No More Guilt : Uncomfortable as a Front-Office Spectator, Flores Has Put Himself Back in the Line of Fire as Coach of Seahawks

Why, Tom?

Those are the first words that pop into the minds of most people who run into Seattle Seahawk Coach Tom Flores these days.

Why in the world would an intelligent, successful family man, with a hefty income and the health to enjoy it, subject himself to a job whose byproducts frequently are failure and misery?

Why would a man exchange the joy of strolling a golf course for the pressure of pacing a football sideline?

Why would a man who has earned the cushy life of an executive choose to return to 18-hour work days, often spent bleary-eyed from too much film watching and too little sleep?

And why would a man who has earned four Super Bowl rings at the top of his profession agree to start again at the bottom?

Flores has a simple answer that covers all the questions: He likes to coach.

“That’s a pretty good reason,” he said.

But if Flores had dreamed that he would find himself in the nightmare he’s in, heading into the seventh week of the NFL season, even he might have had second thoughts.

His team will play the Raiders on Sunday in Seattle. The Seahawks have a 1-5 record and have scored only 43 points, fewest in the league.

And things aren’t looking up a bit. Earlier this week, Seattle put quarterback Dan McGwire on the injured-reserve list, the 13th Seahawk and the second Seattle quarterback to make that list this season.

“Everybody goes through injuries,” Flores said. “We’re not the only ones. But I’ve never experienced it quite like this.”

Flores has had plenty of pleasant experiences in his 31 years in the NFL. After a decade as a quarterback with the Raiders, Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs, he served as an assistant coach with the Bills and Raiders.

He moved up to the Raiders’ head coaching job in 1979, serving until 1987.

By then, Flores had earned a ring as a reserve quarterback with Kansas City in Super Bowl IV, as an assistant with the then-Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XI and as the Raiders’ head coach in Super Bowls XV and XVIII. He was on the winning team in all four games.

His two Super Bowl victories as Raider coach were the only two won by the AFC in the 1980s.

So when Flores left after 1987, there didn’t seem to be any more mountains to climb.

In his last season, strike-torn 1987, the Raiders finished 5-10, leading some to suspect that Flores’ departure was by mutual agreement.

The Raider always denied that, but Flores acknowledged it was sometimes hard to coach in the shadow of owner Al Davis.

“Regardless of what happened, it was always Al Davis and the Raiders because he is a very dynamic and involved owner with a certain amount of mystique,” Flores told the Seattle Times.

“I sometimes happened to be the guy who coached the team, and sometimes that was in question, too.”

In question, but never, according to Flores, in doubt.

“Al built the foundation for the Raiders, and I learned a lot of football philosophy from him,” he said. “But, as far as the football went, I was in charge.”

Still, there was that empty feeling of having never called the shots away from the field, of having never put a club together.

So, when the offer came two years later to become president and general manager of the Seahawks, Flores couldn’t resist.

It seemed like an ideal situation. He could wear a suit and tie, work in the front office and live a normal life while employing an excellent coach, Chuck Knox.

But a funny thing happened when Knox went south after last season to take the Rams’ coaching job.

As Flores began looking for Knox’s successor, he realized he was envious.

He wanted the job. So he took it.

Being a general manager hadn’t been so bad--except for game day. With nothing to do before the kickoff, he would go to Mass, then to the stadium.

“I was a spectator,” he said. “I felt guilty.”

No such problems now, although, considering the way things have been going, stopping off for Mass isn’t a bad idea.

“It was kind of a tough decision to make,” Flores said of his move back to coaching at 55. “The challenge was there. (Considering) the ownership, knowing them and knowing this community, I felt, if I wanted to coach again for whatever length of time, this would be the best opportunity.

“So, I accepted it. I didn’t agonize over the decision.”

Nor does he now--at least publicly.

If there were any regrets, they would figure to come out Sunday, when he looks across the field at the silver and black and remembers the way it was.

But Flores won’t allow himself to wallow in the past.

“Those were fond memories,” he said. “But I don’t have time to think about them right now anyway.

“Years from now, when I’m sitting around the fire someplace, or playing golf someplace, I’ll think about all the memories, good and bad.”

And when he thinks about the bad, he might even ask himself, “Why, Tom?”