John Gagliardi retires

Yesterday, like countless other days, I spent the morning in John’s office.  To an extent, it was just like any other morning.  Players, monks, and coaches popped in, as John held court and fired off one-liners.  But yesterday was different, as there was also a seemingly endless line of reporters waiting at his door.  Yesterday, John Gagliardi retired, as the most winning coach in the history of college football.

Up until a couple years ago, I would have agreed with many fans who felt that John would never retire, rather he would take his final breath while still the football coach of St. John’s .  But John did retire.  I know this as I watched it all unfold from the comfort of his office sofa, audio recorder beside me.

I caught John’s raw emotion, as well as that of his coaches, family, friends, current and former players, and even his loyal reporters.  What I experienced was nothing short of mystical, and I would love to share it with all of you.  And I will…in my book. 

I’m not holding out on you because I want to sell more copies of my book, but rather because until you read the rest of John’s story, you won’t fully appreciate what happened on his final morning as the football coach of Saint John’s University.

 

So, speaking of my book, the most common question I am asked these days (outside of my kids asking for a treat) is, “How is the book going?”  I think at the homecoming football game in September, I answered that question nearly 100 times.  I always reply that I have a lot done, but a lot yet to go.  I have written over 150 pages single spaced, which is longer than I want the book to be.  Everything is organized into chapters, but the content within the chapters is still pretty rough.

I am getting close to the point of compiling my writing into a book proposal.  If you are unfamiliar with a book proposal (as I was up until a few months ago), it involves a title (still not decided), an outline for the book, a synopsis for each chapter, a couple sample chapters, and a variety of other information.   With the news of John’s retirement, the core of my book will remain in place, but I will certainly need to modify my proposal.

Once this proposal is finished, I will send it to literary agents, and hopefully find one who believes in the project as much as I do.  After I have secured an agent, they will shop it to publishers.  Once a deal has been reached with a publisher, I will be assigned an editor at the publishing house to finalize the book.  I anticipate being able to send a book proposal to agents within a month and should be able to finish a solid draft of the entire book within two months.  I had originally anticipated a release in either the fall of 2013 or 2014, but I am not yet sure how that timing will be impacted by John’s retirement.

One thing that will never waver is that this book will be very honoring of John and his entire family.  In fact, while sitting in his office, I was mindful of how he was being treated by the media, and didn’t hesitate to break in and remind him to eat lunch and to keep drinking water so that he wouldn’t pass out during his press conference. 

At one point, John excused himself to “go to the can” and a photographer from a major newspaper kept snapping pictures as John crossed the hall and entered the locker room.  A bit afraid that this young lad would act on his excitement, I warned, “If you follow him to the bathroom, I’m going to tackle you.”

He stayed put, and I suppose that was a good thing.  But on the other hand, it would have been kind of nice to make one final tackle for John.