By: Frank Rajkowski, SJU Writer/Video Producer
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - It wasn't an honor
Gary Fasching was expecting.
But it's certainly an indication of the respect and admiration his peers in the Minnesota football coaching profession hold for him.
Fasching, the head coach at Saint John's University since 2013, has been named this year's recipient of the
Minnesota Football Coaches Association Tom Mahoney Man of the Year Award.
The accolade has been handed out annually since 1990 and is named for the legendary former Fairmont High School coach, who retired following the 1990 season with 256 career victories - at the time the most of any coach in Minnesota high school history.
Fasching received the honor at the MFCA's 60th annual Hall of Fame Banquet this past Saturday (April 6) in Minneapolis.
"This award represents the vision, integrity, leadership and commitment Tom Mahoney demonstrated to all of us as young coaches," said MFCA executive director Ron Stolski, who recorded 389 career wins in his own 56-year coaching career (45 of which were spent at Brainerd High School) before retiring following the 2019 season.
"Gary checks all those boxes. He's a man of integrity who does things the right way. And, of course, he's had an outstanding coaching career and has created a tremendous legacy of his own."
Indeed, Fasching - a 1981 SJU graduate - boasts a record of 99-19 since taking over for the legendary John Gagliardi, who retired following the 2012 season with 489 career victories - the most of any coach in college football history.
Fasching - who spent 17 years as an assistant to Gagliardi, helping lead the Johnnies to the 2003 NCAA Division III title - has led SJU to five MIAC titles and eight berths in the Division III playoffs during his own tenure as head coach. He is a six-time conference coach of the year and was inducted into the MFCA Hall of Fame in 2022.
Before coming to SJU, he was the head coach at St. Cloud Cathedral High School from 1986-95, leading the Crusaders to Class B state titles in 1992 and '93.
"I certainly wasn't expecting this," Fasching said of the award. "But it's deeply humbling to see myself on the same list with the other past winners. There are so many giants of the game when it comes to coaching football in Minnesota."
That list includes former Minnesota Gopher coaching greats Murray Warmath (1993) and Cal Stoll (1995), as well as Kalen DeBoer, now the head coach at Alabama, who won the award when he was at the University of Sioux Falls (South Dakota) in 2009.
Other past winners include Minnesota high school coaching legends like former Stillwater coach George Thole (2001) and current Becker coach Dwight Lundeen (2015), whose 399 career victories rank second in state prep history.
Fasching also joins Gagliardi himself, who earned the award in both 1994 and 2004. Others on the list with SJU ties include current Eden Prairie head coach Mike Grant (2014), a player on the Johnnies' 1976 Division III national title team, and former Albany head coach Jim Mader (2003), who went on to serve as an assistant under both Gagliardi and Fasching at SJU.
Steve Johnson, who just retired after 34 seasons as the head coach at Bethel, and who preceded Fasching as the head coach at Cathedral, won the award in 2011.
"That's a lot of great names," Fasching said. "It's rewarding to be included on any list John (Gagliardi) is on. When you think of all the success he had here, and the ways in which he elevated the game - not just at Saint John's or in Minnesota, but nationwide - it's a tremendous honor to be mentioned in any group he's been part of."
Fasching has continued to build on and expand the culture Gagliardi established in Collegeville - both on and off the field.
Since he took over as head coach in 2013, the Johnnies have joined other colleges and high schools across Minnesota in designating a Tackle Cancer game -- raising money to benefit the
Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund.
The effort was started by KARE-11 anchor Shaver (the MFCA's Man of the Year award in 2019), who has survived bouts with both Hodgkin's Lymphoma and prostate cancer. SJU's Tackle Cancer game has raised more than $100,000 in just the past five years alone.
Since 2015, Fasching's players have also raised around $300,000 to benefit St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, as well as earning academic All-District honors 46 times and Academic All-American distinction on 13 occasions.
"All that wasn't my doing - the players did those things," Fasching said. "I always look at any kind of award - including this one - as a program honor. It's not just about me, but about all the players and coaches we've had through the years.
"That's who really makes up the culture of this program, which was established long before I got here."
