John Gagliardi several years after his retirement in St. John's football coach was asked which single word best described his coaching style. His choice: "Unorthodox."

Gagliardi, the winningest coach in college football, has died at the age of 91, his family announced Sunday. He defied a football coach, a coach, a coach, a coach, and a coach. John, not coach. The unorthodox approach resulted in a career record of 489-138-11 and four national championships in 64 seasons, the final 60 at St. John's.

He believes in his success with his "winning with no" philosophy, a list of "no's" that steadily grew over his career to 100. He won the most notoriety for his no-tackling in practice and his refusal to cut players , which yielded rosters approaching 200 players annually. His one basic team rule, he often said, was "the golden rule – treat yourself like you'd like to be treated yourself. For the most part, we tried to do that. "

His trainers say their coaching affects their lives long after they are finished as players. He would have introduced him to college, and said that he was football, the sun their life. Remember that, he said, and there would be no trouble keeping football in perspective.

"I can tell you that I've gotten my career modeled after the things I've learned from John," said Joe Mucha, retired General Mills executive who played on Gagliardi's first two national championship teams. "Very few people in the world affect you that way."

Gagliardi in a wide-ranging interview in the summer of 2014 said his unorthodox style is linked to the fact that he never intended to become a coach. So everything he tried, everything worked, became a part of his style. A little bit here, a little bit there, all adding together to be growing up of coaching no's.

He published a pamphlet titled "Winning with No" that was used as a recruiting tool, and a reminder for current players. The list of 100

• No mission statement.

• No surviving without humor.

• No blocking or tackling dummies.

• No use of the words "hit," "kill," etc. …

• No rules, except the Golden Rule.

"Why?" He said when asked the origin of his coaching style. "Because I did not know any better. … I was just hanging on by my toenails. No goals. I was just trying to survive. "

Gagliardi's first coaching assignment with a high school at Trinidad Trinidad, Trinidad, Co. Gagliardi's teammates approached him with the idea of ​​being a player / coach after the team's head coach was summoned to serve during World War II .

The school was considering disbanding the team, a perennial loser, before Gagliardi convinced school officials he could handle being a player / coach. A rare winning season followed, and Gagliardi was asked to stay on, and produced another winning season.

"The thing I really remember is that our coach did not allow us to have water [during practice], "Gagliardi said. "That was the prevailing thought back then: Do not drink water during practice. I just ignored that. … A lot of things I did not get started I never changed. As I got to a higher level of coaching, people thought I was nuts. But eventually I think I've won over most of those people. "

Gagliardi started taking classes at the local junior college so he could play with the college basketball team, not necessarily pursue a college education. That allowed him to spend a few days coaching the Trinidad football team, and he did well to attract the attention of Colorado Springs's St. Mary's High School officials.

A priest at the school offered two years of tuition at nearby Colorado College in exchange for coaching St. Mary's. After two seasons, Carroll College in Helena, Mont., Where his teams went 24-6-1 with three conference titles in four seasons. He also coached basketball, winning two conference titles in the four years.

A high school coach from Billings, Mt., who had attended St. John's, convinced Gagliardi to visit the Collegeville campus and talk about the school's vacant coaching positions for football and hockey.

"I was happy at Carroll College, perfectly happy," Gagliardi said. "I did not even look at this job. But I went, it was a much bigger school and they doubled my salary. I figured, what the hell. I'm single, why not? If it does not work out, so what. "

Gagliardi coached 60 seasons football at St. John's, and had the hockey team five years. He won 78 percent of his football games, and had 42-25-1 record (.630 winning percentage) with the SJU hockey team.

"I coached a lot of sports along the way I did not know much about," he said. "You just have to learn on the job, somehow. If there's a key, I think it's not alienate my players. "

Gagliardi has always been a favorite player of his years at St. John's, and has also been educated in the Hall of Fame. He was fortunate, he said, to have had a long time in Jim Smith's basketball coach.

"It would be like picking your favorite child," Gagliardi said of his opposition.

He had a favorite victory – well, more like a 1 and a 1A. The top choice would be St. John's first national title, coming in a 33-27 victory over Prairie View A & M in the NAIA title game.

His fourth and final national title came in 2003, when the Johnnies defeated Mount Union's perennial power 24-6 for the NCAA Division III championship.

His toughest loss? "Every one was like to dagger in the heart," he said.

An interview with Gagliardi was always entertaining. He is known for his quick wit,

On his SJU salary: "When I came to St. John's, the monks told me there was a vow of poverty. I did not realize that included the football coach. "

On receiving a note from the White House on retiring in 2012: "Maybe I better change my vote."

On Johnnie's quarterback, Willie Seiler, who became a senior, said: "I remember people saying to me, 'Willie really improved.' I said, 'No, Willie did not improve. My judgment improved 'I finally had the good sense to play the guy.'

Even after retirement Gagliardi continued teaching a "Theory of coaching" class at St. John's. Normal class size for St. John's is around 20. The class was so popular that it was made in the classroom.

Gagliardi said the school has a problem with his teaching.

"I used to give all A's," he said. "They told me I could not do that. I said, 'Look, these are smart kids, and I'm a helluva coach. What else am I supposed to do? "

School officials decided to make the class pass / fail offering only.

Did not faze Gagliardi one bit.

"I did everything my way," he said. "The classes. The coaching. "

Unorthodox to the end.