Career
Foreign other persons of the same name see John Gagliardi (disambiguation)
He was the head football coach at Saint John"s University in Collegeville, Minnesota from 1953 until 2012. From 1949 to 1952, he was the head football coach at Carroll College in Helena, Montana. With a career record of 489–138–11, Gagliardi has the most wins of any coach in college football history.
Gagliardi was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
Born to Ventura and Antonietta Gagliardi, Gagliardi began coaching football at Trinidad High School in 1943, at the age of 16, when his high school coach was called into service during World World War World War II He was a player-coach his senior year of high school and continued to coach high school football at Saint Mary"s High School while obtaining his college degree at Colorado College. At the age of 22, with six years of high school coaching, Gagliardi was hired at Carroll College in Helena, Montana.
In four seasons as head coach at Carroll, Gagliardi compiled a 24–6–1 record, winning three Montana Collegiate Conference championships. After the 1952 season, Gagliardi left Carroll for the Saint John"s University in Collegeville, Minnesota.
His record at Saint John"s was 465–132–10, bringing his career college football mark to 489–138–11.
On November 8, 2003, Gagliardi broke the record for career coaching wins with his 409th victory, passing Grambling State"s Eddie Robinson. The 13,107 fans who witnessed the victory over Bethel at Saint John"s Clemens Stadium were the largest crowd in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III history. On August 11, 2006, Gagliardi and Florida State"s Bobby Bowden became the first active head coaches to be enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.
(Nevada"s Chris Ault had been inducted in 2002 and returned to coaching two years later)
Gagliardi is known for his unique coaching approach, which he called "Winning with Number"son" He instructed his players not to call him "coach", did not use a whistle or blocking sleds, prohibited tackling in practices, did not require his players to lift weights, and limited his team practices to 90 minutes.
Gagliardi announced his retirement from coaching on November 19, 2012.
