R.I.P. Ex-Hofstra coach Joe Gardi

[Defiantly Dutch]

Died Wednesday of a stroke at age 71, one day shy of the six-month anniversary of Hofstra killing the program he turned into a national powerhouse. I covered the program as a student during the 1994 and 1995 seasons and those still rank as the most remarkable teams I've ever covered. They went 8-1-1 with no scholarships in 1994 and 10-2 with 15 scholarship freshmen in 1995 and almost beat Marshall in West Virginia to complete an unbeaten regular season.

Condolences to Uncle Buck and the rest of the HU FB alumni as well as Joe's family.

http://www.gohofstra.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=22200&ATCLID=204954432

[bluehenbillk]

He may have definitely started off on the wrong foot with UD fans, but there is no doubt he was a really good football coach & did great things for Hofstra, RIP.

[GreatAppSt]

R.I.P Joe.:(

[henfan]

Very sad news. Gardi was a good guy and beloved by HU players & fans.

As Bill said, Hen fans didn't take kindly to/misunderstood Joe's brash "kick down the doors" comments when HU came into I-AA. He definitely ingraciated himself to many of us over time and, dare I say, even became recognized as the good-humored, venerable coach that he truly was.

My favorite Joe Gardi moment came at the Tub in HU's 1995 game. The rabble rouers in the West stands were getting all over Gardi. Joe turned to them and said, "Hey, at least I'm not Andy Talley."

R.I.P., Joe.xbowx

[Rob Iola]

Miss the Flying Dutchmen - that program started tailing off when they switched to the Pride.

RIP Joe...

[blukeys]

Very sad news. Gardi was a good guy and beloved by HU players & fans.

As Bill said, Hen fans didn't take kindly to/misunderstood Joe's brash "kick down the doors" comments when HU came into I-AA. He definitely ingraciated himself to many of us over time and, dare I say, even became recognized as the good-humored, venerable coach that he truly was.

My favorite Joe Gardi moment came at the Tub in HU's 1995 game. The rabble rouers in the West stands were getting all over Gardi. Joe turned to them and said, "Hey, at least I'm not Andy Talley."

R.I.P., Joe.xbowx

Agreed but I do believe it was the EAST Stand Rabble Rousers.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

RIP, Joe. I'll never forget the media conference I attended with him outside Hofstra's locker room with him holding court. He was one of a kind.

[Uncle Buck]

Very sad. First the program and now this. He was definitely a unique person and always good for a quote, he was a hell of a guy. I'll definitely miss running into him at events and occasionally around town, he will be missed.

As for the Andy Talley comment, typical Joe, hilarious.

[henfan]

Agreed but I do believe it was the EAST Stand Rabble Rousers.

Indeed I did mean East stands, my (our) side.

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfoot2/news/newstest.aspx?id=4315529

[Go...gate]

Sorry to hear this and condolences to the Gardi and Hofstra families. AIR, Coach Gardi also had a fine tenure with the New York Jets.

[Defiantly Dutch]

That is correct. Nine years under three coaches, the last four of which he spent as the DC. Always thought it was cool that a defensive mind oversaw the brilliant run-and-shoot that broke scoreboards in the mid-90s.

From what I remember, Gardi was livid at Joe Walton (whom he used to ride to camp with everyday from eastern Long Island) for years and years after Walton fired him. I remember Gardi taking some pleasure in Walton having to start a program from scratch at Robert Morris. Of course, Walton turned out pretty well over there.

A good NY Times article from 1990, Gardi's first season at HU:

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/18/sports/sports-of-the-times-joe-gardi-crossed-the-campus.html?pagewanted=1

[Mr. C]

I am stunned with learning the news of Joe's passing. He was one of my favorite coaches to talk to. He was a character and could keep you in stitches for hours. One of my best memories of him was when we sat next to each other at a Fordham-Rhode Island game a few years back. It was three hours of story-telling.

Funny story. Joe and I talked once about the fact that I knew ex-New York Jets star LB Greg Buttle and Joe told me to ask Greg the next I ran into him why Greg never called Joe. So I'm eating dinner with Greg and several other people a few months later and I relay the story to Greg. Greg takes out his cell phone and calls Joe on the spot and dials Joe's number. It was quite funny. Of course, Greg only got Joe's answering machine.

Joe Gardi, you will be missed as much as we will miss Hofstra football.

[Rob Iola]

I remember the time Joe and I swapped wives...



Oh wait, no - that wasn't Joe's wife...

[ngineer]

Coach Gardi was a class guy. I remember our great come from behind upset of Hofstra in the playoffs back in 2001 at Goodman, in overtime. He was gracious in defeat as opposed to the infamous Talley who couldn't accept a loss to Lehigh in 2006.

[Uncle Buck]

Always thought it was cool that a defensive mind oversaw the brilliant run-and-shoot that broke scoreboards in the mid-90s.

A good NY Times article from 1990, Gardi's first season at HU:


That offense was pretty ridiculous, but he also gave a lot of room for Rob Spence to open things up. As for the article, awesome. I love the part where it said he literally kissed the turf, fitting, as that is the last thing he did before leaving the field after his final game.

I hate to turn it into a bash Rabinowitz thing, but what shame that there is no program to honor him at the start of football season. A program that he helped build and a program that brought more notoriety to the university than any other academic or athletic dept./team on campus. The mid to late 90's were dominated on campus by football's success and the success of it's NFL alumni. It's Gardi's program that was instrumental in the new stadium and fieldhouse, now it no longer houses the team that was the driving force behind it. Just very sad.

[Uncle Buck]

Hey I just wanted to say thanks to those of you who said a couple of nice things about Gardi. I went to the wake on Monday and it was a great turnout. While i was only at the evening session on day one, it was a great representation of all the people and players he had touched over the course of his career. From Jets to coaches to former players, it was great to see. Guys came from all over the country and took time out of their lives to spend a few minutes remembering the man.

I did take a few minutes to speak with Dave Gardi about his father. I passed along some of the things that you mentioned on the board about being a good coach and i definitely shared the UD "At least i'm not Andy Talley" story. He got a great laugh out of that and said that was typical of his father. Anyhow, thanks again.