Football Supplement | One last Hurrah for Al Bagnoli and Penn football

On April 23, Penn football was hit with a whirlwind.

Longtime coach Al Bagnoli announced he would retire after the 2014 season. Defensive coordinator Ray Priore would be the coach-in-waiting, taking over after a November 22 clash with Cornell.

Both men have been at Penn for more than 20 seasons, sharing the sidelines for the last 22. They bring a wealth of experience that most schools would give up figurative limbs to possess.

But with one season to go in Bagnoli’s time as Penn’s head coach, there are just 10 games left to watch Bagnoli at work. Just 10 games left for Priore to learn from his mentor.

And just 10 games left to get that elusive 10th Ivy League title for Bagnoli.

Legacy of excellence

When talking about Bagnoli’s history, the numbers say it all. Bagnoli has won and coached in the most games in Penn history. His 218 victories are the most wins of any current coach in the Football Championship Subdivision, or FCS.

Over the years, he has won nine outright Ivy League titles, never once having to share the Ancient Eight crown.

“Coach Bagnoli is kind of the figurehead, the legend,” senior defensive back Dan Wilk said of his coach last year. “He’ll probably have a statue [at Franklin Field] one day. He’s awesome because he knows how to win.”

Bagnoli’s accomplishments haven’t gone unnoticed by the rest of the Penn and Ivy League community, as almost every coach sang his praises at the Ivy League’s introductory press conference. Even Penn President Amy Gutmann had something to say about Bagnoli’s legacy.

“Al’s contribution is second to none in Penn’s history,” she said. “He’s going to be a legend here and the Ivy League for what he’s done. It’s both for his accomplishments in Penn football and his character. 

“Al has made me and everyone I know incredibly proud of Penn football.”

With all this praise, it comes as no surprise that the Red and Blue were considered Ivy favorites going into last season. But things didn’t go as planned for Bagnoli and company .

Getting Humbled

There is no other way to put it: the end of the 2013 season was a disaster for the Red and Blue. The team went into the year looking to win its third outright Ivy title in four years, an unprecedented feat.

But what followed was unprecedented in a lackluster way. Four losses in four games to end the year. 27 or more points given up in each game, including 42 points to a lowly Cornell team on Senior Day. An Ivy title slipping through the collective team’s fingertips.

All of that added up to the first true losing season in Bagnoli’s time at Penn.

“None of us were really happy with the way the season unfolded,” he said. “We had a number of challenges with injuries and certain other things and we were never able to really get on track like we hoped to get on track.

“It is hard to continually win in this league and I think we got humbled a little bit.”

The Quakers come into the 2014 season with a renewed focus, looking to fix what went wrong to end the 2013 campaign.

For Priore, on defense, it was all about getting back to basics.

“We have to go back to the fundamentals and the little things,” he said. “On defense, we have to stop big plays. We have to create opportunities.”

Priore highlighted turnover differential of (-8) as a key reason for team falling short of its goals.

The team is also going to feature a different offense than the one that took the field last year. Gone is the dual-threat Billy Ragone and in his stead will be sophomore gunslinger Alek Torgersen.

So as he has his entire Penn career, Bagnoli will adapt his offense. The team will feature a more fast-paced offense, something that Princeton used to take the Ivy League by storm last year.

However, despite a penchant for trick plays at the beginning of his Penn career, Bagnoli isn’t going to use every last play in his playbook during his final year.

“I think we have to have a comfort level,” he said. “We’ve transitioned to a little bit of a more tempo offense so we’re still working out the kinks. There’s always a place for what we call specials or trickery.”

Ending an era

Amidst all the uncertainly that an impending change can bring, there are many questions for the Quakers to answer this year. Can they rebound from last season’s finish? Will they send Bagnoli out on top? How will this season end?

But one thing that is certain going into next season is that Bagnoli has not lost his trademark sense of humor. Senior captain Mitch King highlighted the coach insisting on “Little Red Corvette” by Prince playing during Penn practices.

“I like Prince and by chance I have a Corvette,” Bagnoli said. “It’s not red. Our operations people play the music and they throw me a bone and play some of my generation’s music.”

Regardless of whether it is Prince or a more modern song playing, practice has been going more or less the same for Penn football. Bagnoli is still in charge, Priore still manages the team’s defense and works with the rest of the coaching staff to get the team better.

“When we sat down and decided how to divvy up responsibilities, anything that has to do with this season — so we’re talking about practicing, we’re talking about travel, depth chart — any of those in-season things, nothing has changed,” Bagnoli said.

The only place where things have changed is on the recruiting end, something that won’t affect Bagnoli’s last season but is obviously important to starting out the Priore era on the right foot.

Priore has also begun to learn what it is like behind the scenes — working on development, fundraising and budgets for the first time, among other things.

Yet it’s not like things have hit Priore like a brick wall. In fact, it is more the opposite: Priore is continuing on just like he has plenty of times before.

“Coach had given me over the past handful of years the opportunity to expose me to a lot of things,” Priore said. “There aren’t truly a lot of things that are really an eye opener where you turn around and say, ‘Wow. I never thought it would be like this.’”

Both current and former players have reacted well to Priore’s hiring, something that Priore attributes to the template already in place.

“He’s vital to the team. He’s a real energetic individual,” former Penn wide receiver Joe Holder said of Priore. “He loves the game. He gets fired up, he’s actively involved in practice.”

The current players also understand the legacy that Bagnoli carries into this season and what it means to play for Penn’s all-time wins leader.

“I’m just extremely thankful to have gotten the opportunity to play for a program like Penn and especially in the tenure of Bagnoli,” King said. “He’s brought so much success to this program.”

And with that success comes expectations. The Quakers may have been picked to finish fourth in the Ivy League Preseason Media Poll, but with the circumstances surrounding this season, the team is intent on one thing: sending Bagnoli out on top with his 10th Ivy title.

Even Priore, who is excited for what comes beyond this season, is focused on that singular goal.

“It’ll be a fun day when [I become head coach] but we’re gonna send coach out on a high note,” he said. “That’s the number one thing that will be my goal on the year.”

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