Athletes - John Gagliardi

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	Athletes - John Gagliardi

John Gagliardi (b. November 1, 1926 at Trinidad, Colorado) is an American football coach who has won more games than any other coach in college football history.

Born to Ventura and Antoinetta Gagliardi, John Gagliardi began coaching football in 1943 at the tender age of 16. He started coaching because his high school coach was called into service during World War II. He was a player-coach for two seasons before moving on to play atColorado College.

At 22, Gagliardi had graduated and returned to the coaching ranks at Carroll College in Helena, Montana. In four season at Carroll College, Gagliardi won 22 games.

The coach, nicknamed Gags, was hired by a small Benedictine college then known as Saint John's College in Collegeville, Minnesota, where he has coached ever since

In 55 total seasons, 4 at Carroll and 51 at Saint John's, Gagliardi has won a record 23 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles and four national championships. He won the NAIA national title in 1963 and 1965 at St. John's, as well as the 1976 and 2003 NCAA Division III national titles. Additionally, his 414 wins are good for the all time record among college football head coaches at any level.

He broke the record for career wins during the 2003 season. In November, he passed Eddie Robinson with his 409th win. Then in the national title game he broke a 55-game winning streak by Mount Union College to capture his first NCAA title since 1976.

In 1993, the NCAA began awarding the Gagliardi Trophy to the most outstanding player in Division III (schools that do not award athletic scholarships; generally small colleges).

Gagliardi also has been lauded for his unique coaching style. He does not allow players to call him coach, rather preferring to be called simply "John". He has never cut a player for non-performance in 55 years. The "Johnnies" do not do calisthenics and never hit in practice under the theory that they hit enough in games and calisthenics cause muscle strains.

More on Gagliardi and his program can be found in Austin Murphy's book The Sweet Season.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for John Gagliardi ]

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