Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ten years a quarterback in the Seattles for the Seattle Seahawks,
the first quarterback ever to take the Seahawks to a
super Bowl, and just a genuine nice guy all the
way around. Matt Hasselbeck joins us. Right now, Hi, Matt,
how are you hey?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
What's going up? What's going on? I'm in New Orleans here.
I thought i'd see you guys, but you decided to
stay in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. I don't blame you.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Paint the picture. How is Radio Row in New Orleans
treating you so far?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
You know what it's it's pretty good. But I gotta
say the people here are not as forgiving about the
beast Quake game as I would have expected. So definitely,
Like that's a long time ago, and it wasn't like
a super Bowl. It was a wild card game. And
but Saints fans have not forgotten. There's that has been
(00:46):
made clear for sure.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Now, Matt, are you reminding them of that? Or you
just just run? You're the quarterback?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Oh yeah, you know what, Maybe that's why it comes up. Actually,
my bad.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Just a little little stick, a little knife from the
back there. Yeah, do you remember that one man that
was your second last game with the Seahawks too. I
just thinking about that, your last home game.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
That's called the penultimate game. It's a vocab word, sat
word if anybody needs one of those. But now there's
a lot of energy. There's a lot of energy down here.
Obviously Eagles Chiefs. This is a great you know, super
Bowl city and uh should be a great matchup. So
there's a lot of excitement about the you know, the
two different teams are very different, you know in one
terms of one team runs the ball once he throws
(01:32):
the ball, and you know all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
The uh, that's a big word. Boston college word is
what that is right there? That's a that's the East
Coast Boston college word. You're thrown out us this way,
Matt Hassle like joining us. He infness with you this afternoon.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
We're gonna find out later about the the Mike Hombrian
Hall of Fame candidacy. We've been going through this for
a while. Uh, a lot of stuff I want to
catch I want to get to Mike in a second.
Let's just real fast, Matt. Let's catch up all the
Sea York fans. You were the most popular players Uh,
both with us in the media and all so with
the fans when you played here. What's Matt Hasselback up
to these days.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, So I got laid off at ESPN two years
ago and I'm on the back end of a two
year noncompete and I coached high school football in Nashville,
Tennessee this past year with my brother. My brother is
still at ESPN, but he's also the head football coach
at Ensworth High School in Nashville. My dad helped coach
the tight ends, my nephews the quarterback, and it's just
like a dream come true. It was a lot of
(02:25):
a lot of hard work. It's a lot of fun
to be creative, and coaching high school football is the
heck of a lot harder than people realize. But it
was also very, very rewarding. So we had a great
We had a great year, and and you know, he's
trying to get me to run it back. I'm trying
to figure out what I'm gonna do next year. But
it was it was really an incredible year, had a
lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Hidan as a program director here, I would just like
to say all I heard was free agent coming up,
and just let's stay in touch please, because.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I'm always working. You're a true media guy when you
get you know, truly media guy when you are living
the world of getting turfed and still having a non
compete that keeps you on the sideline. So welcome to
our world, buddy, Welcome to our world. Fantastic.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah, you know it really And I'll tell you what,
Like the first year of it, I was kind of disappointing, right,
but I ended up coaching my son back we were
living in Boston. I was coaching my son at my
high school and I got to be his quarterback coach
and it was just incredible family time. And I told
people at the time that ESPN kind of did for
me something that I never would have had the courage
to do myself, is quit a dream job to spend
(03:29):
more quality time with family. And you know, we're empty
nest years now. But I had that last year with
my son and he you know, we won the state
championship and he was Gatorade Player of the Year and
like it was just like this amazing time that we
had together and and uh and he wasn't at the
time going to play college football. He wasn't recruited for that,
but we had a good year, and you know, now
he's a freshman quarterback at UCLA and and you know,
(03:49):
really is on a great path. So I feel very,
very fortunate. You know. I almost feel like I tell
people like it was almost like I failed forward, you know,
and then yeah, so I'm definitely grateful for the uh
for the failure, if that makes any sense.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
No, But you know what, it's it's a hard thing
as a parent. I just my son just finished his
college football career. He was a lineman, a small college lineman.
He just finished it. And I had to miss a
handful of games over the last few years covering the
Seahawks for Fox thirteen. And then this year I moved
to the crack and I missed. I saw more games
than I had before. It was the best thing in
the world, because I can tell you it ends and
(04:25):
then all of a sudden, you look at your wife.
I do this, My wife looks at me, goes, what
are we doing now? Like so I don't know. I
mean grand kids. I guess at some point, maybe talk
to you, talk to our daughter about that when she's
the oldest, but away you go. But it's it does
watching your kid play being around that and for you
being able to coach man, that's a great blessing. That
must have just been incredible.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah, no doubt. And even now, like I'm a radio
row and I'm not really working here, Like my daughter's
actually working in sports media. Yes she is. The spectrum.
It's like, and my other daughter's playing lacrosse at Boston College.
They start the season tomorrow. They're number one in the country.
She's the captain of the team. And then you know,
I got the UCLA thing, So like I kind of think,
you know, I never really got that nervous as a player,
(05:05):
but as a parent, I get so nervous for my kids.
I don't know if that's a personality flaw that I
have or if that's just what all parents go through.
But I'm kind of looking forward to this next little
window here of getting to getting to see them do
their thing.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
It's it's stressed. It's all parents, at least, I think
if you're watching a kid. But my kid was a
left tackle. I stressed every single play, like, oh my god,
don't give up a sack, you know, I hold if
you have to, Please don't let the guy get hurt.
