The Seahawks' ad campaign was bold and direct. "It's Now Time." The hiring of Mike Holmgren meant the Seahawks, a non-playoff team since 1988, meant business.

Holmgren was Paul Allen's choice to carry the Seahawks into a new century and a new stadium. To get Holmgren, Allen gave a second-round choice to the Packers and handed Holmgren a $4.5 million a year contract. Allen gave Holmgren the titles of coach, general manager and executive vice president. He's also the offensive coordinator and play-caller.

Four years later, frustrated Seahawks fans say "When." After an 8-2 start in his first season with mostly starters left over from Dennis Erickson, the Holmgren-coached Seahawks are 20-31, including this year's nightmarish 4-9 season. Despite one of the nicest new stadiums in sports, the Seahawks struggle to sellout home games. Overestimating the market for club seats, the team had to slash prices and are still left with big areas of unfilled prime seats behind the opponent's bench.

	Holmgren is 28-34 overall in four seasons with the Seahawks.

Holmgren, who has four years left on his contract, won't be fired for taking the team into the top 10 of the draft instead of the top 10 of the league this season, but chances are he might not be back next season. His future will depend on a postseason discussions with Allen and team president Bob Whitsitt. After four years, Holmgren must sell them that he can change in four years what didn't happen in the past four.

"The guys are playing hard, but, because of the injuries, we are running out of bullets," Holmgren said. "We will get this fixed. We will have a lot of good players coming back from surgeries for next year. Our offense has good young players."

What Allen and Whitsitt might not buy is whether Holmgren can fix in a year what hadn't been fixed in four years -- a bad defense. Holmgren had the answer upon his arrival, but defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur passed away before the team's first game. Since then, Holmgren's tried two coordinators and a 2001 infusion of four defensive leaders. Now, that window of time has passed.

The Seahawks are 20 yards worse stopping the run than they were two years ago when they put up the third worst defensive yardage numbers in NFL history. They are the worst run-stopping unit in football. Holmgren cut middle linebacker Levon Kirkland in July for being over 300 pounds, but he resurfaced in Philadelphia to help improve an already good Eagles run defense. Defensive tackle John Randle started the season injured coming of microfracture knee surgery and has registered two tackles in the past six games.

"There's not a lot of stuff we have to do on offense," Holmgren said. "We look to work on the defensive line, middle linebacker and we will try to re-sign Anthony Simmons. We'll look at the secondary."

How Allen and Whitsitt accept the state of the Seahawks from Holmgren will determine their next move. Here's where it gets dicey. Something has to change. Holmgren has all the titles and has all the power. If they don't buy Holmgren's new four-year plan on rebuilding the defense and making changes on the defensive coaching staff, Holmgren may be told to accept some changes to his authority.

That won't sell. Holmgren has stated on his radio show and in press conferences that he worked too hard and long in his career to give up the general manager title.

The issue in Seattle is one debated throughout the league. Can a coach also be the general manager? There are a few success stories. Mike Shanahan, Tom Coughlin and Bill Parcells are just a few of those who showed that they can handle all the tasks. But there are more failures than successes. Unfortunately, there isn't a ready pool of 32 general managers ready to keep the balance of authority between coaches and personnel separate.

Holmgren the general manager made the job of Holmgren the coach more difficult. This year, for example, Seattle had a half dozen personnel question marks that weren't answered at the start of the season. He didn't have a middle linebacker to replace Kirkland. Randle's lingering knee problems carried into the regular season, meaning one less leader and impact player. Holmgren juggled the defensive line to get more pass rush at defensive end by moving tackle Antonio Cochran to end and drafting Anton Palepoi in the second round. It didn't work. The Seahawks had four sacks combined in 13 games from the defensive end position.

	“	The guys are playing hard, but, because of the injuries, we are running out of bullets. We will get this fixed. We will have a lot of good players coming back from surgeries for next year. Our offense has good young players. ”
		— Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren

If that wasn't enough, Holmgren gambled that Chris McIntosh could come back from a couple years of back troubles to start at right tackle. McIntosh couldn't and ended up on injured reserve. To make matters worse, Walter Jones' holdout lingered into the regular season, and Floyd "Pork Chop" Womack, who ended up being the right tackle, spent the entire training camp at a position he wouldn't play during the regular season.

On the positive side, Holmgren has assembled a quality cast of good young offensive players -- halfback Shaun Alexander, receivers Koren Robinson and Darrell Jackson and tight end Jerramy Stevens. He's taken heat, though, for letting halfback Ahman Green and receiver Joey Galloway go to create the openings for some of these players.

Allen is a patient owner because he's mostly an absentee boss who lives in Seattle, but spends no time at team headquarters. His preference is pro basketball and charity. Now he's spending his time and money on America's Cup sailing. Being sports richest owner, Allen wouldn't blink about paying off Holmgren's $17 million contract and making a change. He given $20 million golden parachutes to former Trailblazers guard Kenny Anderson and forward Shawn Kemp.

The scenario could play out this way. Allen tells Holmgren to take Randy Mueller as the general manager. Mueller was fired by the Saints despite turning them into one of the NFC's best teams and is fishing and hunting in Spokane, Wa. Ideally, the Mueller-Holmgren tandem would work. The Seahawks made the playoffs when Mueller and Holmgren were together in 1999.

But, naturally, Holmgren won't accept a lesser role. It's not as though he won't be hired once he's on the street. The biggest joke going around, though, is that Holmgren would team up with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who is a good friend. Think about it for a second. Holmgren would leave a situation with an owner who doesn't bother him and gives him a blank check for an owner who wants to be involved in every decision including being on the sidelines.

No way.

Another possibility could be in San Francisco where pressure grows for Steve Mariucci to take the 49ers well into the playoffs. Mariucci averted Holmgren getting his job in 1998 by beating the Packers in the playoffs, but Holmgren is family to the Bill Walsh faction of the 49ers. If Mariucci is released -- which would be an injustice -- Holmgren's contract could be traded to San Francisco for a nominal draft choice and several million to allow the 49ers to fit Holmgren's contract into the team's budget.

Holmgren is one of the league's best coaches. He is tough, demanding and attracts quarterbacks to learn his West Coast offense.

"It's been nightmarish," Holmgren said of the season. "But we'll fix it."

The Seahawks still have $3.3 million of salary cap money that vanishes in three weeks if it isn't spent on re-signing free agents or used to buy cap space for next year. The question about fixing the Seahawks woes is whether Holmgren will be part of the we.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.