By Frank Rajkowski, SJU Writer/Video Producer

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - "Montana Man named Grid Coach."
 
So read the headline in The Record 70 years ago this week, informing readers of an announcement that would go on to change the course of history – not just at Saint John's University, but in college football in general.
 
The Montana man, of course, was John Gagliardi, who was actually a native of Colorado. But he had coached the previous four seasons at Carroll College in Helena, Mont., where his teams compiled a record of 24-6-1 and won three conference titles.
 
He would go on to spend the next 60 years at SJU, winning four national titles and retiring to widespread acclaim following the 2012 season with 489 career victories – a record at all levels of college football that may never be broken.
 
In 1953, though, he was a 26-year-old replacing an NFL legend in John "Blood" McNally '24, who had played at SJU in the early 1920s before going on to pro stardom, winning four NFL titles as a member of the Green Bay Packers. He returned to his alma mater as head coach in 1949 while working on a degree in philosophy.
 
Gagliardi himself had the chance to meet with him while visiting campus prior to the announcement of his hiring on Feb. 24, 1953 . And he recalled his predecessor being less than enthusiastic about the prospects for success in the job.
 
"He said 'John, there's no way you can win here,'" Gagliardi recalled in a 2002 interview with the St. Cloud Times. 
 
But Gagliardi did not let that assessment deter him during his interview, wowing the monks lobbing questions his way with what turned out to be a couple of key answers.
 
"I remember they asked me if I needed scholarships, and I said we were winning without them at Carroll," Gagliardi said in that 2002 interview. "Boy did their eyes light up when they heard that. It was a bunch of monks sitting at a table and I'd see them looking at each other as I spoke. They didn't smile, but you could tell they liked that answer.
 
"Then a guy at the end of the table asked me about St. Thomas and Gustavus. He said they hadn't been having a whole lot of luck against those guys and he wanted to know if I thought I could beat them. I said I thought so. The truth was, I'd never heard of either of those places. But I figured 'Why not?' I think that cinched it."
 
It did. Days later, Saint John's athletic director George Durenberger '28 announced Gagliardi had been signed to a three-year contract to coach both football and track. Though not reported at the time, his initial salary was $4,200 – a big raise from the $2,400 he had been making at Carroll.
 
"Gagliardi's teams (at Carroll) have been noted both for their scoring punch and their tight defensive play," The Record reported. "A Montana sports writer calls them 'razor-sharp' in creating and exploiting the 'breaks' of play. Others have spoken of the 'startling suddenness' of their offensive thrusts.
 
"The new coach has attended numerous summer coaching schools, including those conducted by (Red) Blaik of Army and (Frank) Leahy of Notre Dame."
 
Gagliardi was on campus to lead the Johnnies in spring workouts, then returned for good in advance of the start of practice in August of 1953. He arrived by train in Paynesville, where he was picked up by Fr. Arno Gustin, then the college dean, and Fr. Vincent Tegeder, another monk from the Abbey who was along for the ride.
 
"He looked like a teenager," Tegeder recalled in the St. Cloud Times in 2002. "That was my first impression of him. He was very young-looking."
 
But he already coached like a veteran, a fact demonstrated during his first season when he led SJU to a share of the MIAC title – the Johnnies' first taste of a conference crown since 1938.
 
And the wins rolled on from there.
 
"What many readers may not know is that John Gagliardi and Saint John's University are a perfect match," wrote Ken Roering '64, an All-American end on Gagliardi's first national championship team in 1963, in a 2003 forward to a book on Gagliardi published by the Times.
 
"John embraced the fundamental values of this special university in his personal and professional life. He taught these values to his students, the literally thousands of players he coached, in the most effective way possible – through his example."

50 years ago (1973)
Just weeks after the untimely passing of head coach Terry Haws, the SJU wrestling team defeated Augsburg 93-90 to claim its third conference title in four seasons. Al Bielat's '74 3-2 win in the finals at 172 pounds wrapped up the team victory at the MIAC Championships in Duluth.
 
90 years ago (1933)
The Record reported that a recent stretch of warm weather forced the cancelation of the regular-season finale between the Saint John's and Hamline hockey teams, which had been scheduled for Feb. 25 in Collegeville.