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If you thought after 155 wins and 28 years as a head coach that Mike Greene was going to get all emotional after telling his Loyola football players he was stepping down and turning it over to assistant coach John Sella, then you must not know Mike Greene.
“I just told them and that was about it,” Greene said. “Then I went back to school and starting picking up trash.”
His days as a head football coach may be over, but his duties as assistant principal will continue.
When Loyola opens the ’24 season, it will be Sella, who has been a Loyola assistant for eight years, calling the shots.
Having a Flyer assistant take over as head coach is certainly nothing new. The last 14 coaching changes at the school have involved promoting an assistant coach or a former head coach.
“I am honored become the next head coach at a school that has such an outstanding legacy of great leaders,” Sella said. “Being able to serve under Coach Greene for the last three years has certainly prepared me for the challenge. I couldn’t have asked for a better example to learn from.”
“I wanted to leave the program in good shape for Coach Sella so it could continue grow under his leadership,” said Greene. “He has prepared himself well and I know it will be in great hands.”
Sella, 37, has spent 13 years as an assistant coach and the last eight at Loyola. He was offensive coordinator for the Flyers from 2019-22 and was assistant head coach in 2023.
A Captain Shreve graduate, Sella also coached for the Gators from 2011 to 2015 before coming to Loyola in 2016.
This was Greene’s second stint as head coach at Loyola. He originally was head coach from 1993-97 and led the Flyers to the state finals in 1994. After coaching at three other local schools, he returned to Loyola as assistant principal in the 2018-19 school year.
Greene became head coach again in 2021 and took the Flyers to playoff berths in all three seasons. He has a record of 48-41 in eight seasons at Loyola and is No. 5 on the list of winningest coaches in Caddo-Bossier history.
“Having such a smooth transition is really going to be a benefit for everyone involved in our program,” Loyola principal John LeBlanc said. “Mike was the perfect person to have in charge as John prepared to take over. The timing on this couldn’t be better and that’s a testimony to these two outstanding leaders.”
Sella becomes the 21st head coach in the school’s history. He also has head coaching experience with the school’s lacrosse team.