Frank Gagliano, longtime track and field coach whose career spanned more than six decades and was affectionately known as “Gags,” has died at age 89.
Georgetown University’s athletics department confirmed the news of his death in a message on social media on Sunday.
Gagliano hit his coaching stride after arriving at Georgetown in 1983 and revamped the school’s track program into a national powerhouse that dominated the Big East conference.
But his mark on the sport also included helping elevate several of his athletes to the Olympics, moving up to the professional coaching ranks and shaping the structure of the present day model of elite running teams.
In 1960, he took a teaching job at Roselle Catholic High School in New Jersey after initially believing he would also coach football, but later joined the track and field staff where he would guide the team for nine years and won two Penn Relays titles, three New Jersey indoor state championships, and a state cross-country championship.
Gagliano then joined Manhattan College in 1969 as an assistant, working alongside the renowned head track coach Fred Dwyer as they would lead the team to the 1973 NCAA indoor championship, conference and IC4A titles and producing outstanding All-American athletes.
At Rutgers, he served as an assistant coach beginning in 1974 to build the school’s distance running program, fueling the rise of steeplechaser Mike Roche and Ron Spiers, who became the first Rutgers athlete to break four minutes in the mile in 1977. His Rutgers team also won the NCAA championship in the 4×800-meter relay in 1981.
But at Georgeotown, Gagliano shined at the collegiate level, finally moving into the head coaching role of a program that he transformed into a national force in his 16 years at the helm. His athletes would excel in the 800m, 1,500m, 5,000m, relays, and in cross-country.
Gagliano’s reputation, and legend, at Georgetown grew as he became known as a coach who demanded preparation while offering personal encouragement and under his guidance, John Trautmann, Steve Holman, Rich Kenah and Kevin McMahon all represented the United States as Olympians.
Gagliano was named national coach of the year twice and found a second act after his collegiate coaching career as he turned his attention to professional athletes, founding the Reebok Enclave, leading the Nike Farm Team, helping build the Oregon Track Club and later forming the New Jersey–New York Track Club.
Francis Xavier Gagliano was born on March 20, 1937 in The Bronx, New York to Perry and Clara Gagliano. He attended nearby Mount Saint Michael and later left the city after graduating and enrolled at the University of Richmond where he played quarterback for the school’s football team.
Gagliano played professionally in the Canadian Football League after eight years in the Marine Corps reserves, with stints on the roster of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and London Lords. By 1961, he moved back to the United States and took a position as track coach for Roselle Catholic High School in New Jersey, before stops at Manhattan College, Rutgers and ultimately Georgetown.
