through to the media trailer for his conference call. His first words: “It’s
kind of wild down there.”
Indeed.
When asked
for reaction on what happened with the 49ers this week, Holmgren said, “You
know, Mike Nolan is a good guy. He’s a friend of mine. I don’t like the
in-season stuff. That shouldn’t shock anybody. That’s my profession, and it’s
hard. I know his family and it’s his heart. I wish him well.”
Q: You obviously know Scot
McCloughan well, too. What kind of relationship do you have with him?
Holmgren: With Scotty? Or, Scot, I should say
now. He’s an executive. . . . I have a good relationship with Scot, I believe.
He was really a very competent, hard-working personnel guy when he was with me.
And he’s really a good guy.
Q: Did it
surprise you that Scot felt compelled to do that to the guy who hired him?
Holmgren:
You don’t know what actually goes into something like that. Ownership has to be
involved, executives have to be involved. Exactly how it came down . . . I’m
sure Scot had to be the one to do it. I don’t know the details, so I wouldn’t
comment on it.
Q: What do
you know about Mike Singletary?
Holmgren: I
know he was a great player. He was still playing for the Bears when I was
coaching in
And I don’t know him very well, personally. But what I’ve read about him and
heard about him from people who do know him well, he’s like the best guy there
ever was. He’s a quality human being, and a very intense, bright guy. It’s
interesting when you have the great, great, great players like Mike was, who
choose to go into coaching, it’s interesting to me. Because coaching isn’t as glamorous
as being the star football player. But clearly he wants to do this, and now he
gets his crack at it.
Q: I’m sure
you’ll be flattered to find out your held in very high regard in the Bay Area.
And when all this stuff happens, a lot of people are talking about you, knowing
this is last year last in
What are your feelings about landing with the 49ers at some point in the
future?
Holmgren:
When I was at high school, at
years, that was my dream job and it never quite came to fruition. But times
change and right now, I think it’s been stated and I stated it to my own guys
(beat reporters) for the 27th time, the plan for me and Kath(y) is
to take a year off after this time in
We’ve been here 10 years, and we love it here, and that’s the plan. More
importantly, right now, I have to figure out a way to beat the 49ers. So that’s
first and foremost. While I’m flattered – we have a lot of friends in the Bay
Area – that’s the plan right now.
Q: Can you
ever envision at some point coming to the 49ers in some capacity?
Holmgren:
Well, you know what, if it’s OK with you guys, I’m going to refrain from
commenting on that. I think it would be unfair to a lot of people, Mike
Singletary, being one. It’s too much of a hypothetical. Things in this crazy
business change on a day-to-day basis. I’m going to remain fairly consistent
with that, if it’s OK. I’m not going to get into it.
Q: You may
have addressed this one 27 times, too, but how are you going to spend that year
off?
Holmgren:
Well, I’m going to ride my motorcycle a little bit. I’m going to hang out at
the beach a little bit. We’re building a new home in
I have six grandkids now, believe it or not, two little grandsons finally came.
All the things that I haven’t been able to do for the last 40 years or so. . . Bill Walsh, I remember him saying when we were
in training camp at Rocklin one year. We’re sitting around the table at 11 o’clock
at night, you know, drinking bottled water. He said, ‘You know, I understand, I
really hear August is a pretty nice month.’ The point was, we live a different
life. So we’ll see how it goes the next year.
Q: I didn’t
know they had bottled water in those days.
Holmgren:
Well, maybe it wasn’t . . . maybe it was lemonade.
Q: Did it
have a cork in the top of the bottle?
Holmgren: I
know this, with Bill, it was not a twist-off cap.
* * *
Holmgren said he expects Seneca Wallce to start in place of injured QB Matt Hasselbeck on Sunday at Candlestick Park. Wallace completed 12 of 23 passes for 73 yards with a TD and an interception in the Seahawks’ 20-10 loss to the Buccaneers on Sunday.
* * *
