All Hail Coach Gags!

I know this may come as a surprise to some of you because I tend to keep my team loyalties under wraps here, but I am a big Florida Gator fan, being a grad and all.  And because of this, when it comes to sports and coaching I revere Urban Meyer.  I cannot come up with enough superlatives to describe what he has done and is doing with the Gators and I read everything I can find on him.  Maybe I'll blog about urban some other time, but today I want to mention my other favorite football coach - John Gagliardiof St. Johns University in Collegeville, MN.

I became enamored with him when i read the book "The Sweet Season" by Austin Murphy.  I never thought I would say this, but that book has vaulted over books written by the venerable Rick Reilly to become my favorite sports book. Because of this book, I dragged my wife away for a day on our trip to Minneapolis last year just so I could see the campus and the field where John Gagliardi coaches the St. Johns Johnnies. 

so, imagine my delight in finding the video below on YouTube where Coach Gags talks about his coaching philosophy.  He is an anachronism and has a coaching philosophy which should be guaranteed to bring failure to any program.  But somehow it doesn't.  Did I mention that he is the winningest  college football coach of all time.  He left Bear Bryant in the dust years ago, Bobby Bowden and JoePa will never come close to him in terms of wins, and in recent years he has surpassed even the great Eddie Robinson.

I love what he says here - he just does what he thinks is right for them.  He doesn't even know what other football programs do.  I loved the question about why he doesn't have a whistle and other things.  His answers are basically somewhere along the lines of Napolean Dynamite - "because I felt like it." 
The
He doesn't micromanage his players - there is no compulsory weight training.  He encourages them to lift weights, but only if they want to.  And he says there first rule of thumb is that there is no single way to coach football - there are many different ways to get the job done.

This is refreshing to me.  I am not a high intensity person and I don't respond well to high intensity leaders.  I do know it works though - Urban is the epitome of high intensity leadership.  And he gets players who respond well to that and he turns them into champions and for that I give him the highest respect. But Coach Gags is a welcome example for people like me who aren't built that way.   

 

Comments

[Darryl]

"I know this may come as a surprise to some of you because I tend to keep my team loyalties under wraps here, but I am a big Florida Gator fan, being a grad and all."

I am glad I wasn't drinking a hot coffee when I read this, or else there would a scald on my lap, and liquid all over my monitor. Pastor, anybody who has been reading your journal for some years now knows just how big of Florida fan you are. I have to admit you have toned it down over the past year. But when I think Gators, I think David Wayne.

I did view the video. "Gags" seems like a real nice guy. The playing field seems contradictory to my mental image of what U.S. college ball is about -- no big stadium. Thanks for sharing this with us.

JAPD

[old Johnnie player]

This blog came up on my constant need to keep of with Johnnie Football. I am part of the family, you see. I played for John in the 80's. Clemens was still grass in those days. Not much else has changed. John is still John and our fan numbers still beat all the Division II attendances combined in the state. See the thing is, you go to one Johnnie game and you are hooked.

I have had many successes in life, but I never felt more greatness than those days running out to field in my red uniform. I was one of John's boys. My coach was decent and great, wise and humble. We were good; I was a part of something great. It wasn't the winning that made us great. We were great because we represented everything good about sports.

We not only eliminated the unnecessary but we also eliminated the cocky, the cheap, the need to be a star. We had fun, we laughed, we worked hard, and we played with the same passion and fun spirit we did when we were young boys. No one belittled us for making mistakes, and John treated us all like friends. He had as much respect for us as we did for him. He told us he would still be there when we came back as attorneys, doctors, CEOs... successful men. And he is still there. And because he told us we would go on to do great things....we have.

Red is team, red is humble, red is greatness, red is Gagliardi.

[JRT]

Guys like Gagliardi win because the know their subject (football in this case) love their subject and get others to love it. But it is more thn this.

Why did John do so well coaching basketball and track and hockey? He had never played hockey. Had never even seen a game. He couldn't have seen hockey growing up in Colorado in the 40's. He holds the highest winning percentage at SJU in hockey, despite knowing the game. Why? Because he knows people. He may love football, but he loves motivating people more. He loves the strategy of any game and winning, but he loves the strategy of motivating people more.

If he had been a businessman, he would be the CEO by now. If he was a doctor he would have been in charge of the whole place. He would have been a winner any where. Great leadership is a talent like anything else.

So much to learn from Gagliardi, but when you talk to him and try to learn from him, he makes you realize it is so natural to him that he can't explain it.

[John NIE]

You write about Gagliardi, and all the old Johnnies come out of the woodwork. And some of us are even older than you may imagine. I've been retired for over ten years and my college football coach is still hammering out wins. Took in a practice last summer and saw for myself the old guy is still in charge--despite rumors.

What makes a great manager? I thought of John daily as I ran my department. I learned more about leadership playing for him than anything in any classroom.

Compliments. John molds players into whatever he wants them to be by telling them they are what he wants them to become. People will become whatever you tell them they are. You tell them they are lazy, pretty soon they will be lazy. I told my employees who were not ambitious that they were very ambitious. Pretty soon they became ambitous.

It isn't that John lied like I did. It is just that he only sees the best in his players. He compliments them and builds them up to the point of making them feel they are as great as he says.

John loves his players. He thinks the world of them. He is convinced they will all come back years later as very successful men. He talks about the great things his past players have done. It is all contagious.

[John Nie]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6Ku61YoB9xQ

another great video on John Gagliardi

[David Wayne]

Darryl - don't worry, I'll crank up the Gator stuff as football season approaches. With a 9-4 football record last year, the debacle in the bowl game and the sub par basketball season I haven't had a lot to crow about. Hopefully this year I will.

To all of the Johnnies who have shown up I am quite honored to have you stop by hear. In talking about Coach Gagliardi from the perspective of an outsider I fear that I am treading on holy ground for those of you who know him intimately. But every time I hear a story about him I think to myself that I need to know more. As one who is in leadership he is one whose model we all need to follow. Unfortunately not a lot is known about him.

I would love it if more of you Johnnies would comment and tell stories about Coach Gagliardi. I fear that he is getting old and not enough is known about him outside of Collegeville. The only real exposure he has had is through Austin Murphy's book which is outstanding, but it would be great to know more about the man himself. For instance, his "no's" are well known and legendary. But I would like to learn more about his "yes's" what are the positive things he did? Thanks for telling us about his knowledge of people and motivation and the compliments . . . more, more, more please.

[Peg Gagliardi]

Please note that the short on John Gagliardi shows the visitors side of the stadium. The other side holds and enormous crowd for Div lll. We arely get les then 10,000 at a game. I know this is a small crowd for Div l bur Saint John's has won the attendance award almost every year.

[Johnnie Fans In the Stands]

Tell you what Jolly Blogger: You come to a home SJU game. Come 2-3 hours early and meet us at the library parking lot. Right behind the scoreboard.

We have friends on both sides of the field that meet us there for burgers and stories. Tell us who you are, and we will talk your ear off. We have become friends with our loyal friends from other teams. I can promise there is nothing like this party we throw.

[WeLOVE St Johns]

http://johnniefootball.com/stiftungsfest

loved to have you!

Nothing like sharing stories about John