KIRKLAND, Wash. (Feb. 22, 2005) -- Seattle Seahawks general manager Bob Ferguson resigned after two years on the job, part of an executive house-cleaning following a disappointing season.
"As the Seahawks transition to new football leadership I have decided it is also the right time for me to leave the organization," Ferguson said in a written statement adding that he will stay with the team through April's draft.
The Seahawks hired Ferguson in February 2003, after he was fired as general manager of the Arizona Cardinals. Previously, coach Mike Holmgren had taken on the dual role of general manager.
After a 3-0 start that seemed to validate preseason forecasts of a Super Bowl run, the Seahawks lost several tough games and finished 9-7, good enough to win the weak NFC West. They lost to St. Louis in the first round of the playoffs.
Owner Paul Allen fired Bob Whitsitt, the team's president of football operations, last month, saying he wanted to bring in someone with a deep football background. Seahawks vice president Ted Thompson was hired to be Green Bay's general manager that same day. Whitsitt had hired Ferguson.
Ferguson played linebacker at the University of Washington and worked with the Seahawks as director of sales and special events in the 1970s.
He has spent three decades in the NFL, including seven with the Cardinals, where he was hired as general manager in 1999. He was fired by Arizona in January 2003, after the Cardinals finished with a 5-11 record, losing nine of their last 10 games.
Ferguson's greatest success came in Buffalo, where he was director of player personnel during the 1990s, when the team went to four Super Bowls.
