The highlight for many, including me, was posing with legendary coach John Gagliardi for a photo.

Click HERE to view full screen images as a slide show.

This afternoon football fans young and mostly old gathered at the College of St. Benedict in the Gorecki Conference Center for Coach Gagliardi’s annual stand-up performance to kick-off the 2009 season. If you happened to attend today or tune in live via the internet you’d know why players from as far back as Gagliardi’s earliest teams continue to show up.

Gagliardi feigned his sharp wit and supposed fading memory with the usual stories about being underpaid, monks demanding lifetime coaching contracts under the pressure of smoke filled rooms, trying to remember how he met his wife Peg and the needless luxury of athletic scholarships.

As the coach heated up his stories moved toward the curious scholarship tactics employed by at least one conference foe and his simple meat and potato approach which assures victory. Seems as though when most teams stick around and wait for a chance to win all Gagliardi’s teams require to assure victory against a certain St. Paul foe is to stick around and “wait for them to screw up – and they did it again last year!”

In checking the University website this evening there’s no recorded version of today’s event as many of the Gagliardi tidbits will undoubtedly be left behind somewhere on the school’s media center floor. Today’s performance will make Gagliardi an instant YouTube sensation and surely provide the type of bulletin board material necessary to overcome decades of incompetence by the St. Paulites in question.

Was the Johnnie institutional staff and newly elected president The Reverend Bob Koopman squirming in their seats or marveling at their geniusly outlandish coach? Just like all other events involving Coach Gagliardi and his team, don’t expect this one to make it to the airwaves either.

Stay tuned. This season is just getting started.

Mark Lewandowski, a member of the Bear (660 WBHR) broadcast team for Johnnie football, was the master of ceremonies. The Bear works with Relevant Radio WLOL 1330 AM out of Minneapolis and KOWZ 1170 AM out of Owatonna and is looking for another station in western Minnesota to network with so Johnnie football games can be heard border to border in Minnesota.

Offensive coordinator Jim Gagliardi, in his 16th year as an assistant coach, introduced Alex Kofoed, the Johnnie’s returning senior quarterback. Jim described Kofoed as a “tremendous player and a great person.” This will be Kofoed’s fourth year as a starter.

Gary Fasching, defensive coach in his 12 year, told the crowd that this year’s new class is one of the better in the history of the program. Fasching indicated that there are a number of excellent transfers and 67 freshmen on the team this fall.

This year’s new class is one of the better in the history of the program.

Jerry Haugen, defensive coordinator in his 32nd year at St. John’s, indicated that the Johnnies need to replace some great guys on defense. Nick Gunderson, a junior and a pre-season 1st team All-American, would be a dominant force on the defensive line, according to Haugen.

As always, the most entertaining speaker was coach John Gagliardi, who will be in his 55th year as coach at St. John’s and 59th overall as a head coach in college football, a national record. John mentioned that the Minnesota Gophers were enjoying their week of training camp at Collegeville very much and had already indicated that they would be back in ‘08.

John brought back some memories of his early days in Collegeville when he scrimmaged General Custer’s troops on their way out west. According to Gagliardi, based on how the scrimmage went, he knew they were in trouble.