ESPN Story

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Former Saint John's University coach John Gagliardi was ranked No. 16 in ESPN's list of the top 150 college football coaches.

ESPN noted: "Gagliardi's teams became better known for what they didn't do than what they did. They didn't tackle in practice. They didn't lift weights. They didn't practice longer than 90 minutes. And they didn't lose -- not very often, anyway. Gagliardi won four national championships at Saint John's and, between the two campuses, 30 conference titles. That's one way to look at his career. The other is that he began as a head coach during the Truman Administration and retired after Barack Obama's re-election."

Gagliardi, college football's all-time wins leader with 489 career victories, coached the Johnnies from 1953-2012 and led them to four national championships and 27 conference titles. He was the first active coach to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.

Paul (Bear) Bryant claimed the top spot, followed by Nick Saban, Knute Rockne, Tom Osborne and Eddie Robinson.

SJU was also ranked No. 18 out of ESPN's top 50 programs over the last 150 years in August.  

The eighth-ranked Johnnies (12-1 overall) travel to face No. 7 Wisconsin-Whitewater (12-1) at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, in the NCAA semifinals. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.