Tim Ruskell out as Seahawks’ president, GM after 5 years

Ruskell done running Seattle Seahawks

RENTON, Wash. — Tim Ruskell has been pushed out as president and general manager of the Seahawks, leaving the door open for Mike Holmgren’s possible return to Seattle.

Ruskell announced his resignation Thursday, weeks before his five-year contract with the team ends. He asked the team if he was going to be retained so he could begin planning for offseason moves. Owner Paul Allen, the ailing Microsoft Corp. tycoon, and Seahawks chief executive officer Tod Leiweke told Ruskell no, so he left.

“Obviously there’s great sadness today but I will leave here with great memories of this place and the people. It’s been the people for me,” Ruskell said, his voice breaking and holding back tears during a news conference attended by his sister and the team’s staff.

The team’s ownership gave Ruskell full authority to shape the franchise soon after he arrived before the 2005 season. Seattle made its only Super Bowl that season.

Since then, he has presided over failed top draft choices, expensive free-agent busts — and the awkward ouster of popular coach and former GM Mike Holmgren at the end of his contract this past January.

Ruskell brought in his own coach for 2009, Jim Mora. The 4-7 Seahawks are on their way to a second straight season without a playoff berth. Last season they finished 4-12, their worst record since 1991.

“Quite simply, we didn’t win enough games,” Leiweke said. “I work for a man, Mr. Paul Allen, who has exacting standards.”

Ruskell understood that.

“It didn’t happen quickly enough,” he said, “but it wasn’t because we didn’t do it right.”

Seahawks vice president for player personnel Ruston Webster will serve as interim general manager.

Leiweke added that he expects Mora to remain the coach, Webster would be a good GM candidate, and “stability is something we will try to push for.”

No conceivable candidate knows the Seahawks better than Holmgren, who became their longest-tenured and winningest coach from 1999-2008. The first four years, he was also their GM.

Holmgren has declared his desire to return to the NFL after one year away. He took 2009 off as a promise to his wife and family but now says he wants to return to football. He hasn’t specified where, or whether it is to coach or be an executive.

But the former Super Bowl-winning coach has long coveted a second chance to be a GM. He’s often said how much he admires the position Bill Parcells, a good friend and another former coach, now has atop the Miami Dolphins’ franchise. Holmgren still owns a home in the Seattle area.

When asked whether Holmgren is a candidate, Leiweke said, “I’m just not going to go there. I’m just not going to talk about that today.”

Ruskell arrived in February 2005 as a veteran of 20 years in scouting following a stint in Atlanta as the assistant GM, when Mora was the Falcons’ coach. Ruskell presided over three consecutive NFC West titles to begin his Seattle tenure, including that Super Bowl season of 2005 when he overhauled the defense and scored a major coup in drafting overlooked linebacker Lofa Tatupu.

But the Seahawks have regressed since then.

Ruskell was part of the decision that allowed perennial Pro Bowl offensive lineman Steve Hutchinson to leave for Minnesota as a free agent soon after the 2006 Super Bowl; Seattle’s line hasn’t been the same since.

Ruskell signed running back Shaun Alexander to a $62 million, eight-year contract with $15.1 million guaranteed even though Alexander was about to turn 30 — an age at which most running backs begin to decline. Just over two years and several injuries later, Alexander was released.

To replace him, Ruskell spent millions on veteran running backs Julius Jones, T.J. Duckett and Edgerrin James. Jones is fighting for his job with emerging Justin Forsett, a seventh-round draft choice in 2008 whom the Seahawks cut last year then brought back. Duckett and James were released this season.

Seattle is 29th in the league in rushing.

Ruskell traded a first-round draft choice to New England in 2006 for wide receiver Deion Branch, then gave the former Super Bowl MVP a $39 million contract with $13 million guaranteed. Branch has had seasons with 53, 49, 30 and now 26 catches — plus two knee surgeries, including a reconstructive surgery.