Frank “Gags” Gagliano, the Hall of Fame coach who guided more than a dozen Olympians across six decades, has died. He was 89. Gagliano coached at nearly every level of the sport. As an assistant at Manhattan College, he helped the Jaspers win the 1973 NCAA indoor team title. He spent 18 years leading Georgetown, where his teams won 23 Big East championships and produced 140 All-Americans, and he was twice named national coach of the year. At an age when most coaches retire, he became one of the country’s top professional coaches. He led the Reebok Enclave, the Nike Farm Team, Oregon Track Club Elite and, from 2010, the New Jersey-New York Track Club. His Olympians included John Trautmann, Steve Holman, Nicole Teter, Jonathon Riley, Nick Symmonds, Christian Smith, Julie Culley and Donn Cabral. At the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, Symmonds and Smith were part of the famous “Oregon Sweep” of the men’s 800m at Hayward Field. A Bronx native, Gagliano was a quarterback at the University of Richmond, not a runner. He began coaching track in 1960 at Roselle Catholic High School in New Jersey, which had hired him with the promise of starting a football team that never came. In 1965, Roselle Catholic became the first high school to win both the DMR and 2-mile relay at the Penn Relays. “I didn’t know anything about track,” he said in a 2014 interview. “But I accepted the offer because I really wanted to coach.” Gags became one of the most influential coaches in American distance running. His philosophy was simple: strength plus speed. And when you hear “Hit it!” on the final turn, change gears. Gagliano was inducted into the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame in 2003. This July, USA Track and Field named the men’s 800m at its national championships in his honor.

There’s something special about being part of something bigger than yourself. Something that asks you to put aside your own interests, commit to something greater, and understand that the journey was never just about you. In today’s day and age, that seems to be getting harder to find and even harder to embrace. The players, coaches, and parents who do it best eventually look back and realize that the greatest part of the experience wasn’t always the wins, the recognition, or the individual accomplishments. It was the journey. It was the relationships built, the adversity overcome, the lessons learned, and the memories made along the way. It was learning to put the team first, sacrifice for one another, and understand that you were part of something bigger than yourself. The real reward of team athletics isn’t just what you accomplish together. It’s who you become along the way and the people who share that journey with you. One day, you’ll look back and realize just how special it was to be part of something bigger than yourself.

Just a crazy scene at Camp Randall Stadium after Wisconsin's upset of USC.

Cool moment where Sal turns the table and takes the opportunity to hype up his teammate and his ability to shake off an early error to come up big for the team.

NO BETTER EXAMPLE OF CULTURE Culture = "There's a way that we play." ⚾️The @Brewers have clear standards. ⚾️The veterans live them. ⚾️They teach them to the new guys. ⚾️The leaders enforce them and call guys up to the standard. #WinOurWay #ThisIsMyCrew #CultureWins

𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗿𝘀 Congratulations to Jake Robidoux, Isaiah Thomsen, and Ty Borner on their individual qualifications for this year's State Cross Country Meet. GO INDY! @ihsindians

Lmao. I am over 100,000 lifetime miles and my knees are fine.

Congratulations to our two State Qualifiers, Freshman Mia Heim and our Captain Vanessa Wise!

This means something to not only Milwaukee, but the entire state of Wisconsin The day is finally here Go Brewers

Is your best player bought in to you and your team? If so, special things can happen... #WinOurWay #ThisIsMyCrew

When you say Wisconsin, you've said it all 👐 Madison has been named one of @NatGeo's Best Places in the World to Travel to in 2027. ℹ️ | learn more: go.wisc.edu/239543