John Leijten

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John Leijten, was born in Australia but grew up in the Netherlands in Tilburg. He was the Nationals and Linebackers Coach for the Amsterdam Admirals, where he has served for the past seven years.

Leijten has been involved in football for 20 years now. As a player, he was a linebacker for Tilburg Sting (1984-1986; defunct now) and the Rotterdam Trojans (1988-1990), undefeated champions of the Netherlands.

In 1990, an ankle injury forced John Leijten to quit playing football. As a coach Leijten started off at the Tilburg Steelers (now defunct). Under his guidance, Tilburg won Dutch national championships in 1991 and 1992 and made it to the playoff finals in 1994.

Leijten wanted more from coaching, however, and amateur American football in the Netherlands did not offer this opportunity. However, Australia was looking for football coaches, and since John Leijten was born there it would be no problem for him to work there. So, Leijten packed his suitcase and moved back down under to fulfill his coaching dream.

John returned to Europe more experienced, looking for another coaching opportunity. His search led him to the Cologne Crocodiles where he started as defensive coordinator. In 2000, he led the Crocodiles to a Bundesliga championship. Leijten's coaching skills were noticed by Jeff Reinebold, then the defensive backs and special teams coach at the NFL Europa Amsterdam Admirals[now DL coach at the University of Hawaii]. The position of running backs coach was open at the Admirals and John Leijten was invited for an interview, which resulted in John starting in Amsterdam in 2001. From there he worked his way up to linebackers coach.He was part of the 2005 World Bowl championship team as there LB coach as well as the Amsterdam Admirals 2006 World Bowl team.