FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 1, 2001

Ron Wolf, the tireless Pennsylvanian who restored the Green Bay Packers to Super Bowl success and national prominence over the past decade, will retire as the team’s executive vice president and general manager on June 1.

As of today, Mike Sherman, the resolute New Englander who became the 13th head coach in team history in January of 2000 and launched his tenure last season by leading the Packers to a solid 9-7 record and within "inches" of the playoffs, will begin to effectively assume the general manager’s position.

Both historic announcements were made today by Robert E. Harlan, the Packers’ president and chief executive officer.

"During the next four months, Ron and Mike will work together in a dual capacity until Ron’s subsequent departure," Harlan added. "This will help facilitate the transitional process that will occur.

"Beginning June 1, Ron will continue to serve the organization as a consultant for the three years remaining on his contract."

Sherman, a 22-year coaching veteran, thus becomes the first combination general manager and head coach the Packers have had since 1980 when Bart Starr held the dual responsibilities. Vince Lombardi (1959-67) was the first to be accorded the dual role.

Sherman, described early on by a member of the media as having "an ultra-organized management style," has been enthusiastically endorsed by Wolf himself as his successor. Wolf, a veteran of more than 35 years as a football operations executive for the Raiders and Buccaneers in addition to the Packers, has been impressed with Sherman since the January day of 2000 that he interviewed him for the Packers’ head coaching position and emerged from the meeting to announce that Sherman "blew my socks off" with his highly organized and comprehensive approach to the job.

And the resilient first-year head coach subsequently proved equal to the considerable challenge, despite a host of injuries that subsequently cost him no fewer than five starters for most or all of the way during the 2000 season - and the unexpected loss of Pro Bowl tight end Mark Chmura.

Rallying his team after it had slipped to a 5-and-7 record at the three-quarter pole, Sherman led the Packers to a sweep of the NFC Central Division over the last four weeks of the season - one of the greatest stretch runs in the team’s 80-year NFL history - and into position for a playoff berth on the final day of the season, a hope that did not disappear until the defending Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams pulled out a late victory over the New Orleans Saints to deprive the Green and Gold of a postseason berth.

Quarterback Brett Favre, closing out his ninth season in Green Bay, was to credit the rousing finish to "the best team chemistry we’ve had since I’ve been here."

Along the way, as Sherman put his personal stamp on the team and the organization, the Packers won more games against teams with winning records (six) than any other team in the league. They also:

In going 4-0 in December, were matched only by the Tennessee Titans and New York Giants, AFC Central and NFC East champions and the No. 1 seeds in their respective conferences for the playoffs;

Posted a 5-2 record against playoff teams;

Won their last five games in Lambeau Field, reclaiming the home field advantage they enjoyed for most of the ‘90s; and

Shared the best record in the division with Minnesota, with that sweep of the NFC Central at the end, at 5-and-3.

Sherman, who had been named head coach by Wolf on January 18, 2000, becomes the fifth man in Packers history to hold the title of general manager and head coach. His predecessors, in addition to Lombardi and Starr, have included Phil Bengtson (1969-70) and Dan Devine (1971-74).

Earlier, team founder Earl "Curly" Lambeau held the title of vice president, general manager and head coach from 1940 through 1949, and his successor, Gene Ronzani, served as vice president and head coach from 1950 through 1953.

* * *

WOLF, A DECISIVE, dedicated and determined leader since arriving upon the Green Bay scene in late November of 1991, will leave an imposing professional legacy when he retires four months hence.

Asserting, "I was brought here to win," he built the Packers into perennial NFL contenders during that nine-year span, a tenure punctuated by their first Super Bowl victory in three decades and back-to-back appearances in professional football’s ultimate game.

During the history-making process, Wolf made a more profound impact upon the Packers organization and its artistic fortunes than anyone since the legendary Lombardi’s arrival in Green Bay 42 years ago. Over his 1992-2000 tenure, the Green and Gold compiled the NFL's second-winningest regular season record, a 92-52 mark for a .639 percentage - a reading bettered only by the San Francisco 49ers (95-49, .660 percentage).

Appropriately, the 62-year-old New Freedom, Pa., native was enshrined in the Packer Hall of Fame in July of 2000, joining Lombardi in the Green Bay shrine, for converting the Green and Gold from perennial also-rans into consistent winners and the standard of the pro football world, exemplified by the fact they also have mounted the NFL’s best regular season won-lost record since the 1993 institution of free agency (83-45, a .648 winning percentage).

The Minnesota Vikings and San Francisco 49ers have been next up during this span with matching 81-47 records (.633), followed by the Denver Broncos (80-48 and .625) and the Kansas City Chiefs (78-50 and .609).

A major ingredient in the Packers’ revival has been Wolf’s superior talent for selecting players in the annual NFL draft, a contribution underscored by the fact that a remarkable 57.8 percent of those he has drafted during his nine-year tenure were still playing in the league at the end of the 2000 regular season when the average career length for an NFL player is closer to four years.

The list of accomplishments during Wolf’s aggressive stewardship, launched with the hiring of 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Holmgren as head coach and the acquisition of Favre as a franchise quarterback in 1992, is both long and lustrous. It includes:

Seven consecutive winning seasons (1992-98);

Six consecutive playoff appearances (1993-1998);

The NFL’s best regular season won-lost record since the advent of the salary cap in 1994 (74-38, a .661 percentage);

A 92-52 regular season record (a .639 winning percentage);

101 total victories, including playoffs, in 9 seasons;

A 53-10 regular season record in Lambeau Field (a .841 winning percentage);

The second-longest home winning streak in NFL history (25 straight regular season victories - from Game Two of the 1995 season through Game Four of the 1998 season);

Back-to-back National Football Conference titles (1996-97);

Three consecutive NFC Central Division championships;

The first string of four double-digit winning seasons for Green Bay since 1929-32 (11-5 in 1995, 13-3 in 1996 and 1997 and 11-5 in 1998);

The first 16-victory season in the Packers’ 81-year history (16-3 in 1996); and

7 consecutive victories over the Bears in Chicago (1994-2000), a Green Bay record against their immemorial enemies in the Windy City.

Wolf earned immediate recognition in his current role, being saluted as "NFL Executive of the Year" by The Sporting News following the Packers’ immediate, 9-7 turnabout in 1992 - his first year on the job - after the team had been 4-and-12 in 1991 and 6-and-10 in 1990.

In appreciation for Wolf’s achievements, Harlan twice rewarded him with three-year extensions to his original five-year contract, asserting following the most recent extension in 1997, "I think Ron is the best general manager in the National Football League."

Along the way, the Packers president offered a specific analysis as to why Wolf succeeded where others before him failed.

"I think I can tell you Ron Wolf spends every minute of every waking hour thinking about what he can do to make this football team better," Harlan said. "He is dedicated and working at it so constantly. With that work ethic, you think, ‘We’re going to make it.’ "

Wolf, looking back over the record from his perspective, observed with pardonable satisfaction, "What people said couldn’t happen here…happened here (building a winner in Green Bay). I’m proud of that.

"My goal in coming here was to win 100 games in 10 years…We won 100 games, including the playoffs, in nine years."