PACKERS BACKERS LOVE HIM\Holmgren wins fans' respect.

Byline: Pedro Gomez The Sacramento Bee

It's nearly two hours after an early December victory over Cincinnati, and Mike Holmgren is hailed like legendary Vince Lombardi as he emerges from fabled Lambeau Field with two of his daughters at his side.

During the short walk from the stadium doors to his car, fans cheer and call for the Green Bay Packers' coach to stop long enough for a quick snapshot. However, no one has a fancy 35mm camera. Most have instamatics with antiquated boxed flashbulbs.

Green Bay is a working town. There is little pizazz or glitz in the northeast corner of Wisconsin. Phoniness comes through loud and clear.

Perhaps that's why the no-nonsense Holmgren has been embraced so dearly. Though other Green Bay coaches who have followed Lombardi have enjoyed similar salutes, none has lasted as long or has enjoyed as much success.

Holmgren, in his fourth year in Green Bay, has guided the Packers to three consecutive playoff berths, a first since the Lombardi era. And the affection shared between this football community and its head coach grows stronger as Green Bay prepares to host Atlanta in the playoffs Sunday.

"They get excited around here," said Holmgren, who was cultivated as an assistant with the 49ers in the late 1980s. "I'm glad they get excited. I'm excited."

His enthusiasm celebrates a long passage from coaching high school football in San Francisco to becoming one of the brightest stars in the NFL.

Bill Walsh, who was coaching at Stanford in 1977-78, first noticed Holmgren when he was coaching football at Oak Grove High School in San Jose, where his innovative offenses averaged 52 points on the way to winning a section championship.

"His offenses stood out," Walsh said. "Everything about him was impressive. He has a passion for the game that you can't teach."

Slowly, Holmgren's reputation began to take shape. In 1982, he accepted the job of quarterbacks coach at Brigham Young University, where Steve Young was among his most-celebrated students. With Holmgren, BYU went all the way, winning the school's only national championship in 1984.

Two years after Walsh won his second Super Bowl with the 49ers in 1984, Walsh called Holmgren about coaching the 49ers' quarterbacks. At the time, the group included Joe Montana. Young and Steve Bono came later. Holmgren stayed in San Francisco for six seasons.

"He was a natural for us," Walsh said. "His San Francisco connections made the decision to bring him in that much easier. The two quarterbacks he had, Young and (Robbie) Bosco, went on to the NFL. And that said a lot.

"I knew he had graduated."

And then he triumphed. Holmgren returned home last week to San Francisco to guide the Packers over his former team, first shocking, then knocking the 49ers out of the playoffs 27-17. The locals have a saying: "Green Bay has a church on every corner and three bars in between." Stop in either and the story is the same when it comes to Holmgren - they love him and figure they're lucky to have him. This sentiment may explain the public pressure put on Packers management concerning his contract last year. The team extended the deal through 1999.

Entrenched in the community, Holmgren, wife Kathy and daughters Jenny (22) and Gretchen (14) have settled into a spacious, yet modest, home in a small town called Ashwaubenon near Lambeau Field. Two other daughters are away at college - Calla, 22, in Milwaukee, and Emily, 18, in Boston.

Heads turn when the Holmgrens walk into their favorite Italian restaurant or shop at the corner grocery store. For this ordinary family, the spotlight is difficult to manage . . . or comprehend.

Holmgren's a celebrity but one the locals can relate to. He's a stocky man with a moustache that goes untrimmed during the football season. He wears jeans and, when weather permits, he rides a Harley-Davidson. And he is not embarrassed to confess to being a devout fan of the soap opera "As the World Turns."

Holmgren's family strives to maintain a normal lifestyle. His wife pursues charitable work - serving the homeless at a local kitchen - and prefers to stay out of the spotlight. She even uses her maiden name.

Soon after becoming the Packers' coach, Holmgren moved his 88-year-old mother, Barbara, to Green Bay. She lives in Woodside Lutheran Home, a nursing home that Holmgren visits twice a week. However, Barbara, who is suffering from arthritis and bursitis and hasn't walked in years, was despondent when she learned the facility didn't have cable television. No ESPN or TNT to watch highlights of her son's team was a disgrace, she thought. Mike Holmgren paid to connect the home with cable.

The move from the Bay Area to Wisconsin was the right one for the Holmgrens. Green Bay's population of just more than 97,000 makes it easily the smallest city with a major-league sports team. It also makes it Hometown, USA.

"The kids have thrived here," said Holmgren. "Not just in school but personally, as well. We really wanted the Midwest values."

Along with those values came the looming shadows of Lombardi and Earl "Curly" Lambeau, who along with Holmgren, are the only Packers coaches with winning records. Green Bay's stadium is named after Lambeau, the team's first coach, and the Super Bowl trophy is named after Lombardi, as is just about everything in town.

Living up to expectations can be hard. So after Holmgren was hired, the first thing he did was emphasize to his players exactly what it means to wear the green and gold uniform with the slanted "G" on the side of the helmet.

Green Bay had just finished a 4-12 season under Lindy Infante, and "Packer Pride" already had faded under the previous rocky coaching stints of Forrest Gregg and Bart Starr, two former Packers greats.

"You can't bring back the past," linebacker George Koonce said. "But you can bring back expectations. I think that's what he did. We now expect to win whenever we play."

"I wanted them to think good things were going to happen when they stepped on the field," he said. "They were so used to bad things happening in the second half of games."

That tactic drew an immediate response. Green Bay went 9-7 in 1992, Holmgren's first year, and national football writers rewarded him with their annual Coach of the Year award. The next two seasons, the Packers took 9-7 records into the playoffs, posting first-round victories over the Detroit Lions before being derailed by the Dallas Cowboys.

Holmgren has installed Walsh's so-called West Coast offense, which features the short passing game Montana made famous. Despite having a strong arm, Favre, the Packers quarterback, rarely throws the ball deep, preferring to find the open receiver underneath.

And just as the 49ers proved, the system works. This year's NFC Central Division title is the first for Green Bay since 1972, and Favre, a near-unanimous selection to the All-Pro team, was recently named the league's MVP.

The team has gone 17-4 at Lambeau Field since he took over.

Holmgren has an easygoing personality, but that doesn't mean he is easy to play for. His temper is well-known inside the Hudson Center, the Packers' indoor practice facility across the street from Lambeau Field.

"He'll let you know when you've done something wrong, no doubt about it," said defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmer. "Whether that be a player or a coach, he doesn't hide his feelings. He's ideal to work for. Mike's not a control freak and has absolutely no ego. He only cares about what's really important."

Holmgren doesn't spend idle time thinking about the way a player has cut his hair or where he sits on the team bus. He devotes his time entirely to the Packers' offense, leaving Shurmer alone with the defense.

"It's no accident that he's succeeding," Walsh said. "Even though he may not look interested in the defense or other parts of the team, Mike is abreast of everything going on up there.

"It's the attention to detail that matters. The head coach is in complete charge, and I think that emanates from me."

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO

Green Bay coach Mike Holmgren joins Vince Lombardi and Earl "Curly" Lambeau as the only Packers coaches to have winning records. Associated Press