In his own words, Mike Holmgren was angry and frustrated last season.

He was also 6-10.

But it wasn't just the losing record -- Holmgren's first in nine NFL seasons -- that upset the Seahawks czar.

"It was probably the first time in my career that I couldn't get the response I felt we should get" from the players, Holmgren told a Seattle reporter at the start of training camp.

	The Packers finished 9-7 last season, Mike Sherman's first as head coach. Now Sherman is also Green Bay's general manager.

It turns out Holmgren's dream job wasn't as easy as he thought it was going to be when he resigned as coach of the Packers to become the all-powerful coach and general manager of the Seahawks in early 1999.

At that time, Holmgren had no reservations about his ability to wear two hats. After a two-season record of 15-17, however, he apparently believes the dual role has affected his coaching because he's decided to take a more hands-on approach with his players this season.

"I'm going to be much more directly involved in quarterback training and play than I've been for two years," Holmgren said. "I can allocate that time to do that now because I feel that other things are in place. For two years now, I've been feeling my way a little bit. How was I going to allocate my time? I'm going to dive back in here and be a little more active coaching."

Feeling his way? Holmgren?

To those who followed the Packers during Holmgren's seven years as coach, those statements are surprising because he'd been planning for this job since that Super Bowl victory in New Orleans five years ago. But to those who follow the Packers now, the statements are absolutely frightening because the Packers, too, have handed all of the football power in the organization to the coach, only one with far less experience than Holmgren.

Inquiring Cheeseheads want to know: If Holmgren is struggling with the dual responsibilities of coach and general manager, how in the world is Mike Sherman ever going to do it?

If you go strictly by the length of their resumes, Sherman, who added general manager to his coaching duties upon Ron Wolf's retirement from the Packers June 1, has no chance. Holmgren had seven years as a head coach before he expanded his duties; Sherman had one. Holmgren had seven years to learn from Wolf; Sherman had one. Holmgren reached two Super Bowls and won one; Sherman has one 9-7 season to his credit.

Packers president Bob Harlan, who read Holmgren's statements with great interest, admitted surprise "that it took (Holmgren) that long to get things in place there because he's a control guy and he's a very organized guy. A very organized guy."

However, Harlan said the statements didn't raise any red flags with him about Sherman's ability to do both jobs. Harlan professes great admiration for Holmgren's intelligence and organizational skills, but warned that just because Holmgren is struggling to get his hands around both jobs in Seattle doesn't mean Sherman will do the same in Green Bay.

"It really doesn't worry me right now, it really doesn't," Harlan said. "I think every organization is different. I think every situation is different."

In elevating Sherman, Harlan decided to junk the model -- a general manager overseeing everything, including the coach -- that was responsible for much of the team's success in the 1990s. Instead, he put the little-known Sherman in charge of coaching and personnel, completing the most meteoric rise of anyone in the NFL since Kurt Warner.

So who is this mystery man who now leads one of the NFL's storied franchises?

Sherman is a former high school English teacher who coached at five colleges before Holmgren hired him to coach the Packers' tight ends in 1997. Sherman's career path over the last four years is so upwardly mobile it almost defies logic: Packers tight ends coach in 1998, Seahawks offensive coordinator in 1999, Packers head coach in 2000 and Packers head coach and general manager this year.

Yet, Harlan and Wolf, who hired Sherman to replace Ray Rhodes as coach in 2000 and recommended him as his own replacement a year later, have a steadfast belief that the big man with the calm demeanor, dry sense of humor and devotion to family can handle the job. The Packers are banking heavily on Sherman's intelligence and organizational skills, the same characteristics they admired in Holmgren before he left for Seattle.

	“	I know people who have a lot more experience than I do, but I've always thought talent outweighs experience because talent will eventually pass by experience. I think I have talent in coaching. I think I have talent in personnel. I think I have talent in management. ”
		— Mike Sherman, Packers general manager and head coach

"You know," Harlan said, "the guy we've got is darn smart, too. Wolf used to tell me, 'You know, I can't tell you how intelligent this guy is.' And he said, 'Bob, he is going to be dynamite in this league someday. There's no doubt about it.' Ron really felt that way about him. He's a highly intelligent, organized individual who has a great knack for surrounding himself with good people. It's just the way he is."

Still, it's a huge risk. Wolf and Sherman each put in 75-hour work weeks last year, and there's simply not enough time for Sherman to match that. One of Wolf's secrets was that he spent most of the fall out scouting the colleges, something a coach/general manager will never be able to do.

Sherman has hired former Bears personnel executive Mark Hatley to be his personnel chief and, in a coup, used some of the Packers' green and gold to persuade Wolf's right-hand men -- college scouting director John Dorsey and pro scouting director Reggie McKenzie -- to stay at home. Still, he admits it's valid to ask if he can do both jobs as effectively as he and Wolf did them last year.

"I actually have thought about that myself," Sherman said. "Mike Holmgren was here and was very good at what he did; Ron Wolf was here and was very good at what he did. Now you give both those jobs to Mike Sherman, who's very young at both jobs. How is he going to do it? I think, first and foremost, I believe in my ability to plan for the future, my ability to see the big picture. I see what the jobs entail and I'm able to lay out a format and a plan of how I want things done. I hire people and assign people jobs and when they don't do them, I tell them. I feel like in my administrative and organizational skills I'm at a very high level, and I'm able to work through those things."

That's why Sherman didn't ask Wolf or Holmgren how he should structure the organization when he took over. He thought it through himself and came up with his own plan.

It was much the same during Sherman's first year as coach, when he held the Packers together despite a 2-4 start and the franchise's worst injury epidemic in 20 years. Sherman's first team finished with four straight wins and was the best team in the NFL not to make the playoffs. But even he warns people not to make snap judgments.

"I'm not a better coach just because we won the last four ballgames," Sherman said. "I think people recognize talent in certain people, and I hope Ron Wolf and Bob Harlan recognized talent in me. I know people who have a lot more experience than I do, but I've always thought talent outweighs experience because talent will eventually pass by experience. I think I have talent in coaching. I think I have talent in personnel. I think I have talent in management."

The talent for coaching showed late last season. By this time next year, everyone will have a better idea whether Sherman has a talent for personnel.

He did learn the value of aggressiveness, of always trying to improve the roster, from Wolf. During training camp, Sherman had a weekly revolving door at tight end and the defensive line, two areas where he was uncomfortable with the depth.

However, Sherman also made a rookie personnel mistake when he scouted Texas A&M wide receiver Robert Ferguson and took the recommendation of his former boss, Aggies coach R.C. Slocum, at face value. Slocum raved about Ferguson's work ethic and the Packers drafted him in the second round expecting him to contribute immediately. Instead, Ferguson is buried on the depth chart and last week quarterback Brett Favre publicly ripped him for not knowing the playbook.

One personnel error won't doom the Sherman regime, but his ability to effectively juggle the two jobs remains open to question. So far, the most encouraging thing to Harlan is Sherman's ability to put together a strong personnel department.

"He's done the same thing (with the personnel staff) that he did football-wise with the coaching staff last year," Harlan said. "He surrounded himself with great people. I'm very comfortable with him. I really am."

Tom Oates of the Wisconsin State Journal writes an NFC column every week for ESPN.com.