How 49ers Coach LB Holland Maintains ‘Happy’ Spirit While Battling Cancer appeared first on NBC Sports Bay Area
As linebackers coach Johnny Holland prepares the 49ers for battles on the field, they’ve fought other battles on the field over the past four years.
Before the 2019 NFL season in San Francisco, the 58-year-old was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer. But one Super Bowl and two NFC Championship games later, Holland is still coaching a star-studded team slated to play at Levi’s Stadium this Saturday for the fourth time in five campaigns.
Earlier this season, NBC Sports’ Peter King accompanied Holland to one of his monthly chemotherapy treatments before the 49ers’ Week 13 game against the Philadelphia Eagles. There, the linebacker coach said he remains positive despite such a devastating illness. The sportswriter shared the news on Monday in his “Soccer Morning in America” column.
“I used to say, ‘God, I’m lucky to have this day.’ But now I’m happy to have another day,” Holland told King during a visit to UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco. “When I get an IV, it reminds me that this person is important. For example, if you take this treatment to live another day.
“People don’t like to talk about it, but we’re all going to die. There is no expiration date letter in your life. There is only one person who knows my deadlines: God. … “It is more important to achieve your purpose while you are here than to calculate how long you will live.”Holland is in his seventh season with the 49ers and fourth as the team’s head coach.
A relapse in 2021 forced him to step down from his role with the 49ers, effective Sept. 1. 2021, before the official return next spring. Today, in Holland’s 22nd season as an NFL assistant, the coach returns to work after receiving treatment for a terminal illness. “When he first told me he did this, I thought, ‘You’re kidding, right?'” Dutch nurse Samantha Shenoy told King: “It amazes me that he can keep doing all this.”
Under Holland’s tutelage, 49ers star quarterback Fred Warner achieved First Team All-Pro and three-time Pro Bowl status in 2020, 2022 and 2023. Holland are respected by the players they coach and Warner is no different. He told King that despite the cancer, Dutch’s drive and love of life never wavered, and his attitude rubbed off on the All-Pro.
“When you first meet Johnny, you can’t tell there’s something wrong,” Warner told King. The life it brings, the energy it brings day and night is incredible. Sometimes I have to pinch myself and remind myself that he has an important job to do. As one of his players, how would you look at that and say, “Oh, I’m not feeling well today”? I’m going on vacation today.”
“I have a plan. Even in the hardest times, there is someone who will give me everything. Being able to see that every day is probably one of the biggest blessings of my career.Holland told King that he never thought, “Why me?”
“I’m happy to be me and not who I love,” Holland said. “God made me this way. I learned in sports that the game is not over until the clock runs out. One more moment and you’ll have your chance. And now this is the game of my life that I’m playing.”Holland’s “blessed” mentality is definitely something any 49ers player should aspire to. Given how San Francisco’s defense has fared with the coach on board, his impact on and off the field is clear.