The quarterback whatever. Uh, it's it's stressful and I it
was fun seeing uh, your last name on a staff
credential at training camp this year with someone working there
(05:39):
for the Seahawks too.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She had a great time. She's
a Seattle girl through and through and she loved working
for the Seahawks. But he and I didn't know that
about you. Like our family, we love left tackles. So
uh just went up in our book. That's very good.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, he was. Uh, he did okay. For a couple
of years. They got a title and they did. He
did okay along the way. He's no Walter gill Owns,
but he's close as well.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Who is who is?
Speaker 3 (06:04):
No?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Hey, actually, I'm gonna we're gonna play a sound bite
for you before the end of Walter and just cut
it down to his answer Anderds if you can, because
Walter is now one of the most articulate, verbose, and
well spoken guys on media and Seattle. Now, I don't
I'm not sure where that came from, but you can
you can address that later. Let's get right to Mike
hol Grin. Mike is is on the on the on
the cusp of getting into the Hall of fame and
before let me take us back, you had a tenure
(06:27):
with him for two years in green Bay. How did
Mike get you to Green Bay and and then into
Seattle as well? Because I think there's got a lot
of younger listeners, maybe just tell the story of how
you first got connected with Mike and ended up going
from green Bay to here.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, the only reason I ended up in Green Bay
really was was Andy Reid. And one of the great
things about Mike Hongren is that he's a delegator and
he one of the reasons that his coaches go on
to be successful, I believe is he he lets them flourish,
he develops them. He's not holding their hand through everything.
And so it was Ron Wolf and Mike Holmgren, who's
(07:01):
for Andy Reid to go get whoever he wanted to get.
In the later rounds of the draft to the Green
Bay Packers, he picked me. I was shocked. They were shocked.
Mel Kuiper was probably shocked, like everybody was shocked. But
you know, I was pick one to eighty seven and
the Peyton Manning Ryan Leaf draft, so there was one, one,
two and one eighty seven is my joke. But yeah,
(07:23):
so I got there, and really I was just allowed
to be there. I was allowed to watch Mike Holmgren,
coach Andy Reid, coach Brett Farv and the backup was
Doug Peterson, and I was allowed to be in the room.
And and that's really that's really how I got there.
And so I was just there one year with Mike Holngrin.
(07:43):
He left for Seattle at the end of the year.
I was I was, you know, fourth string guy and
kind of a nobody. And so when he traded for
me a few years later in two thousand and one,
I was kind of shocked. I mean, to be honest,
I didn't expect it. I thought other teams would be
the team. And when he went and you know, grabbed me,
(08:05):
I was surprised. And so, you know, that's kind of
how it started out.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Three Pro Bowls later, you had a hell of a
tenure and a hell of a run here with with
Mike along his side. So what is it about Mike
Holmgren the coach, behind the scenes, with the players, in
the meetings and even just the offensive mind that says
this guy's a Hall of Famer.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Well, I mean Andy Reid's book about it, I think
it was today and yesterday and probably the day before that.
You know, Mike Holmgren deserves to be in the Hall
of Fame, and if he had a vote, he would
absolutely vote for him. And you know, I think it's
probably fate. Three things. Number One, he's an incredible I'll
say this, like the xcell and o's, he's as good
as you get, right, he's the XS and o's are
as good as you get. But in terms of culture
builder and developing talent, I think that's in sort of
(08:53):
what he did, you know, in Green Bay and then
he did in Seattle. I would point to three things.
Number one, He's an incredible teacher and he hired incredible
teachers as coaches. He's also a great developer and that's
kind of what I learned from him when I started
with him in Green Bay. While he was teaching his
offense and coaching Brett Farv, he was developing guys like
me on the bench, and that's how you have a
(09:15):
sustained a program with sustained success. And then I think
the third part of it is, you know, motivating and
pushing players further than they think than they ever thought
they could have been pushed and like I sometimes talk
about it, he had a rule like the ball is
not allowed to touch the ball, the ball is not
allowed to touch the ground at practice. And it's like
(09:35):
when I first heard that, it was like that is
that's ridiculous, Like that's an easy rule to make. It's
in like impossible to do, Like what are you even
talking about now? He would script for success and we
call play for cover two. We were getting covered too.
We called a screen that we didn't want to blitz.
We weren't getting the blitz, but still on as far
as it depended on me, the ball wasn't allowed to
(09:56):
touch the ground, stuff like that. And so I think
if you asked all the guys that got by Mike Homengrin,
I think they would all say the same thing. I'm saying,
he pushed me further than I ever a I how
would they say? They say, he pushed me further than
I even knew that I could be pushed myself. And uh,
and I think that's probably those are the greatest things
that I could say about him.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Matt Hasselbeck joining us here in fronts with you this afternoon.
Hopefully we find out later today that Mike Hombran's in
the Hall of Fame, Matt. The teaching element of it,
do you take that you've coached the last two years,
is that something Do you take some Mike Holmgren teaching
elements and how he kind of was that teacher into
what you're doing now when you're coaching young people.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
One hundred percent. And I probably owe Coach Holmgren an
apology because of how how hard it is, how much
harder it is than I realized. But no, we you know,
we're actually playing, and we're playing in Tennessee, and you
know these defenses are used to see in the spread.
