Jan. 13 -
USA Today - Football coaching legends Paterno, Gagliardi meet for first time
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John’s University’s legendary football coach John Gagliardi received the 2009 American Football Coaches’ Association’s (AFCA) Amos Alonzo Stagg Award Tuesday, Jan. 13 at the AFCA Convention in Nashville, Tenn.
The award, which honors those “whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests of football,” is the highest honor given to football coaches by their peers. Previous winners include Paul “Bear” Bryant (1983), Woody Hayes (1986) and Joe Paterno (2002). The late Bill Walsh received the award posthumously last year.
The first active head coach to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame (Class of 2006), Gagliardi (Guh-lahr-dee) ended his 60th season as a collegiate head football coach and 56th season as head coach in Collegeville in 2008. The Johnnies finished the 2008 season with an 8-3 record (6-2 MIAC) to earn their MIAC-record 30th conference championship and 26th under the direction of Gagliardi. SJU made its 23rd postseason appearance and 10th appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs in the past 11 seasons. The winningest coach all-time in college football history, Gagliardi currently owns a 461-125-11 (.781) collegiate career record and a 437-119-10 (.781) record at SJU. Gagliardi’s 60 years of collegiate coaching is the most in college football history, surpassing the prior record of 57 years by former University of Chicago and University of the Pacific coach Amos Alonzo Stagg (1890-1946). Gagliardi tied the all-time collegiate win record, held by former Grambling State head coach Eddie Robinson, on Nov. 1, 2003, and broke the all-time record Nov. 8, 2003, on the way to a perfect 14-0 season and an NCAA Division III championship. Gagliardi broke Robinson’s record for the most games coached in college football history (588) Sept. 20 against Concordia-Moorhead.
While at Saint John’s, Gagliardi has coached four national championship teams (1963, 1965, 1976 and 2003) and made the 2000 national title game. His teams have reached the national semifinals in 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 2001 and 2002. In 2001, Gagliardi became only the third coach in NCAA college football history to coach 500 career games. As a collegiate coach, Gagliardi's teams have won 29 conference titles, including 2006 and 2008, and have appeared in 57 post-season games. In the past 41 years, SJU has been nationally ranked 40 times, and it owns a 39-18 postseason record. In 1993, SJU averaged 61.5 points per game, setting a record that might never be broken.
In addition to his various head coaching duties, Gagliardi has also been athletic director at both Carroll (1949-53) and Saint John's (1976-94). In June 2006, Gagliardi was inducted into the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Hall of Fame.