“He’s A Fighter, So That’s What We’re All About”

In discussing Allen’s impact on the franchise, Seahawks Vice Chairman Bert Kolde, who also serves as the senior director of Vulcan Inc., noted that “Seattle is now part of the ongoing dialogue every NFL season.”

And as the Seahawks contend for division titles every year, and as Carroll and Schneider are regularly recognized as two of the best in their professions, and as multiple players represent the Seahawks in the Pro Bowl every season, it’s sometimes hard to remember a time when that wasn’t a case. But prior to Allen taking over the team, there was a long period between the peak of the Chuck Knox era and the late 90s when the Seahawks might have best been described as an NFL afterthought.

“The Seahawks are in the conversation like they have been for the last half dozen years now, they’re just in the championship conversation and in the mix,” Kolde said. “They’re not an afterthought. We’re no longer South Alaska; we’re the great Pacific Northwest.”

Allen doesn’t pretend to be a football expert—he isn’t giving Carroll Xs and Os advice on gameday, nor does he tell Schneider and his scouting department who to sign or draft—but he is a brilliant businessman who knows how to hire the right people and push the right buttons. And having succeeded in so many different fields, Allen helped instill an innovative, forward-thinking culture in the Seahawks organization.

“The way that Paul has established a championship culture is just that curiosity and the constant striving like there’s no finish line,” Schneider said. “We talk about that all the time here, how are we going to do it better than anybody’s ever done it before? I mean look what they did with Microsoft, right? How are we going to take that attitude of never thinking that we’re satisfied or never thinking that everything is good enough?

“Then we’re constantly trying to improve in every area that we possibly can in this organization. And when you read his book, you read everything about the risks they took early on starting Microsoft and everything, and again, everything that he has overcome individually. He’s a fighter, so that’s what we’re all about. We’re all about fighting, competing, and being curious and trying to stay ahead of the curve in every aspect we possibly can.”

The Seahawks have also been successful the past two decades because Allen isn’t afraid to make bold, and at times expensive, moves to improve his team.

When the team was treading water a bit in the late 1990s, Allen and Whitsitt made a big splash by hiring Holmgren away from Green Bay, where he had led the Packers to two Super Bowl appearances and one championship. Holmgren helped take the Seahawks to new heights, ending a long playoff victory drought, leading the team to its first NFC championship, and turning Seattle into an NFC West powerhouse

After Holmgren stepped down, and after the Seahawks went 5-11 in 2009 under Jim Mora, Allen opted to hit the reset button rather than wait and see how things would play out. That move was costly, as Mora had several years remaining on his contract, and could have been viewed as a rash decision—coaches are rarely fired after just one season—but in the long run, it was unquestionably the right decision for the franchise. Allen again made a headline-grabbing hire, prying Carroll away from USC after the national championship-winning coach had said no to the NFL so many other times. Schneider was hired days after Carroll, forming an unlikely pairing that became one of the most successful and harmonious coach-GM relationships in the league, kicking off the most successful period in franchise history.

“Paul is such a good owner because he cares, and he cares about putting on the field the best team he can to represent the community and to give them all the tools he can to succeed,” Kolde said. “And as part of that he’s made it a point to try to bring in the best coaches, the best executives to help as part of doing everything he can to maximize the probability of success. So he’s tried to give the team everything he can to make it successful."

As important as it has been for the Seahawks to hire the right people to run the organization, another big factor in Seattle’s success is how people like McLoughlin, Carroll and Schneider, and by extension, Allen, create a positive culture that breeds success both on the field and in the business side of the organization.

“It’s a place where you want to come in and work, and I think that’s the atmosphere and the environment that he has kind of set,” said All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner. “He has allowed us to be successful as we are, and it’s going to be successful as long as he’s here, because he has been an amazing person. After every home game, he’s probably the first person that acknowledges us when we walk through the door. And you know, I don’t know if he knows we appreciate it every time we see him in there and we just love his presence.

“I haven’t experienced it any other place because I’ve only been here, but from what I’ve heard, sometimes the owner can get in the way of a team’s success, whether it’s with the coaches or who we are. But he has created a great team with Pete and John and all those guys, and it’s just a fun, positive atmosphere that I feel like everybody from the outside looking in wants to play in. Everybody wants to play for this team, everybody wants to be on this team and I feel like that’s because of the people that are here in the building.”

The Seahawks have been one of the league’s most successful franchises since Allen took over, and after five straight playoff berths, Carroll feels like his team is still “right in the middle” of its current run of success. But before the Seahawks could become the model franchise that they are today, before that celebration could take place three-and-a-half years ago, Allen had to step up to buy the team and kick off an era of winning by earning, in the polls, one of the most important victories in Seattle sports history.

“Without Paul Allen, the Seahawks probably aren’t the Seattle Seahawks,” former Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. “And, you know, it gives me kind of goosebumps even to say that because of how awesome this team has been and this organization has been in the community.”