Aaron Rodgers won his with 2.
If you’re keeping score at home:
- Tied for producing the most NFL MVPs in history with 4.
- Coaching tree has produced 22 conference title appearances, 9 Super Bowl appearances winning 6.
- 4th in history producing PFHoF players with 6 & Shawn Alexander talk is heating up. Could tie Landry at 3.
- Had a 161-111 record as a head coach winning 1 Super Bowl, appearing in 2 more.
- Hired to be Packers HC after a 3 year run in SF as OC ’88, ’89, ’90 winning 2 Super Bowls and an NFC Championship Game.
This is the epitome of a Pro Football Hall of Fame coach! In multiple Super Bowls in multiple decades? He needs to be enshrined just as I said to him back in 2016 he would. Well…
Back in 2012 when he was enshrined in The Packers Hall of Fame I was upset Brett Favre wasn’t there as he was still at odds with the organization. By the midnight hour I wrote “The Chancellor’s Take: Green Bay Packers & Brett Favre’s Broken Relationship” pleading they get their act together as the time was coming to immortalize recently retired greats as Favre soon would be. Never once figuring I’d be able to witness history up close.
As fate would have it I attended the 2016 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony as a guest of Kevin Greene, for penning a similar article for him years before. The Favre & Greene contingents were right in front of the stage. When the ceremony ended I walked toward the stage to congratulate Kevin for an awesome speech and hug his wife Tara who sang the national anthem…and right next to me was this old football coach… Mike Holmgren congratulating Favre on his. It was a surreal moment flashing me back to the 2012 Packers HOF ceremony… We greeted and as we were exiting toward the shuttles I told him to get ready as he had to prepare his speech. Of course he thanked me and gave a wry smile “maybe someday”… was gracious and gregarious as we chatted that evening.
Yet here we are and somehow this man hasn’t been ensrined. If this isn’t a Pro Football Hall of Fame resume I don’t know what one is. its time for the writers to put Mike Holmgren in the hallowed halls of Canton. He had my vote years ago…
For induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I present to you Mike Holmgren!
Past Hall of Fame Articles:
Robert Brazile 2011 (inducted 2018)
Ran into Robert Brazile after the Gold Jacket Dinner. Great time.
Kevin Greene 2011 (inducted 2016)
With Kevin Greene after the Induction ceremony.
Sterling Sharpe 2011 (will be inducted 2025)
Terrell Davis 2011 (inducted 2017)
Jerry Kramer 2011 (inducted 2018)
“Hey big guy!” ’18 HOF
Randy Moss 2011 (inducted 2018)
Cris Carter 2011 (inducted 2013)
Tom Flores 2012 (inducted 2021)
Edgerrin James 2013 (inducted 2020)
Andre Reed 2013 (inducted 2014)
Ken Riley 2015 (inducted 2023)
Ken Stabler 2015 (inducted 2016)
Drew Pearson 2016 (inducted 2021)
Cliff Branch 2016 (inducted 2022)
Wait.. finish off New York? Yes. Jets Head Coach Robert Saleh was fired just two days later after a disappointing 2-3 start.
This isn’t new as I mentioned Houston Oiler Coach Jack Pardee earlier. Keep in mind he was a 15 year Middle Linebacker in the NFL. As a coach he ushered in 
So the next time you hear the b.s. narrative and why defensive coaches don’t win, remind whoever the highest scoring teams in league history and all the NFL’s passing records came from QBs led by defensive coaches. The reigning NFL MVP & the last 2 Rookie of the Year recipients are quarterbacks on defensive coach’s teams as well.
The litigation and subsequent concussion settlement is why the NFL started to change the game. This was borne not in the name of player safety, but the decades long dodgeball they played to keep from paying former players and their families on disability claims. While its imperative the game be made safer, many fans believe the essence of the game is being lost. This game was predicated on toughness, endurance and physical play. Taking the unnecessary blows to the head out of the game needed to happen but the collisions.. the WOOO hits need to remain.
I enjoy quarterbacks being assaulted. Go hit the quarterback and strike fear in the offense you’re facing! Hit your opponent with all your might. This is what we were all taught and I’m not giving in to this softer way to look at the game. I love the hitting…the collisions.. Its late summer and its time for training camp and some hitting. The smell of grass and “nutcracker” or “Oklahoma drill” time.
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