John Gagliardi wonders about his mortality.

The winningest college football coach in history said this week the news of Joe Paterno's passing hit him hard. Friends from afar with Italian roots, they shared a passion for teaching football.

Paterno piled up victories at high-profile Penn State; Gagliardi did the same in obscurity at small-college power St. John's in Minnesota. Both won national championships, Paterno on national television on the biggest stage, Gagliardi at cozy Hughes Stadium on the Sacramento City College campus in the 1960s.

Paterno, 85, was celebrated for his 409 wins. Gagliardi, 50 days younger, has 484 wins and is so personable he insists players do not call him "coach." It's John, or out you go.

Gagliardi is preparing for his 60th season, hosting recruits in his office just this week. One of his prized possessions in his office is a photo with Paterno from a 2009 convention. He sent a copy to Paterno and signed it, "A couple of southern Italians, and neither of us looks a day over 80."

Gagliardi said he's convinced Paterno died of a broken heart. He talked about how Paterno was afraid to get out of coaching, where he was surrounded by young people, much like Bear Bryant was at Alabama a generation ago. Bryant died a month after he retired in 1982.

"I do think about things, because I don't do much outside of football," Gagliardi said. "What am I going to do? I don't fish or golf. This is what I do. Coaching is a stress reliever, and you live longer when you don't stress."

Senior Bowl tidbits

• Cal Poly All-American cornerback Asa Jackson of Christian Brothers High School will start in today's Senior Bowl in Alabama. His brother Ade of Penn flew in to watch.

• Former UC Davis and New York Jets quarterback Ken O'Brien has worked out former Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore, who will play in the Senior Bowl. O'Brien says never mind Moore's 6-foot frame, talent is what matters.

Around the region

• Stan Harms, the first area coach to win a boys state title (in 1985 at Folsom), bounces around the region to catch high school basketball. He's a fan of Mike Takayama, the decorated Del Oro girls coach, saying, "A great coach who does it the right way and with class."

• Darius Nelson, a Sac-Joaquin Section postseason basketball scoring great for Sheldon, has enrolled at Cal State Fullerton. He transferred from UTEP.

• Wide receiver Devon Wylie of Granite Bay and Fresno State, who runs a 4.3-second 40-yard dash, has been invited to the NFL combine. The only thing that has slowed him has been hamstring injuries.

• Pleasant Grove kicker Marcus White, who has verbally committed to UC Davis, said it will "be an honor" to play on coach Bob Biggs' last Aggies team. Biggs recently announced his 20th and final season will be in 2012. Biggs was the tight ends coach for White's father, Roger, in the mid-1980s.

• UCLA is on the short list of college destinations for Shaq Thompson of Grant, and if he were to run the ball for the Bruins, he'd bring to mind James Owens, a big-back burner from Norte Del Rio, near Grant, in the 1970s who became Bill Walsh's first pick in the 1979 draft with the 49ers, ahead of a quarterback named Joe Montana.

• Bear Bryant's last win as a coach was in the 1982 Liberty Bowl, when the Crimson Tide beat Illinois and quarterback Tony Eason of Delta High and American River College 21-15. Eason became part of the famed 1983 NFL draft that included O'Brien, Dan Marino, John Elway and Jim Kelly.

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Joe Davidson co-hosts the SureWestSports Radio Show each Saturday from 9-10 a.m. on ESPN1320 with the show linked to ESPN1320.net later in the day.

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