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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Smooth Operator Seahawks Vice President Proves The Cream Rises

On Friday, Randy Mueller watched the Seahawks practice, talked with the agents of unsigned draft picks Shawn Springs and Walter Jones, and munched a noontime burger at Lenny’s in Cheney.

Nineteen years ago, he was changing cleats, doing coaches’ laundry and taxying players to the airport after they’d been cut.

Times have changed for Mueller. So have Seahawks owners (three), coaches (three) and players (hundreds). Even the Hawks nearly changed addresses a while back. But Mueller has been one of the constants in this franchise, making a swift rise up the chain of command from ballboy to his present-day status of vice president of football operations.

It’s a long way from his days as quarterback at St. Maries High School, class of 1979.

Or is it?

Back then, losses to the Wallace Miners ate at him.

Nowadays, it’s setbacks to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Winning remains his all-consuming passion. It’s why he and coach Dennis Erickson, who make nearly all of the football-related decisions, have formed more than a working relationship.

“I know it sounds corny, but he’s a small-town guy and I’m a small-town guy and we seem to communicate really well,” the 36-year-old Mueller said. “I don’t always have to ask him how he thinks because I know how he thinks.”

“He’s one of the best in the business,” Erickson said. “In the time I’ve been here, he’s done great things.”

Mueller’s employment with the Seahawks began in 1978 when he was a senior at St. Maries. After two years as a ballboy, he advanced to go-fer while attending Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore. As a junior, he led Linfield to a national championship and was poised to try for another when the Seahawks restructured. Chuck Knox was hired as coach and Mueller was made a staff assistant.

“I decided to pass up my last year of eligibility and graduate early,” Mueller said. “I moved to Seattle on the day I graduated. In fact, I worked the spring of my last year at Linfield, driving back and forth from Oregon.”

He studied game film and scanned newspapers for tidbits of information on players.

By handling each chore tossed his way, his responsibilities grew. He became Pro Personnel Director in 1990.

When owner Ken Behring sacked coach Tom Flores three years ago, the Seahawks went to a three-VP structure.

Mueller was chosen to head football operations in 1995. Mickey Loomis is the numbers cruncher (“The salary Capologist,” Mueller says) and Gary Wright is in charge of communications.

“He got this promotion and shoot, I spent a full day with him over in Kirkland before I noticed it on his door,” said Mike Bayley, a friend of Mueller’s since the two were youngsters in St. Maries. “About that time he started to tell me about it. He always wants to be the same old guy from St. Maries.”

Mueller’s recent work likely has been his best. His persistence was behind the jaw-dropping trade of Rick Mirer for Chicago’s first-round pick when many thought Mirer would fetch nothing better than a second- or third-rounder in return. Mueller and Seattle quickly turned two mid-first-round selections into Nos. 3 and 6 to pocket Springs and Jones.

“The timing was perfect,” Mueller said. “He (Mirer) is big in Chicago because he played at Notre Dame and they needed a quarterback.”

The Seahawks also landed free agents Chad Brown, Willie Williams, Bennie Blades and Warren Moon.

Seattle once battled just to re-sign its own players. Now, the Seahawks have become aggressive in free agency. The main reason, obviously, has been the ownership handoff from the penny-pinching Behring to Paul Allen, estimated to be the sixth-wealthiest person on the planet.

“Paul has told me let’s be in the middle of every deal,” Mueller said. “This isn’t a one-time deal.”

Dealing with the Jerry Maguires of the world can be agitating, but it’s losing that has worn on Mueller.

“I don’t think people realize how hard it is to win at this level, how equal the talent level is and how good all the coaches are,” Mueller said. “It’s such a fine line that sends you off on one tangent and the 49ers on another. It can be just one deal or move. If we win, all the (off-season moves) will have been worth it.”

It seems, sometimes, that good fortune follows Mueller around like a shadow. His promotion to VP came shortly after the NFL instituted the salary cap, which leveled the playing field for Mueller.

“I’m obviously young for this job,” he said. “But when the cap came in, the game and the business changed so much that all of a sudden guys with 20, 30, 40 years of experience didn’t have any more experience with the cap than I did. We all learned on the fly.”

Mueller’s proven to be a swift study. Now, if the Seahawks can get Springs and Jones signed, Mueller can concentrate on other matters.

“I’ve got a secret fishing spot on the St. Joe (River),” Bayley said. “I took him one time and it’s pretty hairy getting in to it and out of it. I still remember him crossing the river with his hands hooked to a rock, water pounding his chin and he’s trying to keep from floating to St. Maries.

“He asked me the other day if I’d been to that spot yet. I said, ‘Yeah, but the water was too high.’ He said, ‘Don’t go again without me.”’

Mueller isn’t one to pass up the chance of landing another big one.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: Changed from Regional edition.

Changed from Regional edition.