Penn's Bagnoli Wraps Up Storied Career Saturday At Cornell

By Matt Leon

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It will be the end of an era for Penn football on Saturday as the Quakers visit the Big Red of Cornell in what will be the final game for head coach Al Bagnoli.

Bagnoli is retiring after the season. He will be replaced by longtime defensive coordinator Ray Priore.

Bagnoli will wrap up his career as one of the premiere head coaches in the history of the Ivy League. He has led Penn to nine Ivy League titles and six undefeated Ivy League seasons. He came to Penn after a successful run as the head coach at Division III Union College. So did he think he was in for the long haul when he took the Penn job back in 1992?

"My philosophy was, (regardless) of what job I take, I'm going to take it and that if I never leave, would I be happy?," Bagnoli tells KYW Newsradio. "Because you just don't know. So when I looked at this job, I felt that, hey, if it was going to be for three years, five years or 23 years, this was a really good area to raise my family. This was a really good place to work with some really good people, some great administrators, great tradition, people that cared."

Listen To Matt Leon's Interview With Penn's Al Bagnoli:

Bagnoli has gone 147-80 in his 23 seasons with the Quakers. He is the all-time wins leader at Penn. His 111 Ivy league wins are second-most, all-time. He has the third-best Ivy League win percentage of all-time (.698). His 238 career victories (including his time at Union) place him ninth all-time among FCS coaches. But when he reflects on his career, it's about much, much more than just numbers.

"I don't really think in terms of won-loss records," Bagnoli says. "I think in terms of having great relationships and having to deal with some great kids and some great coaches and great administrators and alumni. I think that's what sticks out. We've been fortunate to have some success and we had some neat things happen to the program. You kind of go back and if you go back into the 90's, there was the Princeton game back in '94 in front of 40,000 (fans), last time we had two unbeaten teams that late in the year. We had 'Gameday' from ESPN, we were the first school ever at this division (FCS) to have it, against Harvard, and that was great. Then you had the runs of the early 2000's, and then you have the Harvard game from two years ago. The memories just go on and on."

Bagnoli's last season has been a tough one. His Quakers bring a 1-8 record into Saturday's game. They have had to deal with more than their fair share of injuries and also work through some inexperience. But they've continued to fight and get better. Last week they gave undefeated Harvard all they could handle and then some before losing, 34-24.

So it will all come to a close on Saturday in Ithaca as his Quakers visit 1-8 Cornell. One last chance to roam the sidelines in the Ivy League. And afterwards, maybe a little time to reflect on all he has accomplished as the Penn head coach.

"Hopefully," Bagnoli says, "people look at my body of work and say, 'Hey, he tried to do it right. He tried to do it with a little bit of class.' And hopefully (I) succeeded."

Penn and Cornell will kickoff at 12:30 pm on Saturday in Ithaca.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.