Why don't more high school and small college football programs emulate John Gagliardi?

Question

The St. John's (Minnesota) is the all-time winningest college coach in college football yet his philosophies are still rarely applied in other programs.

No player cuts. All players make team
No blocking sleds or dummies
No scholarships
No compulsory weightlifting program
No whistles
No "coach" - players call him John
No tackling in practice - players wear shorts or sweats
Short practices - an hour and a half or less

For more on Gagliardi, check this link:

http://www.gojohnnies.com/football/jg.htm

Answer 1

Clearly if kyle b hasn't heard of something, it must not be important. After all, his interests tend more towards "no-strings sex" than D3 football. The answer, personal coaching styles, tradition, and a difference in the athletes involved.

First, you've heard the saying "different folks, different strokes". It's true. There are some coaches whose style closely resembles that of a boot camp, and I'm sure they would never consider treating their players in such a 'soft' way. Second, very few people want to try something different than what the vast majority of their peers are doing. Besides, football is all about manliness and toughness. Going no-pads jeopardizes this image. Third, the program at SJU is different than say your average high school program. As a top-tier D3 school, they are able to recruit experienced, talented young men. At a small high school, there may be kids as young as 8th or 9th grade playing varsity. They lack the football experience and discipline to develop without involved guidance. The best way to develop experience short of games is by practicing in game-like situations (i.e., full contact practices). They also need coaches to make them condition and lift because, let's be honest, many 16-year old kids probably wouldn't do it if they weren't forced to.

Gagliardi is a great coach, and I think his coaching style is the next best thing to revolutionary, but it certainly doesn't surprise me that despite his success, his methods aren't exactly widespread.

P.S.: I hear that Carleton is adopting the Gagliardi formula as their new head coach was a former assisstant at St. John's.

Answer 2

You want advice? I will give you advice. Quit asking and start practicing. If you want to ask then don't ask anyone on this section, most people (not all, but Bioya and Heido Ho are prime examples) on this section have double digit IQs and are inbreds (as we can see from the 1st answerer). You will get the same answer each time, NO NO NO. Don't ask on this section, hell, ask on higher education (where people actually work with college applications and most of the people actually go to college and are not high school drop outs like most people on here are). See, you will never get the correct answer on here. The answer is not yes or no because we have not seen you play. If you run a 4.24 fourty and can throw the ball 90 yards then of course you can play for Michigan but if you run a 6.4 fourty and can barely throw the ball 20 yards then you will be lucky to play D3 football. It comes down to dedication and skill, if you have one and not the other then you won't play. Honestly, D-1A right out of high school seems out of reach for NOW. You can play but what I do suggest is go to a smaller school and then transfer. Why do you wanna play D-1A? Most of those players are superficial retards who probably won't make much money if they don't make the NFL (most D-1A players do not make the NFL). They have minimum GPAs and rarely get much done with their life after they are done with football. I will tell you the same thing I told another young man. Play Ivy League ball or D3 ball, you won't get the recognition and you will have a low chance of getting into the NFL but you will have a closer connection to your teammates and you will make lifelong friends at the same time pursue a good education. Occidental, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Melon, MIT, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Cornell. All are great football programs.

Answer 3

I've never heard of St. John's, or Gagliardi, that's probably why.

Answer 4

ignorance, they want to do it the way they were taught.