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Mike Holmgren One Of 12 Coached Nominated For Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 Class

Seahawks Ring of Honor member Mike Holmgren is once again a candidate for enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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Mike Holmgren, one of the most successful and influential coaches of his era, is once again a candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Holmgren, a member of the Seahawks Ring of Honor, is one of 12 coaches who will be considered by the Hall of Fame's Blue-Ribbon Committee along with Bill Arnsparger, Bill Belichick, Tom Coughlin, Alex Gibbs, Chuck Knox, Buddy Parker, Dan Reeves, Marty Schottenheimer, George Seifert, Mike Shanahan and Clark Shaughnessy.

The Blue-Ribbon Committee will narrow the list of candidates to nine in a vote later this month, and will eventually reduce the list to one finalist for the Class of 2026.

Holmgren was last year's finalist in the Coach category, but did not receive the necessary 89 percent of the vote from the Hall of Fame's selection committee to join the 2025 class.

Holmgren, who helped build the Seahawks and Packers into NFC powers, taking both teams to the Super Bowl, was named the coach finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2025.

Holmgren, who coached the Seahawks from 1999-2008 before retiring from coaching, had a 161-111 record as a head coach for the Packers and Seahawks, as well as a 13-11 postseason record, taking the Packers to two Super Bowls, winning one, and the Seahawks to their first Super Bowl following a 13-3 2005 season.

Holmgren took those two teams to the playoffs a total of 12 times, winning eight division titles and three conference championships. In both Green Bay and Seattle, Holmgren helped turn struggling franchises into perennial winners. After a dominant run in the 1960s, the Packers didn't enjoy much success over a span of more than two decades before Holmgren arrived, reaching the playoffs just twice between their championship season in 1967 and Holmgren's arrival in 1992. Holmgren went on to reach the playoffs for six straight seasons from 1993-1998, reaching back-to-back Super Bowls, winning one.

Following that successful run, Holmgren joined the Seahawks in one of Paul Allen's first big moves as the new owner of the franchise, and just as he did in Green Bay, Holmgren led a quick turnaround in Seattle. Prior to Holmgren's arrival in 1999, the Seahawks had gone a decade without a playoff berth and hadn't had a winning record since 1990. The Seahawks won a division title in Holmgren's first season, then went to the playoffs for five straight seasons from 2003-2007, winning four more NFC West titles and one NFC championship.

Holmgren's impact on the game extends beyond those two franchises, having also won a pair of Super Bowls as the offensive coordinator of the 49ers, and having built a coaching tree that includes multiple NFL head coaches, including Super Bowl-winning coaches Andy Reid and Jon Gruden. Holmgren was particularly renowned for his ability to help develop quarterbacks, including Hall of Famers Brett Favre and Steve Young, as well as Seahawks Ring of Honor member Matt Hasselbeck. Even

Joe Montana, who was already one of the league's best quarterbacks before Holmgren joined the 49ers, credits his former offensive coordinator with helping him win a pair of MVP trophies later in his career.

"Mike Holmgren is one of the greatest coaches in NFL history, who belongs in the Hall of Fame," Montana wrote in a letter to the Pro Hall of Fame selection committee several years ago in 2019. "… Mike was like Bill Walsh in many ways, especially in the way he demanded perfection. He always pushed us to be perfect and those demands and his attention to detail helped make me and our offense better. The fact that he played quarterback only enhanced our relationship. When you have someone who has coached and played that position, when you come off the field you know the guy that you're going to be talking to is going to understand what you're going through. His method of being able to communicate as a player as much as a coach really made a difference for me."

Mike Holmgren spent ten seasons as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, going 86-74, including leading the team to their first NFC Championship and Super Bowl appearance in 2005. Take a look back at photos from throughout his time in Seattle.

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