John Gagliardi, winner of the Ronald L. Jensen
Award for Lifetime Achievement |
John Gagliardi is the winningest coach in college football history. Last fall, he completed his record 58th season as a collegiate head football coach, 54 of them in Collegeville, Minn. at St. John’s University.
His record stands at 443-120-11 (.781), including a 419-114-10 (.782) mark at SJU. His longevity surpasses the old record of 57 years held by former University of Chicago and Pacific University coach Amos Alonzo Stagg (1890-1946).
Those numbers only begin to tell the story. John began coaching at age 16, when his high school coach at Trinidad, Colo. Catholic was drafted into World War II. His teams won four conference titles in six years of coaching high school at Trinidad Catholic and St. Mary’s in Colorado Springs.
After graduation from Colorado College in 1949, John took his first college coaching position at Carroll College in Helena, Mont., where he rescued the program from near extinction and earned three conference titles in his first four seasons. At St. John’s he replaced Johnny “Blood” McNally, a charter member of the Professional Football Hall of Fame.
John coached the Johnnies to national championships in 1963, 1965, 1976 and 2003, reached the 2000 national title game and the semifinals in 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 2001 and 2002. His teams have won 28 conference titles and have been nationally ranked 39 of the past 40 years.
He was inducted in 2006 into both the College Football Hall of Fame and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Hall of Fame. His success stems from a series of “Winning With Nos,” such as:
- No scholarships
- No compulsory weightlifting program
- No whistles
- No tackling in practice – players wear shorts or sweats
- No “coach” – players call him “John”.