Oct 12, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders helmet on the turf during the second half of the game against the San Diego Chargers at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports
One of the NFL’s extremely successful head coaches with the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks, Mike Holmgren, has been out of a high profile job since he stepped aside from a front office role with the Cleveland Browns in 2012. Since then Holmgren has served as a freelance advisor of sorts, visiting the Raiders after the Dennis Allen firing and now it appears that there is interest from NFL teams in trying to get Holmgren back into a full time role.
According to Holmgren there have been “a couple” of inquiries about coming back to head coach, something that he hasn’t done since 2008 when his long run with the Seahawks came to an end.
Holmgren said in an interview with Dave Mahler of KJR in Seattle that he has received “a couple of inquiries” from teams that are looking for a head coach, making it potentially likely that the Raiders are one of those teams with Reggie McKenzie having great respect for Holmgren dating back to his roots with the Packers organization.
Another potential outcome is Ron Wolf and the Jets as Wolf is serving as a consultant to owner Woody Johnson in the search to replace Rex Ryan. New York are also in need of a general manager so there is a chance that Holmgren could be in the mix there in addition to Oakland as the two most likely interested parties in the well travelled football mind.
It is unlikely that Holmgren would return to the sidelines without a big offer to do so, but the track record of the 66 year old would make him by far the best candidate in both Oakland and New York. Despite not coaching since 2008, Holmgren is 161-111 in the regular season and 13-11 in the playoffs as a head coach. Nobody is going to easily match that type of experience, so if the Raiders are serious in pursuing Holmgren it may be one of their better options going forward.