Friday, September 30, 2011

This Weekend's Trophy Games

Michigan and Minnesota play for the Little Brown Jug.



Notre Dame and Purdue play for the Irish Shillelagh Trophy.



 Cincinnati and Miami of Ohio play for the Victory Bell.



 Illinois and Northwestern play for the Land of Lincoln Trophy (a replacement of the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk).




Finally, in the big MIAC battle between St. Thomas and St. John's, the Holy Grail is on the line, along with Minnesota Catholic bragging rights.



The question may come up as to why I follow the MIAC. The main reason is Coach John Gagliardi at St. John's. I read this article in SI, back in 1992, and generally followed their results afterwards. Later, I read Austin Murphy's book on the 1999 season, The Sweet Season. This is what I really liked about the SI article:
Most coaches feel naked without a whistle. Gagliardi doesn't own one. He prefers to keep the trappings of his office to a minimum. He has only two assistant coaches. Seniors are expected to act as position coaches. Since the Johnnies block and tackle adequately during games, Gagliardi doesn't require them to block and tackle in the preseason or, once the season has begun, during the week. "Visualize it," he tells his players. "Fantasies don't always have to be about the opposite sex."

Nothing depresses Gagliardi more than an injury, and the Johnnies suffer very few. "You know how most coaches will make their quarterback off-limits in practice?" he says. "Well, what about the other guys? They've got mothers too."


It seems to work for the all-time leading college football coach in career victories.

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