Holmgren to coach Seahawks for one more season

KIRKLAND -- Mike Holmgren is coming back to the Seahawks for one last season.

He confirmed that this afternoon in a news conference at team headquarters, ending all questions about his immediate future. He said the 2008 season will be his last as coach.

Holmgren said last Tuesday that he needed a few days to discuss his future -- either retiring or returning to fulfill at least the final year on his contract with Seattle -- with his wife Kathy over a short vacation in Arizona. He returned from that trip earlier this week.

"Kathy and I came to a decision this weekend to finish my contract, and we're very happy about it," Holmgren said. "We're going to go after it hard one more year."

Holmgren, 59, has coached the Seahawks since 1999, guiding the team to five straight postseason appearances and four consecutive NFC West titles along with a Super Bowl appearance in the 2005 season.

He came to Seattle from the Green Bay Packers with an eight-year contract, then signed a two-year extension just before the last year of that original deal in 2006. That was just a few months removed from the team's only Super Bowl appearance.

Holmgren was the Seahawks' general manager along with being coach from 1999 to 2002 before relinquishing the GM position. Tim Ruskell has been Seattle's GM since 2005.

Holmgren said last week he might consider another contract extension, but his choices came down to either walking away or staying for another season.

Holmgren's record with Green Bay and Seattle is 170-110, one win behind Joe Gibbs for 10th in NFL history. He is 86-68 in nine seasons with Seattle and passed Chuck Knox this season for most victories by a Seahawks coach in franchise history.

Leaving town at the end of a season and decompressing before making a decision to return as coach is nothing new to Holmgren, who has mulled his future at this time of the year several times since coming to Seattle.

Holmgren also announced today that offensive line assistant coach Keith Gilbertson will become receivers coach, replacing Nolan Cromwell. Cromwell left to become offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. Another Seahawks assistant, quality-control coach Gary Reynolds, will also join the Aggies staff as an assistant to coach Mike Sherman.