Pivotal win vaults Gagliardi to football coaching record

The winner of the November 8 football matchup between St. John's University (Minnesota) and Bethel College (Minnesota) stood to earn the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs.

Also on the line was St. John's head coach John Gagliardi's NCAA record-breaking 409th career victory.

When the last tick finally ran off the clock, Gagliardi's Johnnies had secured the conference title, the automatic bid and his place in history as the all-time winningest football coach with a 29-26 come-from-behind victory in front of a record home crowd of 13,107 fans.

The win pushed Gagliardi past Eddie Robinson, the Grambling State University coach who retired in 1997 after 55 seasons and 408 victories.

After going 24-6-1 and collecting three conference championships as head coach at Carroll College (Wisconsin) from 1949 to 1952, Gagliardi took over at St. John's in 1953. Since then, the Johnnies have captured 23 conference titles and earned national championships in 1963, 1965 and 1976.

Despite the hype surrounding the all-time wins record, the winning tradition has continued. This season, the program completed a perfect regular season at 10-0 en route to clinching its 10th conference championship in 13 years and its ninth playoff berth in 11 years.

Gagliardi tied Robinson at 408 wins November 1 when St. John's rallied to a 15-12 victory on the strength of a 35-yard field goal with just eight seconds left in the contest against the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota).

CSTV expands NCAA coverage

College Sports Television (CSTV), the first 24-hour college sports network, reached an agreement with CBS Sports, owner of television rights to 67 NCAA championships, to offer expanded coverage of NCAA championships action.

As part of the agreement, CSTV will provide live national television coverage of championships in Division I women's ice hockey; Divisions II and III men's lacrosse; Divisions I, II and III women's lacrosse; Division I field hockey; and National Collegiate men's and women's water polo.

The Division I Field Hockey Championship, played November 23 in Amherst, Massachusetts, was the first championship to air under the agreement. The National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship will be shown December 7.

"This agreement translates into a unique, national showcase for student-athletes who otherwise would not receive such exposure," said JoJo Rinebold, NCAA managing director of branding, broadcasting and communications.

Soccer records set both early and late

The 2003 men's and women's soccer seasons have provided some memorable moments for fans. Early in the season, Texas A&M University-Commerce sophomore Erin de Wolfe topped the Division II record for the fastest goal scored at the start of a match when her shot found the back of the net in just nine seconds in a September 16 win against Dallas Baptist University. The previous mark of 10 seconds was set by Michelle Rutigliano of C.W. Post University against Queen's College (New York) on October 9, 1999.

A Sunshine State Conference tournament matchup between Florida Southern University and Rollins College also found the record books when the tie game was finally settled on penalty kicks -- 16 to be exact. That established a Division II mark for the most in a game and tied an all-divisions record established during an NCAA Division III men's tournament game between Clarkson University and Plattsburgh State University of New York on November 16, 1993.

-- Compiled by Leilana McKindra

Number crunching

Looking back

Staying after school

On November 1, the longest football game in Division I-A history took place between the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and the University of Kentucky. The Razorbacks defeated the Wildcats, 71-63 in seven overtimes in a game that lasted four minutes shy of five hours.

The NCAA Football Rules Committee decided to institute the tiebreaker rule after a vote of support for the use of the tiebreaker at a meeting of Division I-A football coaches in February 1996.

Vince Dooley, then chair of the Football Rules Committee and director of athletics at the University of Georgia, said, "After much discussion, the committee felt the rule regarding how a game is resolved should be common throughout college football." The rule already had been in place sporadically in college football, such as during postseason bowl games. It also had been used since 1981 in Divisions I-AA, II and III championships.

Dooley said at the time that the tiebreaker might allow a few more teams to be eligible for bowl berths because ties did not count toward the six wins against Division I-A opponents that are required to qualify for a postseason bowl. Ironically, Dooley's Georgia Bulldogs were involved in one of the earliest marathons -- a four-overtime decision over rival Auburn University in November 1996.

Here's a chronological look back at the longest games (by overtimes) since Division I-A adopted the tiebreaker in college football in 1996:

November 16, 1996 -- Georgia defeated Auburn, 56-49, in four overtimes.

November 2, 1996 -- The University of California, Berkeley, defeated the University of Arizona, 56-55, in four overtimes.

October 11, 1997 -- The University of North Alabama defeated the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 48-42, in four overtimes.

September 26, 1998 -- The University of Kansas defeated the University of Alabama at Birmingham, 39-37, in four overtimes.

November 3, 2001 -- Arkansas defeated the University of Mississippi, 58-56, in seven overtimes.

October 5, 2002 -- The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, defeated Arkansas, 41-38, in six overtimes.

October 25, 2003 -- Tennessee defeated the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, 51-43, in five overtimes.

November 1, 2003 -- Arkansas defeated Kentucky, 71-63, in seven overtimes.