Notes

— ST. JOHN’S (MINN.) Gagliardi retires

MINNEAPOLIS - John Gagliardi, the winningest coach in college football history, announced his retirement Monday from Division III St. John’s University in Minnesota.

Gagliardi, 86, started coaching college players in 1949 and spent the past six decades at the private school in central Minnesota. He retires with a record of 489-138-11 (77.5 winning percentage) and surpassed Eddie Robinson for the career coaching victories record in 2003, piling up four national titles at St. John’s along the way.

Gagliardi’s decision comes after the Johnnies finished a rough season with a 5-5 record and went 3-5 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

“Seventy years is a long time to be doing the same job,” Gagliardi said in a statement posted on the school’s website. “Luckily, I’ve always been blessed with great players, friends, family and support to make it this far. Nobody ever said that getting older was easy. I just can’t do the job at the level I used to anymore.”

He gained fame for an unconventional coaching style that included no tackling in practice or lengthy calisthenics. No whistles or wind sprints. There were not team captains either, unless you count the honor shared by the seniors. He insisted that his players just call him John, not coach, at a school that doesn’t offer scholarships.

Gagliardi wound up coaching earlier than most, in 1943 when he was just 16. His high school coach at Trinidad Catholic in Colorado was drafted for World War II and Gagliardi, a team captain, took over and wound up coaching there and at St. Mary’s High School in Colorado Springs for six years.

In 1949, he got his first college gig at Carroll College in Helena, Mont., leading the team to three conference titles in four seasons. He took the reins at St. John’s in 1953, and piled up 27 conference titles and national championships in 1963, 1965, 1976 and 2003. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006; since 1993, the outstanding Division III player of the year has taken home the Gagliardi Trophy.

The school said Gagliardi’s 64 years were the most in college football history, surpassing the record of 57 years held by former University of Chicago and University of the Pacific coach Amos Alonzo Stagg.

MIAMI

Postseason ban set

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Calling the move prudent and unprecedented, Miami is self-imposing a second consecutive postseason ban on its football program because of an NCAA investigation that is expected to eventually lead to stiff sanctions against the Hurricanes.

The decision, announced to players - who described the mood as disappointing and shocking - early Monday morning, ends Miami’s hopes of winning the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Coastal Division, securing a berth in the league’s overall championship game and any chance for the team to play in the Orange Bowl.

And while the school said it’s not imposing any further penalties yet, Miami Coach Al Golden said he is preparing to lose some scholarships going forward.

By skipping another bowl season, Miami - which still has not been presented with its notice of allegations from the NCAA, meaning the process is almost certainly several months from being complete - is hoping to minimize the impact of any looming sanctions that could be handed down when the investigation ends. Schools often self impose penalties with hope that the NCAA takes those measures into account when doling out punishment, and typically, it works.

Acting Miami Athletic Director Blake James told the team of the decision.

The NCAA began looking into Miami’s athletic department in March 2011, five months before rogue booster and convicted Ponzi scheme architect Nevin Shapiro told Yahoo Sports that he provided dozens of athletes and recruits with so-called “extra benefits” such as cash, meals, strip club access and yacht rides over an eight-year span starting in 2002.

Of the 83 individuals named by Shapiro for that story, only three - two players and one equipment-room staffer - are currently at Miami.

TEXAS-EL PASO Price retiring

EL PASO, Texas - Texas-El Paso Coach Mike Price is retiring after a 31-year career notable for two Rose Bowl berths at Washington State and a drinking binge that cost him the Alabama job before he ever coached a game for the Crimson Tide.

Price announced the decision Monday with one game left in his ninth season with the Miners (3-8). He led UTEP to 8-4 records and bowl games his first two years in El Paso but hasn’t had a winning record since.

Price, who started at Weber State in 1981, has a 177-182 career record.

“I’m retiring from the game I’ve loved my entire life,” Price said at a campus news conference.

Price, who coached Drew Bledsoe and Ryan Leaf in 14 years at Washington State, was a surprise choice to replace Dennis Franchione at Alabama after the 2002 season. He got in trouble before he was supposed to sign a seven year, $10 million contract when he admitted he drank heavily and went to a strip club after attending a golf tournament in Florida in the spring of 2003.

Price sued the school for $20 million over his firing, but a judge threw out the lawsuit, noting the fact that Price never signed the contract. He also sued Sports Illustrated over a report that alleged he had sex with two women in his hotel room. That lawsuit was settled.

He spent a year out of coaching, and UTEP fans embraced him from the start, especially after his first team went to the 2004 Houston Bowl and lost a competitive game to Colorado. The Miners started 8-1 his second season but lost the last three games to begin a slide back to mediocrity that had defined the program for decades.

Sports, Pages 20 on 11/20/2012

Upcoming Events