Three years ago, coach Jim Mora cooked his own goose in Atlanta by musing on a Seattle radio show about the possibility of becoming the next coach at the University of Washington.
“I don’t care if we’re in the middle of a playoff run,” Mora told Dave Mahler and Hugh Millen of KJR. “I’m packing my stuff and coming back to Seattle.”
Mora has since returned to the Pacific Northwest, but as the head coach of the Seahawks.
And while Mora’s most recent comments likely won’t result in such an immediate departure from his current gig, he might have made his job going forward even harder.
Mora let it be known that he wanted former coach Mike Holmgren to return as the G.M., and Mora has now acknowledged his wishes publicly.
“It’s no secret that I’m a Mike Holmgren fan, and I was an advocate of him coming back, to the point that I made my feelings known to the people that make those decisions,” Mora told reporters on Monday, per the Seattle Times. “I’m probably as disappointed as anybody that he’s decided to reject our offer and go onward. I don’t know all the particulars. I just know that I absolutely have great regard for Mike Holmgren.”
But the particulars include the reality that some in the organization didn’t want Holmgren to come back. And with plenty of Seahawks fans questioning the team’s failure to give Holmgren the power that he wanted, those in the organization who didn’t want Holmgren likely are cringing in response to Mora’s bolstering the complaints of the pro-Big Show crowd.
Also, the next G.M. -- whoever it might be -- could be a little uncomfortable working with a guy who has gone on the record regarding his preference to work with someone who didn’t take the job.
Then again, maybe the genius of Mora’s remarks is that talking about Holmgren not coming to Seattle could create a new opportunity for Mora in Cleveland. Holmgren will want a coach who’s willing to show deference; who better to do that than a former member of Holmgren’s staff who has put his neck on the line by telling the world that he’d like to work with Holmgren again?