When the nation’s top runners line up at Icahn Stadium in New York City this evening, they will compete in a race carrying the name of a coach whose influence spans generations: former Georgetown Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Frank Gagliano.
This week, Georgetown Athletics announced that the men’s 800-meter final at the 2026 Toyota USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be named in honor of Gagliano.
“It’s a great honor, not only mine, but my family’s and my athletes’,” Gagliano said in an interview with the Voice.
“It’s also a package deal of everyone…” Ralph, Gagliano’s son, added in reference to the honor, “…all the different coaches he worked with, all the different athletes, all the people in the administration are all part of this.”
Known throughout the running world as “Coach Gags,” Gagliano spent over six decades coaching track and field before retiring in 2022. His career began in 1961, when the former University of Richmond quarterback was preparing to coach football at Roselle Catholic High School in New Jersey, but his career ultimately led him down a different track.
“I ended up taking over the track team, and I coached track from all those years until I retired,” Gagliano said.
After coaching at Roselle Catholic, Manhattan College and Rutgers University, Gagliano arrived at Georgetown in 1983. He led the Hoyas’ track and field and cross-country programs until 1999, becoming the longest-serving track coach in Georgetown athletic history.
During those 16 seasons, Gagliano recruited and developed some of Georgetown’s most accomplished athletes, including Olympians John Trautmann (MSB ’91), Steve Holman (CAS ’92) and Kevin McMahon (CAS ’94), as well as NCAA champions Michael Stahr (CAS ’88), Ethan Frey (CAS ’91) and Michael Jasper (CAS ’91).
Under his leadership, Georgetown athletes won 58 individual Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America titles, earned 140 All-America honors and set 46 school records. His teams captured 23 BIG EAST championships, 10 IC4A team titles and eight Penn Relays Championship of America titles.
Among those achievements was the Hoyas’ world-record-setting distance medley relay in 1987, featuring Miles Irish (CAS ’87), Darron Outler (MSB ’88), Stahr, and Trautmann. Gagliano also earned two National Coach of the Year awards and served as head coach for Team USA at the 1993 World University Games.
However, his legacy appreciation extends beyond the program’s most celebrated runners. Gagliano and his family said his career cannot be measured only through championships, records, or Olympians.
“All of the men and women who I coached were fantastic,” Gagliano said. “Just tremendous people to coach.”
“Whether they were excellent or medium. He always encouraged everyone.” Roberta, Gagliano’s wife, added.
Gagliano and his family also emphasized that his success at Georgetown was made possible by the administrators and coaches who supported him. Gagliano holds a deep appreciation for the people who hired him, including Frank Rienzo, Joe Lang, and university President Father Timothy Healy, as well as the coaches, including John Thompson and David Yurick, he worked alongside during his years on the Hilltop.
“It was a great group,” Gagliano said. “We had a wonderful camaraderie.”
Gagliano’s family described him as a coach who placed personal relationships at the center of his work.
“My dad is extremely dedicated to the people,” Diane, Gagliano’s daughter, said. “He always emphasized getting to know people first. The sport was very important, but the person he coached was more important.”
That philosophy extended beyond the track and into family life. Although coaching required frequent travel and long days at meets, his children said family always came first.
Growing up around the sport, Gagliano’s children often accompanied him to meets. “We went to track meets sometimes and got to run the track when we were little, and we were Olympians in our heads,” Diane said.
As his children grew older and eventually brought their own children to meets, track and field became part of the family’s shared identity. They attended major competitions and Olympic Trials together, watching Gagliano work with athletes and seeing firsthand the relationships he built throughout his career.
After leaving Georgetown, Gagliano continued coaching professional and post-collegiate athletes. He founded the Enclave, a professional track group in Washington, D.C., then coached athletes at facilities in California and Oregon, and eventually returned east to work with the New Jersey/New York Track Club.
“I am not a cocky man or anything, but I love to win,” Gagliano said. “I love to win.”
Gagliano’s family will attend Sunday’s tribute race, joined by children and grandchildren who have spent much of their lives around the sport. They will also be watching the current generation of Hoyas competing at the national championships.
“Alton McKenzie, who’s the head coach now, does a great job of communicating and keeping in touch with many of the alumni and coaches,” Ralph attested. “He also does a great job with the program. He has a bunch of athletes competing this weekend, and that’s fantastic.”
Five Georgetown athletes and alumni are scheduled to compete: Abel Teffra (CAS ’25) in the men’s 1,500 meters, Chloe Scrimgeour (CAS ’25) in the women’s 10,000 meters, Parker Stokes (CAS ’24) in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, Charlotte Tomkinson (CAS ’25) in the women’s 1,500 meters and current Hoya Tinoda Matsatsa in the men’s 800 meters.
“We are rooting on the Hoyas,” Diane confirmed. “Our family will be watching, and there will be a lot of excitement in our family chat.”
The men’s 800-meter race is scheduled for 4:32 EST, and will be streamed on NBC and Peacock.