I have brought the Mike Hongren two thousand and five
to two thousand and seven playbook right out. We are
under center, we're running the Max Strong plays, We're running
(10:57):
the Bobby Ingram plays. So it's the exit and o's
but it's one hundred percent. It's it's how I trained
the quarterback. You know, Mike would say this one thing
to me early on. He'd say, listen, you're you're an artist,
not a blacksmith. You're an artist, not a mathematician, and
so much. And he would say, paint your canvas as
a quarterback, and like it literally took me about a
(11:18):
year and a half to even understand what he was
talking about. But but once you kind of get through
the genius of like, you know, I started to understand
the genius of his coaching points. I think it like
that's I think when things just kind of clicked for me.
And uh so here we are, years and years and
years later, I'm still using I'm using coaching points that ironically,
(11:41):
when I first started in like oh one, I was
like rolling my eyes at and like, what does that
even mean? I almost feel like, uh, like Daniel and
Karate Kid with mister Miyagi, what is this good for?
And then when it clicks, it clicks good.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Matt we have him in studio. He comes into a
studio on my show every Wednesday, and they does Softy
Show on Thursdays, and so we were lucky enough to
have Mike around all the time. I think it's an
amazing thing because when I first got here in two
thousand and six, all I knew was I saw this
guy on the sideline on TV when I was working
in Portland and Salt Lake and other places, and I
see this guy and I'm like, man, that is one
(12:19):
that is one intimidating, scary dude man and then going
to watch practice in six seven the first few times,
and you know, I'm watching this big man out there,
and he would get upset every now and then. Now
he comes in, he's this nice, nice guy, gentle giant.
Take us behind the scenes, because he'll say, every now
and then he'll say, you know, I sometimes I wasn't
too I wasn't patient enough with Matt or Brad or whoever.
(12:41):
What was he like behind the scenes, because there's it
sounds like there's a ton of funny stories.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Listen, My college coach was Tom Coughlin. My dad played
for Bill Parcells. I've been around all those type guys.
I've had Hall of Fame, O Lineman type coaches. Nobody
is more intimidating than Mike Holmgrin nobody. I mean, he's
an enormal, I'm a human being. He's very fiery, he's
super competitive, and yes, like there is another side to him,
(13:08):
Like I'd see him with his wife and his daughters
and his grandkids and he's like the most tender, sweet
like grandfather and like that's like a different person. It's
like it's not even the same. The intimidation factor was real.
I mean, but I saw him. I saw him get
intense with Reggie White. I saw him get really intense
with Brett Farv and and Tobak and Walter Jones and
(13:32):
Dilfer and like you know all the guy Ricky Waters
like I saw it. So I think for me, I know,
it was like okay that he got mad at me,
you know what I mean, Like I get I got
to see him. I got this. I mean, he went off.
I talked about this today. He went off on Andy
Reid whenever he wanted to yell at Brett Farv, Like
(13:53):
he got to the point where like I can't. He's like,
I can't yell at Brett Farv anymore. You know, he's
not listening. He's like that. He's like that teenager, like, oh,
I've just been in two Super Bowls and I just
won three MVPs in a row. So he was like,
I'm done yelling at Brett. I'm now just gonna scream
at Andy. Andy. If he does that again, you are fired.
And it was it was like, you know, but there's
(14:14):
there's some genius in it too, And it was like
it was almost like I wouldn't be at all surprised
if Mike Home and Andy Reid were in on it together
like a good cop bad cop type. Yeah, yeah, and
and so like, it wasn't like it wasn't necessarily a temper,
although it made a bit might have been. It was
more of like, I'm gonna pull you where you don't
(14:34):
even know you can go. I'm gonna push you to
where you don't even know that you can go. And
I would say he did that with the assistant coaches
as well, giving him giving them the leeway to open
up their minds and get creative and think outside the box.
But he was he obviously meant a lot to me,
and I'm still using those lessons. But there it's hard
(14:56):
not to chuckle sometimes at how how tough it was.
At a certain point, we.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Would sit there watching practice on the sideline and he'd be,
I'm sorry for this. He'd be a lot of times
you'd be ripping you and and like you could hear him,
you know, like, and you're like and we'd kind of
like chuckle, like I'll and then and then every now
and then he'd like shoot a glance over the sideline
and everyone put their head down, like, oh my god,
he's gonna come over here. It's gonna be over Like
the guy was, he was a scary What was the
mattest he ever got at you? What did you do?
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Well, here's just one thing, like sometimes the only thing
that like light in the mood a little bit. He
was screaming at me in those really really short coaches shorts.
So it was like, I'm half laughing at him and
I'm half taking the beating, but I'm like they went like,
we got a five inch four inch and seam on
those shorts. What are we doing here? But now the
(15:46):
worst it ever got, the worst it ever got. Uh.
It was early in my career. And instead of yelling
at me, there were two players on the sidelines taking
a knee. It was Robbie Tobeck and Trent Dilvert, and
he got so mad at me that he looked over
to them and chewed them out, and he said, he
said to Tobek and Dilfer, he said, he was so
frustrated with me. He said, I'm looking for you two
(16:09):
guys to put this team on your back and take
us where we need to go. And Robbie Tobeck famous,
he said to Dilfer Man, I hope there's two people
standing behind us right now. And I think if he
was like, we're not getting there with this kid, you know,
I don't know what the reasons were, but that's good.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I got one more thing for I want to play
a quick sound bite from Walter Jones, and I'm gonna
ask you the same question I asked Walter on the
on the Kraken broadcast. He joined us in our pregame
show the other day. Why am I clumbering to a
Hall of famer?
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Take a listen, cause he did it the right way
for me personally, he's my Hall of Fame coach because
he came here and changed us standing here in Seattle.
