Tom Flores Named Seahawks President, General Manager

Former Raiders coach Tom Flores today was named general manager and president of the Seattle Seahawks by team owner Ken Behring. He replaces Mike McCormack.

The announcement at Seahawks headquarters followed more than a week of speculation that Flores, 51, a longtime friend of the multimillionaire team owner, would be given the job.

Behring said that he thinks the team of Flores and coach Chuck Knox can take the Seahawks to their first Super Bowl and that he is willing to bankroll the effort if they can produce a winning team.

“We want to win,” Behring said. “I’ll pay the money if we can win.”

Knox Happy With Move

Knox, who will work closely with Flores, said he is happy to have a former head coach as general manager.

“He’s a football man,” Knox said. “He comes to Seattle with the knowledge of what it takes to win, from player personnel to coaching. I couldn’t be happier with the selection with Tom Flores.”

Flores said he will not interfere with Knox’s coaching duties. “I’m not going to tell Chuck how to coach his team,” said Flores, who won two Super Bowls with the Raiders.

With the announcement, Behring, who along with partner Ken Hoffmann purchased the team from the Nordstrom family last year for an estimated $100 million, put to rest rumors that the job would be given to Mike Blatt of Stockton, the players’ agent who brought the California land developer together with the Nordstroms.

For the last month, Blatt had taken over most of the front office responsibilities formerly held by McCormack, the Seahawks general manager of six years, whom Behring fired Jan. 30, citing a “lack of communication.”

Behring said he chose Flores because he has known him since 1972 and believes that he is someone with whom he can communicate.

Flores spent 22 years with the Raiders--as a player, assistant coach and, from 1979 to 1987, as head coach.

The Raiders were 91-56 in his nine seasons as head coach, including playoff games.