Quotes from Mike Holmgren

You put a tremendous amount of energy, your whole body and soul into something, and you need to win once in a while. Otherwise, it becomes too hard.

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.

People ask me often, 'Why did you leave Green Bay? You had the best quarterback, you were going good and all that.' But I've always been one for challenges. Try to build something up, try something new, challenge myself.

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?'

I left Green Bay for Seattle in 1999. I wonder what would have happened had I stayed in Green Bay, where I've got one of the best quarterbacks of all time in his prime.

After being on the field for so long and feeling like you have some control over the outcome or what's happening out there, now I'm upstairs, and I have no control over anything. I'm working through that.

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.

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.

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.

I was a business major in college, so I knew economics.