You know, when I came here, he was like, hey,
listen to me. We'll get y'all to us. So we
didn't win it, but still again, I think he changed
the culture here in Seattle. Everybody got used to see
him winning, and now you can see that now because
everybody want to be part of something great, and that's
what he was able to do here when he came
(17:02):
to Seattle.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
All Right, two things. One, have you ever heard Walter
speak that long in your life?
Speaker 2 (17:09):
He's loquacious. Now, I don't know what happened. I don't
know what happened.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Didn't you just have Tobeck to speak for everybody.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Back then there might have been a rule no one
else was allowed to talk. But you know, Walt nails it,
and you know there was a standard and it was
all those things. But I you know, a lot of times, people,
especially young people, one thing they'll bring up to me
or ask questions about is when I at a wild
card said we want the ball and we're gonna score.
And I don't regret that, not even for a second.
(17:36):
I regret the outcome, obviously, but I don't regret the
moment and part of it. I remember the night before
that game. We were a wild card team that didn't
expect it to get in and and Mike gave us
to talk to the team the night before the game
and he was like, guys, I know what it takes. Okay,
I've been there. I've been there in Sant France with
Joe Montana, did it with Steve Young, I did it
(17:57):
in Green Bay. I know what it takes. We as
a coaching staff, as an organization, we believe. You don't
believe he's like you don't think you got what it takes.
I'm telling you you have what it takes. And so
there were steps along the journey, right, But but I
think part of it he was just trying to get
us to I don't know what the right word is,
(18:18):
but have that that mindset or that swagger or that
that feeling, that belief that like, we are not going
to be denied, We're going for this thing, We're swinging
for it. And and I just think that it was
like he kind of set the tone. And I know
that game ended and the next year we lost on
the last play of the game in the wild card.
But but it was those two failures in those wildcard
(18:39):
that propelled us to the year that we had in
five and and uh and Mike. Mike was the visionary
for it. He was the culture builder. He set the tone.
And so you know, I'm I think we're all grateful
for what he did and how he did it.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Well.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
I think it's pretty simple, like that was a different
Like when you said that that was a change for
Seattle Seahawk football, it was a swagger, it was a confidence,
and it came to fruition a couple of years later,
with ANSC championship and a Super Bowl appearance. That was
that's what he changed. You said that because of him.
By the way, we were just talking about the end
of the day. We asked him softy ne were asking
him when he's in studio if if what he thought
(19:13):
of it. He was good with it, like he didn't care.
He goes, yeah, let's go, Like that was kind of
his thought process.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
We did.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
We didn't We didn't actually know at the time, Like
we didn't like obviously they picked it up a TV,
but we didn't know. On the field. But like you
kind of hear little mummering, like murmuring or whatever, and
I come to the sideline and he goes, what what
did you just do? Like what did you just do?
Like it was like did you just do something? Something
just happened. But but I will say this and like
he knows me, and are those are my friends in
(19:39):
Green Bay. So it wasn't like it was like medium
trash talking. It wasn't really like you know, but I
will say this, like and Walt said it there. He
did it the right way. And I've got a bunch
of vivid memories of teachable moments. Call him, but I
remember like to use one, like when with Teo pulled
out the sharpie on Sean Springs on Monday night football
we were playing Dallas, yep, and did the autograph thing
(20:01):
like Mike. Mike got emotional the next day about like
respect for the game, respect for your opponent, and he's like,
if I teach you nothing about t j X, Tagger
wahat lacrosse skate forty or all these great plays that
we're running here, if I teach you nothing like I
want you to. I want to teach you life lessons
and the things like the way I believe is the
(20:21):
right way to do it. It almost felt like I
was back listening to like one of my role model
high school teachers. And I think that that is an
important part that can't be overlooked. You know, when we
judged coaches, we judge you know, wins and losses and
stuff like that. But Mike was special. He was exceptional
and his assistant coaches were too, in terms of the
leadership training that went into you know, for for us,
(20:44):
like you know, football will end and you'll be a
husband and a father and a leader in your family
or a leader in your bet nex endeavor in business
or whatever, and and he was. He was Hall of
fame in that regard to In my.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Mind, Matt, we kept you a long time, but I appreciate.
I can't tell you how much the feedback already getting
from Seahawk fans here. People hearing your voice right now,
and the stories and the love for Mike Holmbri and
it's awesome, and the thought the process is pretty simple.
You know, when he gets in tonight. I think we
all think he will when he gets in tonight. You
and and a lot of others are a big reason
for it. He doesn't get in just with the Green
Bay tenure. He gets in because of what happened here
(21:18):
in Seattle as well, with you leading the charge along
with the rest of that great those great teams that
went to the playoffs basically every year. So thank you
so much.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Let's let's let's push hard this year because Belichick's eligible
next year. So let's we're lifting without a spot er today. Okay, yeah,
no choice, but you get it out. I like it.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Belichick never heard of Him'm not sure who he is.
We'll figure that out later. Hey, great stuff, looking forward
to seeing whatever's next for you. We've always enjoyed watching
and listen to your analysis and we'll talk soon. Thanks
a lot, Matt.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Okay, keeping remember there you go.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
That's Matt Hasselback joining us here on the Beacon Plumbing hotline.
Well that was fun. It's just so good. Yeah, I
think Seahawks fans hopefully you enjoyed that. Some good stories.
A couple of sound bites can play for Mike later.
I want to know who would be at the Homegun roast.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
He just mentioned Belichick, remember that roast, which the Tom
Brady roast, right, so it was ultimately a Belichick roast
at the same.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Time, the Holmegun roast will be. That would be a
large list of people that we'll see, actually who would
have the stones to go roast them? But that's fine.
