You Would Be Surprised at the High Level of Coaching on American Football Teams in Europe :

In John Rosenberg's 40 years as a football coach, he has succeeded at every level. He is a man of many talents and interests; John is also a writer, an inventor, a radio broadcaster, a traveler and much else besides. Nevertheless, football is his passion and he has become one of the finest American football coaches in Europe. In his 16 seasons of coaching in Europe he has compiled an 80% winning record both as a head coach and coordinator for clubs in Germany and Italy. He laid the foundation for this with an outstanding college coaching career.

Growing up in Boston John graduated from Harvard and then obtained his Masters degree in Education at Penn State, where he launched his coaching career spending 11 years under the tutelage of the legendary Penn State head coach, Joe Paterno.

Those seasons under one of the greatest college coaches of all time taught him a great deal with memories that will remain a lifetime. While at Penn State, he coached in 11 bowl games including two national championship games. In 1982, he helped Penn State win its first national championship defeating the University of Georgia (with Herschel Walker) in the Sugar Bowl. However, he admits that one of his most satisfying experiences was coaching against Dan Marino in Marino's final game at Pitt before heading to the Miami Dolphins.

"I was coaching the defensive secondary and we fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter under Marino's passing attack," said Rosenberg. "But Coach Paterno convinced us to remain patient and stick to our plan, and gradually we turned the game around, winning 48-14 while picking off five Marino passes."

Following Penn State, John took over as head coach at Brown University in 1984 and led them to three straight winning seasons including a 7-3 record in 1987. He left in 1990 to pursue other interests. In 1994 he was enticed to return to coaching full time, this time in Europe. At the urging of an old friend John accepted the job as head coach of the Munich Thunder in the newly-formed Football League of Europe. He guided the team to the championship final in that first season. A key factor was his ability to attract former Notre Dame star QB and Heisman trophy runner-up Tony Rice to the team.

Since then, he has returned to Europe to coach every season but three. He enjoys the lifestyle which allows him to spend five or six months at home, which means both Boston, and Los Angeles, and then six to seven months coaching in Europe. As head coach, or defensive coordinator of teams ranging from the Cologne Crocodiles to the Bergamo Lions, John has reached either the German or Italian finals almost every year but three.

One of his most memorable games was the 2002 German championship when, as coach for the Hamburg Blue Devils, he guided the team to a major upset over the perennial champions, the Braunschweig Lions who were undefeated until that game. He engineered an amazing turnaround when he assumed command of the Munich Cowboys in 2007, after the team had dropped to the very bottom of Division 2 in Germany. In one season he turned a 1-12 squad into a 14-0 undefeated team the next year advancing the team to the first division again.

This year John finds himself in Plattling, a small town in southeast Germany (Bavaria) with a population of about 20,000. The Plattling Blackhawks play in Germany's top division and John likes the attitude of the club and the fan support.

"The club president has developed good sponsors which has helped in recruiting," he says. "For a small town like this to be represented in one of the best football leagues in Europe is remarkable."

Rosenberg has no plans to retire. And why should he? He gets to coach football, enjoy Europe and still get back to enjoy football in North America and all his other interests as well.