Any reservations general manager Ron Wolf might have had about Mike Holmgren vanished little more than 15 minutes into their interview Dec. 29.

"Here was everything that you supposedly look for," Wolf said Saturday morning after Holmgren, 43, was introduced as the 11th coach in the 73-year history of the Green Bay Packers. "Here was a gentleman I could work with. It was all right there."

Wolf would spend a week finding out whether Bill Parcells wanted to coach. He didn't. Holmgren would interview with four other teams but admitted that he knew he wanted the Green Bay job before he left town.

After firing Infante, Wolf began the search thinking he would hire a coach whose expertise was in defense. Early in his almost three decades of NFL experience he had witnessed ex-defensive-coaches such as Chuck Noll, Don Shula, Tom Landry and John Madden dominate the game.

Recently, however, Wolf came to realize that the trend was moving toward dominance by coaches with backgrounds in offense. He cited Mike Ditka, Dan Reeves, Joe Gibbs and Walsh.

Harlan said Holmgren's contract contained no clause that would bind him to Green Bay should he attempt a return to the 49ers as head coach.