Ten years a quarterback in the Seattles for the Seattle Seahawks,
the first quarterback ever to take the Seahawks to a
super Bowl, and just a genuine nice guy all the
way around. Matt Hasselbeck joins us. Right now, Hi, Matt,
how are you hey?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
What's going up? What's going on? I'm in New Orleans here.
I thought i'd see you guys, but you decided to
stay in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. I don't blame you.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Paint the picture. How is Radio Row in New Orleans
treating you so far?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
You know what it's it's pretty good. But I gotta
say the people here are not as forgiving about the
beast Quake game as I would have expected. So definitely,
Like that's a long time ago, and it wasn't like
a super Bowl. It was a wild card game. And
but Saints fans have not forgotten. There's that has been
(00:46):
made clear for sure.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Now, Matt, are you reminding them of that? Or you
just just run? You're the quarterback?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Oh yeah, you know what, Maybe that's why it comes up. Actually,
my bad.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Just a little little stick, a little knife from the
back there. Yeah, do you remember that one man that
was your second last game with the Seahawks too. I
just thinking about that, your last home game.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
That's called the penultimate game. It's a vocab word, sat
word if anybody needs one of those. But now there's
a lot of energy. There's a lot of energy down here.
Obviously Eagles Chiefs. This is a great you know, super
Bowl city and uh should be a great matchup. So
there's a lot of excitement about the you know, the
two different teams are very different, you know in one
terms of one team runs the ball once he throws
(01:32):
the ball, and you know all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
The uh, that's a big word. Boston college word is
what that is right there? That's a that's the East
Coast Boston college word. You're thrown out us this way,
Matt Hassle like joining us. He infness with you this afternoon.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
We're gonna find out later about the the Mike Hombrian
Hall of Fame candidacy. We've been going through this for
a while. Uh, a lot of stuff I want to
catch I want to get to Mike in a second.
Let's just real fast, Matt. Let's catch up all the
Sea York fans. You were the most popular players Uh,
both with us in the media and all so with
the fans when you played here. What's Matt Hasselback up
to these days.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, So I got laid off at ESPN two years
ago and I'm on the back end of a two
year noncompete and I coached high school football in Nashville,
Tennessee this past year with my brother. My brother is
still at ESPN, but he's also the head football coach
at Ensworth High School in Nashville. My dad helped coach
the tight ends, my nephews the quarterback, and it's just
like a dream come true. It was a lot of
(02:25):
a lot of hard work. It's a lot of fun
to be creative, and coaching high school football is the
heck of a lot harder than people realize. But it
was also very, very rewarding. So we had a great
We had a great year, and and you know, he's
trying to get me to run it back. I'm trying
to figure out what I'm gonna do next year. But
it was it was really an incredible year, had a
lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Hidan as a program director here, I would just like
to say all I heard was free agent coming up,
and just let's stay in touch please, because.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I'm always working. You're a true media guy when you
get you know, truly media guy when you are living
the world of getting turfed and still having a non
compete that keeps you on the sideline. So welcome to
our world, buddy, Welcome to our world. Fantastic.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah, you know it really And I'll tell you what,
Like the first year of it, I was kind of disappointing, right,
but I ended up coaching my son back we were
living in Boston. I was coaching my son at my
high school and I got to be his quarterback coach
and it was just incredible family time. And I told
people at the time that ESPN kind of did for
me something that I never would have had the courage
to do myself, is quit a dream job to spend
(03:29):
more quality time with family. And you know, we're empty
nest years now. But I had that last year with
my son and he you know, we won the state
championship and he was Gatorade Player of the Year and
like it was just like this amazing time that we
had together and and uh and he wasn't at the
time going to play college football. He wasn't recruited for that,
but we had a good year, and you know, now
he's a freshman quarterback at UCLA and and you know,
(03:49):
really is on a great path. So I feel very,
very fortunate. You know. I almost feel like I tell
people like it was almost like I failed forward, you know,
and then yeah, so I'm definitely grateful for the uh
for the failure, if that makes any sense.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
No, But you know what, it's it's a hard thing
as a parent. I just my son just finished his
college football career. He was a lineman, a small college lineman.
He just finished it. And I had to miss a
handful of games over the last few years covering the
Seahawks for Fox thirteen. And then this year I moved
to the crack and I missed. I saw more games
than I had before. It was the best thing in
the world, because I can tell you it ends and
(04:25):
then all of a sudden, you look at your wife.
I do this, My wife looks at me, goes, what
are we doing now? Like so I don't know. I
mean grand kids. I guess at some point, maybe talk
to you, talk to our daughter about that when she's
the oldest, but away you go. But it's it does
watching your kid play being around that and for you
being able to coach man, that's a great blessing. That
must have just been incredible.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah, no doubt. And even now, like I'm a radio
row and I'm not really working here, Like my daughter's
actually working in sports media. Yes she is. The spectrum.
It's like, and my other daughter's playing lacrosse at Boston College.
They start the season tomorrow. They're number one in the country.
She's the captain of the team. And then you know,
I got the UCLA thing, So like I kind of think,
you know, I never really got that nervous as a player,
(05:05):
but as a parent, I get so nervous for my kids.
I don't know if that's a personality flaw that I
have or if that's just what all parents go through.
But I'm kind of looking forward to this next little
window here of getting to getting to see them do
their thing.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
It's it's stressed. It's all parents, at least, I think
if you're watching a kid. But my kid was a
left tackle. I stressed every single play, like, oh my god,
don't give up a sack, you know, I hold if
you have to, Please don't let the guy get hurt.
