Packers pick Thompson as GM to lighten Sherman's load
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Ted Thompson was hired Friday to take over coach Mike Sherman's general manager duties with the Green Bay Packers.
Thompson leaves his job as Seattle's vice president of football operations on the same day that Bob Whitsitt was fired by the Seahawks as president of football operations.
Thompson was given full authority over football operations, including the power to hire and fire the coach. Thompson was scheduled to arrive in Green Bay on Friday night and meet with Sherman during the weekend.
"Ted is the boss of the football organization," Packers president Bob Harlan said. "I put him at the top of the football operation. The coach is his responsibility. ... It is now his call."
It's not clear whether Thompson will pursue a contract extension with Sherman, who has a year left on his deal, which was to pay him about $3 million for his dual roles. His new titles are head coach and executive vice president.
Harlan said Thompson's hiring will enable Sherman to devote more time to coaching.
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| Packers president Bob Harlan explains Friday's change in the front office. (AP) |
Sherman took on the general manager's role in 2001 after the Ron Wolf retired. Thompson was the pro personnel director and director of player personnel under Wolf from 1992-99 in Green Bay, working with all three of the Packers' top personnel men: Reggie McKenzie, John Dorsey and John Schneider.
Thompson joined Mike Holmgren in Seattle after the 1999 season and has run the draft and advised him on personnel decisions.
Sherman is 53-27 in the regular season since becoming Packers coach in 2000, and the Packers and Philadelphia Eagles are the only NFL teams to reach the playoffs in each of the last four years. But Sherman is just 2-4 in the playoffs, including a first-round loss to the Vikings last weekend.
Thompson spent 10 years in the NFL as a linebacker in Houston before joining the Packers' scouting department in 1992.
