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December 19, 2003Past, present Glads learn from coachByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Bob Brick is inviting 25 friends over Saturday morning for breakfast - and football. At 11 a.m., Brick's alma mater, St. John's University (Minn.), will play Mount Union (Ohio) for the Division III national championship. St. John's is the underdog in a game pitting two 13-0 teams. "I'm looking for an upset," said Brick, a Traverse City realtor who played for the Johnnies from 1968-72. Mount Union enters the contest riding a 55-game winning streak, college football's all-time longest streak. Overall, the Raiders have won 109 of their last 110 games. In last weekend's semifinals, Mount Union beat Bridgewater, Va., 66-0. "Scary," Brick admitted. Saturday's matchup brings together two of the game's most successful coaches. Mount Union's Larry Kehres has won almost 92 percent of his games (205-17-3), the best winning percentage in college football history. His counterpart, St. John's John Gagliardi, is the all-time winningest coach in college football history. His teams have won 413 games. In fact, the Division III Player of the Year award is named after Gagliardi, who's been coaching 55 years, the last 51 at St. John's. Gagliardi was Brick's coach more than 30 years ago. "Phenomenal guy, brilliant coach, true leader," said Brick, describing the 77-year-old. "He inspires kids to do more than they believe is possible. "It was an incredible experience playing for him." Zane Breithaupt, who was on St. Francis' state championship team in 1999, is currently playing for the Gagliardi and the Johnnies. Breithaupt, though, has been bothered by a hamstring injury most of the season and will not travel with the team to Virginia for the game. Instead, he'll watch it on TV, probably at Brick's house. "Not exactly (the type of season) I wanted," said the fullback, who has two years of eligibility remaining. The 5-foot-11, 218-pound Breithaupt was used primarily as a blocker in St. John's offensive attack - an attack built around a short passing game. In 13 games, quarterback Ryan Keating has completed 270 of 396 passes for 30 touchdowns. Blake Elliott, the Gagliardi Trophy winner, has caught 112 passes for 1,268 yards and 13 scores. "We have four or five quick, athletic receivers and we get them the ball and let them do what they do best," Breithaupt said. That ability to move the ball has Breithaupt optimistic about Saturday. "If we concentrate on what we do best, we can play with anybody," he said. Although there was "a lot of hype" this season about Gagliardi passing Eddie Robinson as the game's winningest coach, the Johnnies goal all season was "to make it to Virginia," Breithaupt said. "That's why people come here," he added. St. John's has won three national titles under Gagliardi, who's gained considerable national attention for his unique method to coaching. Take his practices, for example. There's no calisthenics, no whistles, no blocking sleds, no tackling. For 90 minutes, the team lines up and runs play after play. "We run a play every 20 to 30 seconds ... it's rapid fire," Breithaupt said. "We're in shorts and pads. Contact is minimal." "It's all about repetition," Brick added. And details. And fundamentals. The idea is that the more times you run a play the more "automatic" it becomes, Breithaupt said. "By game time you feel so comfortable with what you're doing you don't even question it," he said. Gagliardi's defensive approach is to fill the gaps and force the ball carrier to the outside. "We try to force the runner to bounce it out, running 20 yards to gain one," Breithaupt said. It's the same system that was used when Brick was a defensive end for the Johnnies. That point was driven home in Brick's freshman season when the coach introduced him to the team's leading tackler. Brick was expecting to meet some nail-eating headhunter. Instead, Gagliardi walked him over to the edge of the field and pointed down. "Do you know what that is?" he asked Brick. "The out-of-bounds line," Brick responded. End of conversation. Brick, who dreamed of attending Notre Dame, became a Gagliardi convert the first day he met him. It was the coach who gave the St. Francis graduate a tour of the school. As they were sitting in the stands at the football stadium, Gagliardi asked Brick what he wanted out of life. Brick was stunned. He expected the coach to talk about football. "I want to be successful," Brick finally replied. "We can produce that here," Gagliardi responded. A few seconds later, as they gazed out at a worker mowing the field, Gagliardi asked Brick, "What do you think he (the guy mowing the field) wants out of life?" Brick was speechless. He had no idea. Gagliardi told him that was Brother Mark, a monk, and that he took care of field maintenance because he wanted the team to have the best playing conditions in the country. "He's doing that for me and for you," Gagliardi said. Brick was impressed. "I knew right then I could play for this guy," Brick said. Gagliardi makes his players accountable, Brick said. That's why he doesn't spend time on conditioning during practice. He expects the players to do their stretching and weight-lifting prior to that. He also analyzes film carefully - and if player misses a block or tackle he's usually called on the carpet in front of his teammates. "Everyone's critiqued," he said. "You're singled out in front of your peers (if you make a mistake). It gets to the point where you want to be praised (in front of your peers) so you'll do anything to be the man."
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