John Gagliardi, the legendary Saint John’s football coach, was named the 2009 recipient of the American Football Coaches’ Association’s Amos Alonzo Stagg Award last week. The award honors those “whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests of football” and will be presented to Gagliardi in January at the AFCA Convention in Nashville. Previous winners include Paul “Bear” Bryant (1983), Woody Hayes (1986) and Joe Paterno(2002).
Gagliardi broke former Grambling State head coach Eddie Robinson’s NCAA record for the most games coached (588) on September 20 against Concordia College-Moorhead in Collegeville. Gagliardi’s 60 years of collegiate coaching is the most in college football history, surpassing the prior record of 57 years held by Stagg.
John Vadnais, a former Saint John’s player, works with other Gagliardi alums at a company in Minneapolis. Vadnais wrote the following edited e-mail: “They (we) all have the same reaction to having been a player of the master. He has a certain magic about him that makes a player do things above and beyond the normal. My sense during our conversations…are that they have an extreme reverence for him. …”
Vikings’ quarterback Gus Frerotte, 37, talking earlier this month about his decision to return for another season, his 13th, in the NFL: “It’s the game. I had a long talk with coach (Brad Childress). I said, ‘You know it’s the game that keeps you coming back.’ It’s not necessarily practicing and doing all this stuff with the media. It’s playing on Sundays, getting those emotions built up in you, making the throw and guys high-fiving. Every time you go out and start, you feel pretty darn lucky. You’re one of 32 people (starting quarterbacks in the NFL). I’m just going to go out and have fun and really enjoy myself.”
Scott Baker, who kept the Twins in first place by winning yesterday’s game against Kansas City, had a 4-0 record with a 2.37 ERA in his last six starts.
The Timberwolves open training camp tomorrow and will have daily practices through Friday at Bresnan Arena in the Taylor Center on the Minnesota State University campus in Mankato. The team will conclude camp on Saturday with a scrimmage beginning at 7 p.m. at the Bresnan Arena. The scrimmage is free and open to the public but a ticket is required for admission. Tickets are available at the U.S. Bank locations at 204 S. 2nd St. and 312 Raintree Road in Mankato from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday. There is a limit of four tickets per person.
The Gopher men’s hockey team is ranked ninth in the preseason national poll by USA Today and USA Hockey Magazine. The Gophers begin the season in the top 10 for the seventh consecutive year. Minnesota was 12th in the final 2007-08 poll and has 12 new players on the roster. Defending national champion Boston College, which eliminated the Gophers in the 2008 NCAA tournament, is the nation’s top-ranked team. Minnesota opens its regular season at No. 15 ranked St. Cloud State on October 17 and then hosts the Huskies at Mariucci Arena on October 18.
The Sports Show, with Dark Star, Mike Max, Patrick Reusse and Sid Hartman, is still on the CW Twin Cities, Ch. 23, but has a new starting time on Sundays, 9:30 p.m.