The mentor thing is overblown to me. I'm going to coach the player. I'm not going to have another player coach the player. They can be friends but when it comes to what I want him to do on the football field, that's my call, not another player's call.

Mike Holmgren

We still have our home in Seattle. The kids are there. The grandkids are there.

Mike Holmgren

It's special for me to coach the team Lombardi coached.

Mike Holmgren

You've got to find the quarterback. Once you find the quarterback, you can fix the other things.

Mike Holmgren

I never had anything planned, like, 'When I'm 40 I'll be coaching here.' A number of people in our profession have done that, but my thing was always, wherever I was coaching, to work hard, do the best you can, and if it happens, it happens.

Mike Holmgren

I took a leave of absence for a year to coach at San Francisco State under Vic Rowen, fully intending to go back to high school.

Mike Holmgren

I was teaching history and coaching both tennis and track along with football. I felt like I had the best of both worlds. I was pretty comfortable. I thought I would be doing what I was doing for the rest of my life.

Mike Holmgren

I'm very proud of the fact that we dispelled the myth about black athletes not being able to survive in Green Bay.

Mike Holmgren

I've always wanted to buy a bookstore. You know, sell some of those muffins and a little coffee. I don't care if we make any money. I don't want to lose a lot of money, but we could visit with people and get books.

Mike Holmgren

The mentor thing is overblown to me. I'm going to coach the player. I'm not going to have another player coach the player. They can be friends but when it comes to what I want him to do on the football field, that's my call, not another player's call.

Mike Holmgren

Everyone has to understand what the role is - what the role of the player is, the role of the coach is. You're hired to do something. You're paid to do something.

Mike Holmgren

I had a rule - I didn't have a lot of rules - and one of them was we're going to operate from a mutual respect. I won't embarrass you, and I don't expect you to be embarrass me.

Mike Holmgren

I get the job with the 49ers, and I'm four years removed from my high school coaching days, and I'm going to be coaching Joe Montana, and I'm going, 'How do I approach this? How am I going to do this?'

Mike Holmgren

I think one of my strengths is kind of knowing people and getting a good read and a feel for what that person's strengths might be.

Mike Holmgren

My football do-over is when I went to Seattle and had both jobs as coach and general manager.

Mike Holmgren

I was raised, right or wrong, you make a decision and you don't quit. You fight your way through it; that's what you did.

Mike Holmgren

I'm a high school history teacher who got lucky.

Mike Holmgren

The fans are very, very important in the team's success. Instead of acting up, you're cheering for the team.

Mike Holmgren

As an organization, I think you owe it to the vast majority of people who go to the game and want to watch the game and enjoy the game and feel good about bringing their kids or their wife or their grandma to the game.

Mike Holmgren

The important thing, I think, going into any organization, is that all of the principles, all of the decision-makers are pointed in the same direction, with the same motives, the same desires, and then you have a chance.

Mike Holmgren

The teams that are successful from ownership to management to coaching - there is a singleness of purpose. There's enough credit for everyone. No one gets territorial. It's just good - and it shows on the field.

Mike Holmgren