Penn's Bagnoli plans to retire after next season
Penn football coach Al Bagnoli, who has won nine outright Ivy League titles in 22 seasons as head coach of the Quakers, will announce plans for his retirement at a Wednesday news conference, according to a source familiar with the decision.
Penn football coach Al Bagnoli, who has won nine outright Ivy League titles in 22 seasons as head coach of the Quakers, will announce plans for his retirement at a Wednesday news conference, according to a source familiar with the decision.
The same source said Bagnoli would coach the 2014 season and then be succeeded by longtime Penn defensive coordinator Ray Priore.
"This has been in the works," the source said.
It comes at a time of change in Penn's athletic department, with athletic director Steve Bilsky retiring, to be replaced July 1 by Loyola of Chicago AD M. Grace Calhoun. Bilsky, who is taking over as executive director of the Big Five, will make a personnel announcement on Wednesday, according to a university news release.
Priore has been Penn's associate head coach since 2006, and predated Bagnoli on Penn's staff, joining the Quakers in 1987. He has been Penn's defensive coordinator since 1999.
A 1985 graduate of the University of Albany, Priore served as Penn's recruiting coordinator from 1992 to 2005 and coached each position of the defense at various times. He also worked a stint as special-teams coordinator.
From 2008 to 2010, Penn led the Ivies in scoring defense and rushing defense. The Quakers pulled off that same feat from 2001 to 2003.
Bagnoli will retire as the second-winningest coach in the history of the Ivy League. His teams put up back-to-back undefeated seasons three times. Now 61, Bagnoli has been a head coach since he took over Union College's team when he was 29.
Bagnoli's last Ivy League title came in 2012, when the Quakers pulled out four last-minute victories. The nine league championships under his watch are more than any other Ivy school has won outright.
"I would have to say Al Bagnoli would be the all-time greatest Ivy League coach," Villanova coach Andy Talley said. "He did it in an era when everybody [in the Ivies] upgraded their football programs."
Talley added, "His teams were extremely well-prepared, and among the hardest-hitting and most physical teams that we played, truly. . . . Al has always coached with class. The game is losing one of the nice people and a very high-principled individual."
Bagnoli's Penn Coaching Record
OVERALL IVY LEAGUE
Year W L Pct. W L Pct. Finish
1992 7 3 .700 5 2 .714 3d
1993 10 0 1.000 7 0 1.000 1st
1994 9 0 1.000 7 0 1.000 1st
1995 7 3 .700 5 2 .714 T-2d
1996 5 5 .500 3 4 .429 5th
1997* 1 9 .100 0 7 .000 8th
1998 8 2 .800 6 1 .857 1st
1999 5 5 .500 4 3 .571 4th
2000 7 3 .700 6 1 .857 1st
2001 8 1 .889 6 1 .857 2d
2002 9 1 .900 7 0 1.000 1st
2003 10 0 1.000 7 0 1.000 1st
2004 8 2 .800 6 1 .857 2d
2005 5 5 .500 3 4 .429 6th
2006 5 5 .500 3 4 .429 T-4th
2007 4 6 .400 3 4 .429 T-4th
2008 6 4 .600 5 2 .714 T-3d
2009 8 2 .800 7 0 1.000 1st
2010 9 1 .900 7 0 1.000 1st
2011 5 5 .500 4 3 .571 T-2d
2012 6 4 .600 6 1 .857 1st
2013 4 6 .400 3 4 .429 T-4th
Totals 146 72 .670 110 44 .714
*Five victories forfeited for use of a player later ruled ineligible.EndText