The quarterback whatever. Uh, it's it's stressful and I it
was fun seeing uh, your last name on a staff
credential at training camp this year with someone working there
(05:39):
for the Seahawks too.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She had a great time. She's
a Seattle girl through and through and she loved working
for the Seahawks. But he and I didn't know that
about you. Like our family, we love left tackles. So
uh just went up in our book. That's very good.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, he was. Uh, he did okay. For a couple
of years. They got a title and they did. He
did okay along the way. He's no Walter gill Owns,
but he's close as well.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Who is who is?
Speaker 3 (06:04):
No?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Hey, actually, I'm gonna we're gonna play a sound bite
for you before the end of Walter and just cut
it down to his answer Anderds if you can, because
Walter is now one of the most articulate, verbose, and
well spoken guys on media and Seattle. Now, I don't
I'm not sure where that came from, but you can
you can address that later. Let's get right to Mike
hol Grin. Mike is is on the on the on
the cusp of getting into the Hall of fame and
before let me take us back, you had a tenure
(06:27):
with him for two years in green Bay. How did
Mike get you to Green Bay and and then into
Seattle as well? Because I think there's got a lot
of younger listeners, maybe just tell the story of how
you first got connected with Mike and ended up going
from green Bay to here.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, the only reason I ended up in Green Bay
really was was Andy Reid. And one of the great
things about Mike Hongren is that he's a delegator and
he one of the reasons that his coaches go on
to be successful, I believe is he he lets them flourish,
he develops them. He's not holding their hand through everything.
And so it was Ron Wolf and Mike Holmgren, who's
(07:01):
for Andy Reid to go get whoever he wanted to get.
In the later rounds of the draft to the Green
Bay Packers, he picked me. I was shocked. They were shocked.
Mel Kuiper was probably shocked, like everybody was shocked. But
you know, I was pick one to eighty seven and
the Peyton Manning Ryan Leaf draft, so there was one, one,
two and one eighty seven is my joke. But yeah,
(07:23):
so I got there, and really I was just allowed
to be there. I was allowed to watch Mike Holmgren,
coach Andy Reid, coach Brett Farv and the backup was
Doug Peterson, and I was allowed to be in the room.
And and that's really that's really how I got there.
And so I was just there one year with Mike Holngrin.
(07:43):
He left for Seattle at the end of the year.
I was I was, you know, fourth string guy and
kind of a nobody. And so when he traded for
me a few years later in two thousand and one,
I was kind of shocked. I mean, to be honest,
I didn't expect it. I thought other teams would be
the team. And when he went and you know, grabbed me,
(08:05):
I was surprised. And so, you know, that's kind of
how it started out.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Three Pro Bowls later, you had a hell of a
tenure and a hell of a run here with with
Mike along his side. So what is it about Mike
Holmgren the coach, behind the scenes, with the players, in
the meetings and even just the offensive mind that says
this guy's a Hall of Famer.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Well, I mean Andy Reid's book about it, I think
it was today and yesterday and probably the day before that.
You know, Mike Holmgren deserves to be in the Hall
of Fame, and if he had a vote, he would
absolutely vote for him. And you know, I think it's
probably fate. Three things. Number One, he's an incredible I'll
say this, like the xcell and o's, he's as good
as you get, right, he's the XS and o's are
as good as you get. But in terms of culture
builder and developing talent, I think that's in sort of
(08:53):
what he did, you know, in Green Bay and then
he did in Seattle. I would point to three things.
Number one, He's an incredible teacher and he hired incredible
teachers as coaches. He's also a great developer and that's
kind of what I learned from him when I started
with him in Green Bay. While he was teaching his
offense and coaching Brett Farv, he was developing guys like
me on the bench, and that's how you have a
(09:15):
sustained a program with sustained success. And then I think
the third part of it is, you know, motivating and
pushing players further than they think than they ever thought
they could have been pushed and like I sometimes talk
about it, he had a rule like the ball is
not allowed to touch the ball, the ball is not
allowed to touch the ground at practice. And it's like
(09:35):
when I first heard that, it was like that is
that's ridiculous, Like that's an easy rule to make. It's
in like impossible to do, Like what are you even
talking about now? He would script for success and we
call play for cover two. We were getting covered too.
We called a screen that we didn't want to blitz.
We weren't getting the blitz, but still on as far
as it depended on me, the ball wasn't allowed to
(09:56):
touch the ground, stuff like that. And so I think
if you asked all the guys that got by Mike Homengrin,
I think they would all say the same thing. I'm saying,
he pushed me further than I ever a I how
would they say? They say, he pushed me further than
I even knew that I could be pushed myself. And uh,
and I think that's probably those are the greatest things
that I could say about him.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Matt Hasselbeck joining us here in fronts with you this afternoon.
Hopefully we find out later today that Mike Hombran's in
the Hall of Fame, Matt. The teaching element of it,
do you take that you've coached the last two years,
is that something Do you take some Mike Holmgren teaching
elements and how he kind of was that teacher into
what you're doing now when you're coaching young people.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
One hundred percent. And I probably owe Coach Holmgren an
apology because of how how hard it is, how much
harder it is than I realized. But no, we you know,
we're actually playing, and we're playing in Tennessee, and you
know these defenses are used to see in the spread.
