Loyola’s Holecek to help grow the game in Italy before next season

Loyola Academy football legend John Holecek is headed overseas, but he’s not going anywhere.

The 17-year Ramblers coach (through 2022) has accepted a temporary post as the defensive coordinator of the Milano Seamen, an Italian football team that in 2025 will play in the Italian Football League 2.

Holecek, who has twice coached football camps in Italy, said he’s been impressed by the spirit of the young Italian football players, and the opportunity to coach and live in Italy — even if for three months (March-May 2025) — was too good to pass up.

“I absolutely fell in love with their enthusiasm for the game, how eager they are to learn and how great of teammates they are,” Holecek told The Record. “Italy is just exceptional in every way — I’ve never had a bad meal. It fits with my mindset of slowing down and enjoying things a little bit. It will be a great challenge to teach these guys as much as I can in a short amount of time.”

Holecek is the winningest football coach in Loyola Academy’s history, and his 185 wins are more than 50 on top of the next peer: fellow legend John Hoerster (133-57 from 1987-2002).

A former collegiate (University of Illinois) and NFL linebacker, Holecek coached the Ramblers in 70 playoffs games in 17 playoff appearances in 17 seasons. His teams earned nine Chicago Catholic League crowns, seven state championship appearances and three state championships.

He retired following a championship season in 2022, but after a year away (2023), Holecek rejoined the Ramblers football program as an assistant varsity coach as Loyola won a third consecutive state championship.

The Milano Seamen announced Holecek’s hiring in a social media post on Wednesday, Dec. 10, saying in part, “With an extraordinary career as a linebacker in the NFL and a wealth of coaching experience, Holecek brings with him a winning mentality and impeccable preparation.”

Until this upcoming season, the Seamen played in the European League of Football, a three-year-old spinoff of the former NFL Europe that features 17 teams from across the continent.

Holecek said that in 2025, the Seamen will be regrouping in the smaller Italian Football League 2, in which only teams from Italy compete. Most if not all of the players, he explained, have other full-time employment. Many are also in their early 20s and playing organized football for the first time.

In his position as a defensive coordinator, Holecek said he’ll focus on teaching “technique and how to watch the game correctly and how to break down everything from your position and your coverages and your offense — make them a better team overall — but certainly technique wins and you have to have that.

“These are young kids and that is what the focus will be on: defeating the block, making tackles, containing the quarterback, pass rush. Things you see that beat teams without discipline. Technique and tackling is something I can help with.”

Milan is certainly far from home, but Holecek expects visits from his wife, Patricia, and his sons to mitigate the home sickness.

And while coaching overseas is a dream opportunity, Holecek made clear that he’ll be back on Loyola’s Hoerster Field next summer.

“I’m very happy here. I’m going to continue to work here,” he said of Loyola Academy. “I’ll come back in the summer and get back to coaching linebackers.

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