While preparing the 49ers for battle on the gridiron, linebackers coach Johnny Holland has waged a different fight off the field for the past four-plus years.
The 58-year-old was diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer, multiple myeloma, before San Francisco’s 2019 NFL season. But one Super Bowl and two NFC Championship Game appearances later, Holland still is coaching a star-studded linebacker group
“I used to say, ‘Man, I’m just blessed to have this day.’ But now it’s like, okay, for real, I’m blessed to have another day,” Holland told King on their drive to the UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco. “When they hook me up to the IVs, it reminds you that man, this is serious. Like, you’re getting this treatment to live another day.
People don’t like to talk about it, but we’re all gonna die. You don’t have a letter with an expiration date on your life. One person knows my expiration date: God. …
“Fulfilling your purpose while you’re here is more important than trying to figure out how long you’re gonna live.”
Holland is in his seventh season with the 49ers and fourth as the team’s linebackers coach. A relapse of his illness in 2021 forced him to step away from his role with the 49ers from Sept. 2021 until his official return that next spring. These days, in Holland’s 22nd season as an NFL assistant, the coach returns to work after undergoing treatment to attack an illness for which there is no cure.