I have brought the Mike Hongren two thousand and five
to two thousand and seven playbook right out. We are
under center, we're running the Max Strong plays, We're running
(10:57):
the Bobby Ingram plays. So it's the exit and o's
but it's one hundred percent. It's it's how I trained
the quarterback. You know, Mike would say this one thing
to me early on. He'd say, listen, you're you're an artist,
not a blacksmith. You're an artist, not a mathematician, and
so much. And he would say, paint your canvas as
a quarterback, and like it literally took me about a
(11:18):
year and a half to even understand what he was
talking about. But but once you kind of get through
the genius of like, you know, I started to understand
the genius of his coaching points. I think it like
that's I think when things just kind of clicked for me.
And uh so here we are, years and years and
years later, I'm still using I'm using coaching points that ironically,
(11:41):
when I first started in like oh one, I was
like rolling my eyes at and like, what does that
even mean? I almost feel like, uh, like Daniel and
Karate Kid with mister Miyagi, what is this good for?
And then when it clicks, it clicks good.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Matt we have him in studio. He comes into a
studio on my show every Wednesday, and they does Softy
Show on Thursdays, and so we were lucky enough to
have Mike around all the time. I think it's an
amazing thing because when I first got here in two
thousand and six, all I knew was I saw this
guy on the sideline on TV when I was working
in Portland and Salt Lake and other places, and I
see this guy and I'm like, man, that is one
(12:19):
that is one intimidating, scary dude man and then going
to watch practice in six seven the first few times,
and you know, I'm watching this big man out there,
and he would get upset every now and then. Now
he comes in, he's this nice, nice guy, gentle giant.
Take us behind the scenes, because he'll say, every now
and then he'll say, you know, I sometimes I wasn't
too I wasn't patient enough with Matt or Brad or whoever.
(12:41):
What was he like behind the scenes, because there's it
sounds like there's a ton of funny stories.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Listen, My college coach was Tom Coughlin. My dad played
for Bill Parcells. I've been around all those type guys.
I've had Hall of Fame, O Lineman type coaches. Nobody
is more intimidating than Mike Holmgrin nobody. I mean, he's
an enormal, I'm a human being. He's very fiery, he's
super competitive, and yes, like there is another side to him,
(13:08):
Like I'd see him with his wife and his daughters
and his grandkids and he's like the most tender, sweet
like grandfather and like that's like a different person. It's
like it's not even the same. The intimidation factor was real.
I mean, but I saw him. I saw him get
intense with Reggie White. I saw him get really intense
with Brett Farv and and Tobak and Walter Jones and
(13:32):
Dilfer and like you know all the guy Ricky Waters
like I saw it. So I think for me, I know,
it was like okay that he got mad at me,
you know what I mean, Like I get I got
to see him. I got this. I mean, he went off.
I talked about this today. He went off on Andy
Reid whenever he wanted to yell at Brett Farv, Like
(13:53):
he got to the point where like I can't. He's like,
I can't yell at Brett Farv anymore. You know, he's
not listening. He's like that. He's like that teenager, like, oh,
I've just been in two Super Bowls and I just
won three MVPs in a row. So he was like,
I'm done yelling at Brett. I'm now just gonna scream
at Andy. Andy. If he does that again, you are fired.
And it was it was like, you know, but there's
(14:14):
there's some genius in it too, And it was like
it was almost like I wouldn't be at all surprised
if Mike Home and Andy Reid were in on it together
like a good cop bad cop type. Yeah, yeah, and
and so like, it wasn't like it wasn't necessarily a temper,
although it made a bit might have been. It was
more of like, I'm gonna pull you where you don't
(14:34):
even know you can go. I'm gonna push you to
where you don't even know that you can go. And
I would say he did that with the assistant coaches
as well, giving him giving them the leeway to open
up their minds and get creative and think outside the box.
But he was he obviously meant a lot to me,
and I'm still using those lessons. But there it's hard
(14:56):
not to chuckle sometimes at how how tough it was.
At a certain point, we.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Would sit there watching practice on the sideline and he'd be,
I'm sorry for this. He'd be a lot of times
you'd be ripping you and and like you could hear him,
you know, like, and you're like and we'd kind of
like chuckle, like I'll and then and then every now
and then he'd like shoot a glance over the sideline
and everyone put their head down, like, oh my god,
he's gonna come over here. It's gonna be over Like
the guy was, he was a scary What was the
mattest he ever got at you? What did you do?
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Well, here's just one thing, like sometimes the only thing
that like light in the mood a little bit. He
was screaming at me in those really really short coaches shorts.
So it was like, I'm half laughing at him and
I'm half taking the beating, but I'm like they went like,
we got a five inch four inch and seam on
those shorts. What are we doing here? But now the
(15:46):
worst it ever got, the worst it ever got. Uh.
It was early in my career. And instead of yelling
at me, there were two players on the sidelines taking
a knee. It was Robbie Tobeck and Trent Dilvert, and
he got so mad at me that he looked over
to them and chewed them out, and he said, he
said to Tobek and Dilfer, he said, he was so
frustrated with me. He said, I'm looking for you two
(16:09):
guys to put this team on your back and take
us where we need to go. And Robbie Tobeck famous,
he said to Dilfer Man, I hope there's two people
standing behind us right now. And I think if he
was like, we're not getting there with this kid, you know,
I don't know what the reasons were, but that's good.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I got one more thing for I want to play
a quick sound bite from Walter Jones, and I'm gonna
ask you the same question I asked Walter on the
on the Kraken broadcast. He joined us in our pregame
show the other day. Why am I clumbering to a
Hall of famer?
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Take a listen, cause he did it the right way
for me personally, he's my Hall of Fame coach because
he came here and changed us standing here in Seattle.
