John Leijten

Who is John Leijten?

John Leijten is an American football coach and former player from the Netherlands. He currently Head Coach of the Dresden Monarchs and of the Australia national American football team, the Australian Outback.

He was born in Australia but grew up in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Leijten played as a linebacker for the Tilburg Sting from 1984–1986 and the Rotterdam Trojans from 1988–1990. In 1990 he stopped playing american football following an ankle injury.

Leijten's coaching career started as defensive co-ordinator at the Tilburg Steelers, who won Dutch national championships in 1991 and 1992 and made it to the playoff finals in 1994. From 1994 to 1999 he was Head Coach of the Vught Black Rhinos before moving to the Cologne Crocodiles in 2000 as defensive coordinator. The Crocodiles won the national championship German Bowl that year. Leijten's coaching skills were noticed by Jeff Reinebold, then coach of defensive backs and special teams at the NFL Europa Amsterdam Admirals. John Leijten joined Amsterdam in 2001 as running backs coach. He was line backer coach of the Admirals teams that won the 2005 and 2006 World Bowl championships.