You know, when I came here, he was like, hey,
listen to me. We'll get y'all to us. So we
didn't win it, but still again, I think he changed
the culture here in Seattle. Everybody got used to see
him winning, and now you can see that now because
everybody want to be part of something great, and that's
what he was able to do here when he came
(17:02):
to Seattle.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
All Right, two things. One, have you ever heard Walter
speak that long in your life?
Speaker 2 (17:09):
He's loquacious. Now, I don't know what happened. I don't
know what happened.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Didn't you just have Tobeck to speak for everybody.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Back then there might have been a rule no one
else was allowed to talk. But you know, Walt nails it,
and you know there was a standard and it was
all those things. But I you know, a lot of times, people,
especially young people, one thing they'll bring up to me
or ask questions about is when I at a wild
card said we want the ball and we're gonna score.
And I don't regret that, not even for a second.
(17:36):
I regret the outcome, obviously, but I don't regret the
moment and part of it. I remember the night before
that game. We were a wild card team that didn't
expect it to get in and and Mike gave us
to talk to the team the night before the game
and he was like, guys, I know what it takes. Okay,
I've been there. I've been there in Sant France with
Joe Montana, did it with Steve Young, I did it
(17:57):
in Green Bay. I know what it takes. We as
a coaching staff, as an organization, we believe. You don't
believe he's like you don't think you got what it takes.
I'm telling you you have what it takes. And so
there were steps along the journey, right, But but I
think part of it he was just trying to get
us to I don't know what the right word is,
(18:18):
but have that that mindset or that swagger or that
that feeling, that belief that like, we are not going
to be denied, We're going for this thing, We're swinging
for it. And and I just think that it was
like he kind of set the tone. And I know
that game ended and the next year we lost on
the last play of the game in the wild card.
But but it was those two failures in those wildcard
(18:39):
that propelled us to the year that we had in
five and and uh and Mike. Mike was the visionary
for it. He was the culture builder. He set the tone.
And so you know, I'm I think we're all grateful
for what he did and how he did it.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Well.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
I think it's pretty simple, like that was a different
Like when you said that that was a change for
Seattle Seahawk football, it was a swagger, it was a confidence,
and it came to fruition a couple of years later,
with ANSC championship and a Super Bowl appearance. That was
that's what he changed. You said that because of him.
By the way, we were just talking about the end
of the day. We asked him softy ne were asking
him when he's in studio if if what he thought
(19:13):
of it. He was good with it, like he didn't care.
He goes, yeah, let's go, Like that was kind of
his thought process.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
We did.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
We didn't We didn't actually know at the time, Like
we didn't like obviously they picked it up a TV,
but we didn't know. On the field. But like you
kind of hear little mummering, like murmuring or whatever, and
I come to the sideline and he goes, what what
did you just do? Like what did you just do?
Like it was like did you just do something? Something
just happened. But but I will say this and like
he knows me, and are those are my friends in
(19:39):
Green Bay. So it wasn't like it was like medium
trash talking. It wasn't really like you know, but I
will say this, like and Walt said it there. He
did it the right way. And I've got a bunch
of vivid memories of teachable moments. Call him, but I
remember like to use one, like when with Teo pulled
out the sharpie on Sean Springs on Monday night football
we were playing Dallas, yep, and did the autograph thing
(20:01):
like Mike. Mike got emotional the next day about like
respect for the game, respect for your opponent, and he's like,
if I teach you nothing about t j X, Tagger
wahat lacrosse skate forty or all these great plays that
we're running here, if I teach you nothing like I
want you to. I want to teach you life lessons
and the things like the way I believe is the
(20:21):
right way to do it. It almost felt like I
was back listening to like one of my role model
high school teachers. And I think that that is an
important part that can't be overlooked. You know, when we
judged coaches, we judge you know, wins and losses and
stuff like that. But Mike was special. He was exceptional
and his assistant coaches were too, in terms of the
leadership training that went into you know, for for us,
(20:44):
like you know, football will end and you'll be a
husband and a father and a leader in your family
or a leader in your bet nex endeavor in business
or whatever, and and he was. He was Hall of
fame in that regard to In my.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Mind, Matt, we kept you a long time, but I appreciate.
I can't tell you how much the feedback already getting
from Seahawk fans here. People hearing your voice right now,
and the stories and the love for Mike Holmbri and
it's awesome, and the thought the process is pretty simple.
You know, when he gets in tonight. I think we
all think he will when he gets in tonight. You
and and a lot of others are a big reason
for it. He doesn't get in just with the Green
Bay tenure. He gets in because of what happened here
(21:18):
in Seattle as well, with you leading the charge along
with the rest of that great those great teams that
went to the playoffs basically every year. So thank you
so much.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Let's let's let's push hard this year because Belichick's eligible
next year. So let's we're lifting without a spot er today. Okay, yeah,
no choice, but you get it out. I like it.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Belichick never heard of Him'm not sure who he is.
We'll figure that out later. Hey, great stuff, looking forward
to seeing whatever's next for you. We've always enjoyed watching
and listen to your analysis and we'll talk soon. Thanks
a lot, Matt.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Okay, keeping remember there you go.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
That's Matt Hasselback joining us here on the Beacon Plumbing hotline.
Well that was fun. It's just so good. Yeah, I
think Seahawks fans hopefully you enjoyed that. Some good stories.
A couple of sound bites can play for Mike later.
I want to know who would be at the Homegun roast.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
He just mentioned Belichick, remember that roast, which the Tom
Brady roast, right, so it was ultimately a Belichick roast
at the same.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Time, the Holmegun roast will be. That would be a
large list of people that we'll see, actually who would
have the stones to go roast them? But that's fine.
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